Horticulturist joins Magnolia Plantation & Gardens Page 21
VOLUME 28 NUMBER 13 ■ CHARLESTONBUSINESS.COM
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JULY 25-AUGUST 7, 2022 ■ $2.25
Room to grow
Downtown Columbia hotel adding new wing. Page 3
Building buzz
Courier Square attracting new retail tenants. Page 4.
Additional spec
Ground broken on spec building in Summerville. Page 6
ROOM SERVICE, MR. ROBOTO A robot greets guests and performs simple service tasks at The Beach Club at Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina in Mount Pleasant. (Photo/Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina)
Clean sweep
High-tech tool helps keep streets spic and span. Page 9
INSIDE
Upfront................................. 2 SC Biz News Briefs................. 3 Best Advice........................... 4 In Focus: Banking and Finance.......... 13 List: Accounting Firms........ 18 Bonus List: Credit Unions... 20 At Work............................... 21 Viewpoint............................23
Robot helps serve guests at Charleston resort By Jenny Peterson
T
Contributing Writer
here’s a new guest services “employee” at a Charleston-area hotel who dances, tells jokes, plays games, is always in a good mood and on duty 24 hours a day. The Beach Club at Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina in Mount Pleasant has added a delivery robot, the first of its kind in South Carolina. The rolling, three-foot-tall cylindrical robot greets guests in the hotel lobby with a “Welcome to Charleston” message on its screen. More importantly, if guests have forgotten a towel, toothbrush or other items, hotel staff can send the robot up to a guest’s room
via elevator — the robot’s hidden electronic arm extends to push the correct floor number — and it rolls silently down the hallway to a specific room. Once at the door, the robot automatically calls the room via advanced technology and announces that it’s outside. A sensor on the robot can tell when the door opens, and then its large compartment is popped open for guests to reach in and retrieve their items. Once the item has been removed, the robot swivels from side to side in a little dance before returning back to the lobby. Two years ago, an executive at the Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina scrolled through LinkedIn for new and innovative trends in the hospitality industry and saw the novelty
Happy Follidays
Chicago family purchases, renovates 80-year-old Folly Beach inn. Page 9
delivery robot at a hotel in Europe, said Nick Saltmarsh, general manager of the Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina. The delivery robot was able to take towels up to guest rooms and “mingle,” to guests’ delight. It was an ideal post-pandemic restrictions addition — a way to help during a labor shortage and to cater to guests who preferred a contactless experience, Saltmarsh said. Similar delivery robots have been added to restaurants and hospitals to do simple yet time-consuming tasks. A second, identical robot will be added to Harborside, the sister property next door. “We have an amazing group of owners See ROBOT, Page 15