#915: Roombot

I’m amazed that hotels manage to sell rooms without any assurances as to size or lighting or view.

Today’s invention is a way for luxury establishments to differentiate themselves for the purpose of boosting online bookings.

A small robot equipped with a webcam moves on each floor. When someone wants to book a particular room, footage from the webcam is made available (during room cleaning) via the hotel website.

In this way, potential guests could see that their window faced only a wall and ask for a change or a discount. Equally, this acts as a competitive weapon against hotels which are too scared to show anything other than their showcase rooms before bookings occur.