BOUNTE Debuts Low-Touch Lost and Found System Using AI to Identify and Return Items
BOUNTE, Inc., a provider of lost and found technologies, has launched BOUNTE Protect™ for hotels. Powered by artificial intelligence (AI), the cloud-based platform transforms a venue’s inefficient lost and found into a high-tech solution that takes just seconds, minimizes touches and greatly enhances a guest’s experience when lost items are found and returned.
With BOUNTE Protect™, hotels use a barcoded BOUNTE bag integrated with the app. The sealable bag assures guests and staff that enhanced low-touch and cleanliness standards related to COVID-19 are applied to personal property that’s lost or left behind. This protocol protects a hotel’s brand and encourages guests to return.
“Our AI-based system with barcode tracking solves three key problems hotels experience using inefficient lost and found procedures – staff frustration, operational inefficiency and a poor customer experience,” said Stephen Sinclair, founder and CEO of BOUNTE. “Now, with the added value of making sure lost items are stored in a sealed, tracked BOUNTE bag, keeping these items secure and clean has never been easier,” he said.
Sunglasses, smartphones, clothes and jewelry are frequently left behind, but more unusual items turn up, too. A boutique hotel client found a drone stranded on the hotel’s roof and returned it to the owner.
“With BOUNTE, if you can take a selfie, you can manage a lost and found for a hotel,” said the regional manager for a Southeastern U.S. hotel group.
Here’s how BOUNTE Protect works:
- A staff member takes a photo of the item, and the BOUNTE app’s AI identifies the image, adds it to the hotel’s digital lost and found and auto-tags with detailed descriptors. A GPS map pinpoints the location where the item was found.
- The staff member places the item in a BOUNTE bag, seals it and uses the BOUNTE app to scan the bag’s barcode for tracking.
- An integrated shipping return wizard automates the shipping label procedure for the guest with a simple-to-use purchasing process, removing this operational risk from the hotel.
“Staff training on the BOUNTE app is quick and users feel comfortable instantly,” said Troy Strand, general manager of The Whitehall Hotel Chicago. “As easy as it is to use, it’s much more sophisticated and powerful than anything we’ve had. The genius is in the simple, intuitive design,” he said.