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Who here has recently traveled… For those of you who have how many people did you interact with at the hotel; I’m guessing more than 10. This may not seem like a lot but just imagine going to the same hotel and not having any human interaction at all. Now I know what you might be thinking; “its impossible, you have to interact with people” or what is a hotel visit without talking to people and finding out what is good in the area? Well what you are thinking is impossible is happening right now in Japan.
This hotel in Japan, Henn’na Hotel, has no human staff, only robots. The idea behind this is cutting costs of labor. Hideo Sawada, the man in charge of this whole operation is doing this for a very specific reason. When questioned why he designed a hotel with no human staff, Sawada said “For five-star hotels that are selling high-end service, human staff are essential, but for three or four star hotels, you need comfortable lodging, and a basic level of communication at a reasonable price.” According to Sawada, these robots are decreasing labor costs. Specifically, these robots are reducing labor costs, about 70%.
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This decrease in labor costs has also allowed this hotel to lower their prices for a stay. At a rate of about $80 per night, Henn’na Hotel is able to have one of the lowest costs in one of the highest priced countries in the world. This is possible because of the cost efficiency of these robots. While they may be cheap at first, they are much more cost effective than the annual payroll for a human staff.
This idea has seemed to taken off, not only because of the cost effectiveness of the idea but the fact that the world is becoming more and more reliant on technology. But there is something to consider before diving deep into this; Is it a good idea to replace human interaction with robots?
This was a very interesting post because I had never heard of this. I do not think it is the best idea to have robots as an alternative for a human staff. I don’t know about you but I think I would be uncomfortable with the fact that I am constantly talking to robots, rather than real live human beings. And as the previous commenters have said, hotels are all about hospitality, and I think robots would leave a big creepy void in the overall experience of the stay. Not to mention, it may be cost effective, but if many hotels started to follow suit of this one, many people would be out of jobs. There is already shortages of jobs around the world, and I do not think attributing to it more would help in the long run. Although of course it seems it is projected to be like that, as in many situations other than this one, robots have been taking over human jobs in the workplace. Read about our future with robots involving the workplace here!
I don’t believe that robots alone would be a good idea with having a hotel. A hotel is suppose to offer hospitality and a comfy home away from home feel. With robots, it takes away that environment. You’re not around robots when you’re at home are you? The idea is good for the business in a sense that it can save money and decrease labor cost. But i don’t thin the customers would like it too much. Im confused though to see what side you favor in this post. When I came across this article, I thought it tied in well into this argument.http://qz.com/517506/the-three-things-humans-will-always-do-better-than-robots/
The relationship and social side of human’s would be best in the hotel industry and I believe Sawada’s business will ultimately fail.
The hotel business thrives off its reputation of pure hospitality. Whether its a five or one star hotel people want to have a safe and comfortable stay. I believe, if properly programmed, the robot could take on the roll of labor at lower end hotels. For starters, they have already developed robot vacuum machines. http://www.irobot.com/For-the-Home/Vacuum-Cleaning/Roomba.aspx Although, I definitely think that people staying in higher end hotels want more of a personalized experience that robots are not capable of satisfying.