Budget hotel chain Travelodge has brought in an army of bespoke “RoboVac Buddies” to help staff with cleaning duties.
In a multi-million pound investment, 7,500 bright yellow robot vacuums will trundle through 44,000 rooms every day tidying up after guests.
It has taken Sheffield-based cleaning specialist Killis Ltd nine months and five prototypes to customise the devices to Travelodge room specifications.
In a UK hotel first, the Robovacs will be part of the chain’s 579 housekeeping teams “to help lighten the workload,” the chain said.
The housekeepers’ little helpers run on one charge per shift, use 600 watts of power compared with 1,200 watts for a traditional vacuum cleaner and are bagless, cutting down on waste.
Craig Bonnar, Travelodge chief executive, said: “Housekeeping is the most important and physically demanding job at Travelodge and we are always looking for low cost and innovative ways to support our colleagues.
“Automating vacuuming with the introduction of the Travelodge RoboVac Buddies is a fun, win-win solution which helps us to drive a greener, cleaner and more efficient room clean.
“The army of Travelodge RoboVac Buddies have settled in really well and are a massive hit with our hotel teams and customers.”
Perfecting the Robovacs has seen a few glitches such as one device that went rogue during a trail at the chain’s Cambridge Orchard Park Travelodge and trundled out of reception and into the street while cleaning the lobby.
Travelodge said it was found after an appeal on social media and after “a good reboot” has now resumed duties again.
A Travelodge spokesperson said there were “around 1,000 RoboVacs on standby so that they can be deployed to a Travelodge hotel in case of an emergency”.
