USA, Chicago, Illinois. August 19, 2020

The Hotel of Tomorrow ® Project is a global think tank currently conceptualizing innovations to usher the hospitality industry through COVID-19 and beyond. Since its kick-off in June, 2020, the 325-member group has developed hundreds of ideas and is now inviting travelers, designers and more to join them in the final stage of concept development: consumer testing. Led by hospitality design and development firm The Gettys Group, the think tank's teams have arrived at dozens of breakthrough innovations through a methodology that has included online workshops and building a shared research archive.

The first of the final concepts that will be shared and tested, Robot Alliance, envisions a deconstructed food-and-beverage experience where robots with distinct purposes and personalities allow guests to drink and dine outside of a traditional restaurant or bar's footprint. Small refrigerator/warming units follow guests like companion animals, then double as side tables or dining surfaces wherever the guest might like to be-inside or outside the hotel. The larger counterparts of these units become gathering hubs, with integrated audiovisual components that allow small groups to enjoy music or take in a movie or game together. Small drones communicate guests' needs back to a bartending robot-overseen by a skilled mixologist-that can deploy a refreshed unit.

This is only the first of the think tank's concepts that will be released for market testing on August 14, 2020. "We all have a curiosity and creative impulse about our future," said Ron Swidler, Chief Innovation Officer of The Gettys Group, "So we hope to cast a wide net and hear diverse thoughts and opinions to prove and improve concepts that can help this essential industry speed toward recovery and beyond." Those interested in evaluating concepts should sign up here to be invited into testing that will be open through August 28, 2020. The concepts will undergo further refinement based on consumer feedback, and will be released to the public in September.

The project's strength has been its ability to unite experts from every part of the hospitality industry around the world-including owners, designers, educators from some of the world's top hospitality programs, and representatives from the world's foremost hotel brands. According to collaborator Larry Traxler, Hilton's Senior Vice President of Global Design, "The Hotel of Tomorrow® Project has created a unique and effective forum for exploration and problem-solving across a network of related businesses, all invested in supporting our industry's future."