A squadron of hundreds of RoboVac Buddies has been assigned to the group’s 26 Travelodge Wales hotels

Today, in a UK first, an army of bespoke RoboVac Buddies checked into 579 Travelodge hotels across the country, to support the company’s housekeeping teams. This investment includes a squadron of hundreds of RoboVac Buddies checking into the company’s 26 hotels across Wales.

This collective UK multi-million pound investment of 7,500 RoboVac Buddies is the latest scalable initiative from the Travelodge brand, specifically designed to support the company’s housekeeping teams – who have to clean almost 44,000 rooms every day, 365 days a year.

This is no small feat, as housekeeping is one of the most important and physically demanding jobs in the hospitality industry. This role includes the mission of vacuuming which is a difficult task.

To help ease the workload of its housekeeping team members, who collectively vacuum the distance between Holyhead and New York every day, Travelodge traveled to the future to create a RoboVac to the specifications of an industrial hotel.

The hotel chain has teamed up with KILLIS Ltd, a Sheffield-based company that specializes in the manufacture of specialist cleaning equipment, and together designed the UK’s first industrial RoboVac designed for a busy hotel.

This painstaking mission took nine months and included the production of five prototypes before the Travelodge RoboVac Buddy was born – because this is no ordinary RoboVac. It has rugged features that allow it to withstand the high daily demands of working in a busy hotel.

These features include

• An industrial booster battery that allows the RoboVac Buddy to vacuum many rooms on a single charge during its shift
• A larger, lighter dust collector so the RoboVac Buddy just needs to be emptied at the end of its shift
• It is more environmentally friendly and quieter than a traditional corded vacuum cleaner. A traditional vacuum cleaner uses 1200 watts of power while the RoboVac takes 60 watts of power, plus it’s less baggy so reduces landfill waste
• He speaks the software data language specific to Travelodge

A Travelodge RoboVac Buddy has been assigned to each member of the housekeeping team to support them during their shift.

While the housekeeping crew member completes a comprehensive list of bedroom and bathroom cleaning tasks, his RoboVac Buddy gets to work carefully vacuuming the room. This includes going under the Travelodge Dreamer bed and into every nook and cranny of the room. It also vacuums hotel corridors, public areas and the Bar Café if the hotel has one.

At the end of their shift, the Travelodge RoboVac Buddies are tucked away in their (six) custom-made team bunk beds for some much-needed R&R (Recharge & Rest). Each hotel has been supplied with an average of 12 RoboVac Buddies, while larger sites have up to 40.

Craig Bonnar, Travelodge, Managing Director, said: “We are very excited to kick off 2022 by revolutionizing the hospitality industry and supporting our housekeeping teams with the rollout of the first RoboVac Buddy recruitment program in the UK.

“Housekeeping is the most important and physically demanding job at Travelodge and we are always looking for innovative and inexpensive ways to support our colleagues.

“Automating vacuuming with the introduction of the Travelodge RoboVac Buddies is a fun, win-win solution that helps us drive a cleaner, cleaner and more efficient room.

“The Travelodge RoboVac Buddies army has settled in very well and is a huge hit with our hotel teams and guests.”

Lira Namoni, Travelodge RoboVac Buddy Trainer said: “On behalf of my colleagues from all Travelodge hotels across the UK, we are delighted to welcome our new RoboVac pals. They are simply amazing and have made such a big difference in household chores. They have now all finished their initial training and passed their probation and are eager to get to work.

There were a few casualties during training, a RoboVac Buddy at the Travelodge at Gatwick Airport took a wrong turn and was found in Spain. Another RoboVac Buddy from the Cambridge Orchard Park Travelodge had a technical problem during his cleaning service at reception and fled the hotel into the streets.

The hotel team were upset and posted a SOR (Save Our RoboVac) message on social media for his safe return. Luckily the RoboVac Buddy was rescued and after a good restart and charge it is back in action.

Travelodge has around 1,000 RoboVacs on standby at a secret base so they can be deployed to a Travelodge hotel in the event of an emergency.

KILLIS Ltd, who designed and built the RoboVac Buddy with Travelodge, also built a bespoke surgery at their headquarters to provide a full healthcare service to Travelodge RoboVac Buddies.

Tibor Killi, KILLIS Ltd, Managing Director, said: “We are delighted to be working with Travelodge and creating the first dedicated hospitality RoboVac in the UK. This is the largest mobilization of cleaning equipment in our company’s history and it was an honor to make history with Travelodge in the hospitality world.

“The Travelodge RoboVac Buddies will revolutionize the working lives of corporate housekeeping teams and will be a great addition to Travelodge hotel teams. It has been a pleasure to work with an innovative company that puts its people and customers at the heart of its business, and we look forward to the next challenge Travelodge brings us.

(Main image: Travelodge)