Gausium (高仙自动化), a leading Chinese commercial cleaning robot developer, signed a strategic cooperation agreement today with Hanting Inns & Hotels (汉庭酒店), one of China’s biggest budget hotel chains, to supply robot sweepers to automate its cleaning work.
According to the agreement, Gausium, which ranks as the No.1 player in China’s commercial cleaning robot market by shipment, will provide cleaning robot technologies to enhance the cleaning efficiency of hotels under the no-frills Hanting brand.
Following the partnership, Gausium will begin deploying different types of cleaning robots to various Hanting outlets as part of a pilot scheme.
They will automate such tasks as scrubbing, sweeping, dusting, vacuuming, and sterilizing the floors and scenting hotel space with fragrance, and from there, push the frontier of innovations and explore possible new use cases, according to a company statement.
The collaboration with Gausium will fully marry new technologies with new business scenarios, elevating Hanting’s cleaning efficiency across the country and optimizing its operational efficiency, Xu Haochun, COO of H World Group (华住集团, Nasdaq: HTHT；01179.HK), Hanting’s parent and CEO of Hanting, said at the signing ceremony.
He added this move will not just provide an extra layer of comfort to guests and employees, but also bolster shareholder benefits.
China’s hospitality industry has been grappling with a labor shortage and rising staff salaries. With the growing maturity of cleaning robotic technologies from the likes of Gausium, they increasingly turn to their offerings.
H World Group, which owns a number of hospitality brands including but not restricted to Hanting, has been one of the major industry practitioners to jump on the digital bandwagon.
The group has been encouraging its subsidiaries to digitalize their day-to-day operations, in a bid to slash costs and enhance efficiency. Hanting’s partnership with Gausium fall into this category.
Going forward, H World Group will expand the digital drive across its portfolio and optimize smart services and applications, said Liu Xinxin, president of the hospitality giant.
Meanwhile, he expressed the hope that Gausium’s tie-up with Hanting will set a template for smart cleaning in the hotel industry and also provide reference for the sector to undergo a digital and intelligent transition.
Prior to its deal with Hanting, Gausium had delivered its robot sweepers to more than 2,000 clients in 50-plus countries and areas across the world.
Together, these robotic cleaners have swept an equivalent of 400 million km of trails, making Gausium one of the most established pioneers in commercial cleaning robotics.
Commenting on the latest cooperation, Cheng Haotian, founder and CEO of Gausium, said that Hanting is the first hotel chain to adopt commercial cleaning robots at scale, with “advanced notions and philosophy” about the new contraption even worldwide.
“We are honored to join hands with Hanting and hope to build a yardstick for measuring hotel digitalization through an alliance of the strong.”
