Wasserson Design CEO Gary Wasserson is a well-known home technology expert in the Philadelphia area. In this article, he explains what a Virtual Butler is and why so many real estate developers are including the systems in their new residential projects.
A Virtual Butler is a theoretical replacement for a concierge at a front desk of the residential facility where people live. What a Virtual Butler does is it gives you control over various aspects of your life through a two-way communication device that is installed in your residence.
So as an example, instead of calling down for your car in the morning, people living in a building with a Virtual Butler can simply press a button on their Virtual Butler to automatically alert the valet that they would like their car to be brought around front. Once we have the system set up, all the person needs to do is to press the button for the car, and that button will turn from red to orange when the valet is going to get the car. Then when the car is ready, the light will turn green and the person can go right downstairs and hop in his car without waiting.
The Virtual Butler also gives you the ability to interface with various software programs for making reservations at restaurants. And in the case of the Ritz Carlton residences in Philadelphia, this system allows residents to access all the various services that are available at the hotel next door, such as the spa, the restaurant, and things of that sort, with just the touch of a button.
One key aspect of the Virtual Butler is that it is a two-way communication, so it gives you confirmation when you go to make an appointment without forcing you to make phone calls or wait on hold.
The Virtual Butler also gives you weather reports for the day, and if it’s set up properly it can give you the average commute time to your office that day based on traffic conditions in the morning—giving you a better way judge your timing each day.
Overall, this is just a cool device that gives its owners access to an abundance of information right at their fingertips. And because it is interactive, it allows people to communicate with the outside world efficiently.
Unfortunately, individual homeowners or apartment owners can’t just decide to get a Virtual Butler for themselves because installing this system is more of a building-wide decision. So typically we will deal with the real estate developers or the management for a new building, and if we get enough interest, then we will go ahead with the project and install the system in all the apartments or residences.
What is happening right now is that many developers are looking at the Virtual Butler as a service that separates their property from all the others in the marketplace currently. Especially in today’s competitive world, you have to look for little twists and bends, little hooks so to speak, that give you the opportunity to move your real estate to your competition. So having the Virtual Butler in your building is just one of those hooks that is pretty cool and that a lot of people look at favorably when they are deciding where to buy.
For the management companies and building owners themselves, the Virtual Butler gives them tremendous communication ability with their residents, as well. So instead of having to tell each resident that there will be a fire alarm test at 2 p.m., for example—and making thousands of copies of notices to slip under each person’s front door to notify each resident of the test—building owners with Virtual Butler systems can automatically notify each resident of the upcoming fire alarm test through the Virtual Butler system.
Our Virtual Butler systems feature a public service announcement feature, where building owners can use to post information about outages and things of that nature, which residents can view on their screen when they wake up in the morning—without making any flyer copies or phone calls at all.
Another great example of how the Virtual Butler helps property managers and building owners has to do with the valet systems, once again. Many buildings now have valets that will get residents’ cars for them. But during the big rush at 8:30 in the morning, there can be a line of residents waiting to have their cars brought around. By implementing the Virtual Butler system, though, residents won’t need to come down until their cars are ready to go. So that makes for happier residents and a smoother situation in the lobby and in front of the building each morning.
Overall, the Virtual Butler saves people a lot of time and frustration in all aspects of their life, which is why it has become such a hit with a lot of higher-end properties managers and real estate developers looking for a way to add luxury to their new residential projects.
