The Chinese startup putting microchips in linens to ensure hotels are clean
Hotel hygiene scandals are forcing Chinese hotels to look for creative tech solutions
If you’re the type of person who’s concerned about how clean your hotel room actually is (a terrible rabbit hole to go down), a 1-year-old startup in China might help ease your mind.
Suqu Net designs chips that can be used to track hotel inventory, like being embedded into cleaning rags to ensure the same cloth isn’t used to clean both the toilet and other areas of the room. The chips can also show whether a room has been restocked with fresh items.
Some hotels in China, like Shanghai’s Wugong Hotel, are already using the company’s tech. If a cleaner decides to use a toilet cleaning cloth to wipe down the sink, sensors will set off an alarm. Don’t worry, it’s not calling the police; it just notfies hotel management.
Suqu Net’s tech is also designed to give guests peace of mind. Each room has a QR code that sends guests to Suqu Net's WeChat mini program. There guests can see when the room’s linen was last changed and the teacups sterilized.
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But reassuring guests that their rooms are clean wasn’t the original motivation for using Suqu Net's tech. The company’s mini program has a number of features for guests, including room service and an internal shopping mall. Wugong Hotel started using the system for its smart temperature regulation and light controls, Liu said.
As it turned out, though, guests were much more interested in the cleanliness of the rooms.
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