Suqu Net’s Microchip Embedded Linen Combats Questionable Hotel Hygiene

Creative tech to calm your germaphobia, particularly in regards to hotel linens, may finally be within reach. Chinese tech start-up Suqu Net heeded to the age old desire for pristine hotel linens by designing chips that can track hotel inventory.

Suqu Net designs chips that are embedded in rags to ensure that they are not used for the bathroom and other areas of the room, for instance. The chip also ensures the room has been restocked with clean items.

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Scandals pertaining to hotel hygiene rocked China last year when one guest posted repulsive videos of over 100 luxury and mid-class hotels. The exposé revealed the use of the same towel to wipe cups and toilets, a terrifying actuality in the hospitality industry.

Suqu Net’s chip signals sensors hidden in the wall, that go off every time a rag is reused on a different object rather than its intended purpose. The sensors track a number of objects in the room and the chips are key to traceability. Guests are able to scan a QR code that directs them to Suqu Net’s WeChat mini program, where information about the room’s last linen change and sterilization of cutlery is displayed.

Initially the Shanghai-based firm designed the system for room service, internal shopping, smart temperature regulation and light control. However, the guests were most concerned with the overall cleanliness of the room, thus the scanning rate of the guests reached 97%, a remarkable adaption rate. The company’s tech is already in use at Shanghai’s Wugong hotel.