A woman ordered DoorDash to her hotel room and was disappointed to see the restaurant didn’t include a fork. After ordering one from the front desk, she was surprised to see what—not who—delivered it.
TikTok user Peyton Nelson (@peytonreesenelson) was shocked when a robot showed up at her hotel door to deliver her a fork she asked for.
The tech worker sits in a hotel room holding her bowl from Cava. “I just DoorDashed Cava because I’m traveling for work and they didn’t bring me a fork,” she says to begin her video with over 250,000 views.
Robot named Winnie delivers hotel guest’s fork
“So, I called the front desk, asking if there’s a fork I could use,” she says. After a moment of silence, the content creator says, “I’m pretty sure a robot is bringing it to my front door and the phone will ring when it’s here, which I never heard before. If a robot actually shows up at my door, I’m gonna be freaked out.”
Then, Nelson flips the camera to unveil bright blue lights glowing under her door. “Literally, a robot at my door.” When she opens the door, there is a white and turquoise cylinder shaped Relay delivery robot with a wide opening on top. Known as Winnie, the robot started working at Embassy Suites in 2016 and became more widely used during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Woooooo,” Winnie greets. “What?” the content creator asks in shock, moving to the top of the robot’s head and taking out the forks in plastic wrap. “What the actual [expletive]?” she asks.
In an interview with the Daily Dot, Nelson revealed that this happened at Embassy Suites at LAX.
“I was shocked that the robot knew how to get to the right room. Initially, I thought about how the robot is taking someone’s job, but the more I think about it, it is pretty functional,” she shared via TikTok direct message.
Viewers have mixed feelings about Winnie
Most viewers loved her for several reasons.
“No, I love this I hate talking to people,” one viewer wrote.
“I’d feel so much safer opening the door, tbh,” another stated.
However, some aren’t fans of Winnie.
“Jobs are going to be completely wiped out by robots,” one user remarked.
“I’ve seen all the ‘Terminator’ movies, it’s a no for me,” a second commented.
A third explained how this has become the norm. They wrote, “More hotels are starting to do this now. I think it’s a good use case for running things to rooms. Might be safer for some also.”
Are hotels adding robots to the workforce?
In 2014, the Aloft Cupertino in Silicon Valley introduced its first robot worker. Since then, “Marriott International’s Residence Inn, InterContinental Hotels Group’s Crowne Plaza and Hilton’s Embassy Suites, Marriott’s Renaissance, Yotel Boston and the EMC2” have also adopted them, per Travel Weekly.
@peytonreesenelson uhm
♬ original sound – Peyton Reese Nelson
During the pandemic, the hospitality industry filled jobs with robots to combat the labor shortage. By 2030, it’s projected that 25% of the hotel industry will be comprised of robots.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
