Whether humanoid robots will make working in the tourism industry a thing of the past?

Last year, Marriott Hotel Ghent in Belgium introduced Mario the hotel robot. Standing just under 60 cm tall and weighing six kilos, Mario the hotel robot has been part of the team since last year and is also a pioneer in the hospitality sector. Robots in the foyer and at the hotel bar are still the exception rather than the rule, but the signs point to growth. 

According to the European Commission, by 2020 the market for humanoid robots will reach a volume of Euro 100 billion a year. Robots such as Mario are already employed in the health sector and even in schools. 

That is reason enough for this past ITB looked at the topic in detail. Under the event’s key theme of digitalization, leading hotel experts have discussed robots, hi-tech innovations and innovation labs at the ITB Hospitality Day. Mario the hotel robot was there as well. The hotel manager Roger Langhout shared about Mario’s various daily tasks. The hotel was keen to stress that he will on no account be making his co-workers redundant. Although he could answer questions about rooms and accompany guests to conference rooms, but he lacked the qualified service approach of the hotel that only a human being can bring to the job.

We also notice that there were studies about robots take place of human being in the future job market by the researchers Dr. Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael A. Osborne, which has attracted widespread media attention. They predict a 50% decline in jobs and an employment crisis in the near future.

As our point of view, we should note their presence as welcome and providing assistance to the tourism industry, capable of taking over many of our daily tasks. Nevertheless, there is no substitute for a welcoming smile at reception or a tip from the concierge for an evening out to remember. Therefore, nothing can replace a one-to-one personal encounter. 

There are many as yet untapped possibilities for sensibly combining the capabilities of robots and humans, which can result in guests enjoying an even more unforgettable experience in hotels and tourism.

Prospect of the Hotel Robots

Technicians and futurists have been keen to study Internet of Things( IoT) and artificial intelligence. There are also many people discuss the intelligence migration. The robots have more powerful computing capabilities, artificial intelligence also makes robot looks more and more "realistic." Checking the reports of the robot, people could find that whether driving, running, or the recently defeated world chess champion Shishi Lee, everything is strong evidence of robot applications are constantly evolving.

From the hotel industry, for example, as long as guest holding the RFID chip card, they will not be lost in large hotels because the inductions nearby could recognized by RFID cards, which could tell the guests their orientation and navigation. Another example: eating breakfast, the sensor at the entrance of restaurant could automatically identify whether guests could have free meals.

So how about the progress of the hospitality industry’s using of robots? Especially in terms of customer services, and others hotel business? In fact, many hotels have been using robots for a long time. Starwood, one of the world’s largest hotel companies, is rolling out two robotic “Botlrs” inexplicably named A.L.O. in their Cupertino Aloft Hotel.

The robotic butlers, built by Savioke, are able to perform tasks in the front of the house and the back of the house, as well as navigate around guests and use elevators. For the most part, it seems that the Botlrs will be delivering amenities to guest rooms in lieu of actual humans, “freeing up existing talent’s time and allowing them to create a more personalized experience for guests.” When a guest calls down and asks for a toothbrush or extra towels, hotel employees simply load up the robot with the requested items, dial in the room number, and the Botlr handles the rest. Using a combination of sensors and WiFi/4G connectivity to communicate with the hotel and the elevator software, the ROS-powered robot can get to and from the rooms without breaking anything or injuring anyone. When the robot arrives at the room, the guest can enter in a rating on the robot’s touchscreen, or offer a “tip” in the form of a tweet to the hashtag #MeetBotlr.

    The Aloft Hotel in Cupertino, Calif. has been using a robotic butler to deliver amenities and snacks to guests, differentiating the business from its rivals.

For the next 3-5 years, more and more hotels are using robots to instead of human power, but initially, hotels only give robots a few simple works. Of course, the service provided by robots could surprise guests and make their stay become very interesting. However, robots does not replace staffs, because this stage is only the beginning of the era of robots. Robot is going to play a important role in hotels, in the future, for example, the front desk reception or some tasks requires a complex interaction. However, this is a matter of a few years later. At present, AI is not yet universal, but will soon pop up. For instance, the reservation center’s system could do the speech recognition, semantic analysis and processing reservation. As another instance, robots with AI could properly handle guests’ complaints and take appropriate measures to appease, or completely replaced people for revenue management, pricing decisions.

                              Toshiba company shows their hotel robot on ITB Berlin

To face this trend, the most important thing is to connect all internal systems. What else, hotel need to analyze their business models and business processes to ensure compliance with technology needs. Finally they need to establish a monitoring mechanism to ensure the technology is safe and controllable bacause security is one of the biggest concern, if a lot of decisions are made with AI machines, sometimes they might be out of control. Therefore, the hotel must ensure the normal operation of the robot.

====================================================================

Source:

http://travel.sohu.com/20160328/n442505740.shtml

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2895791/hotel-guests-open-the-door-to-a-robotic-butler.html

Jingyao ZHU

Yuanyuan WU

Innovation is great, but to what extent?

The Henn-na Hotel, the world's first hotel to be staffed by humanoid robots, opened in Nagasaki, Japan, on Friday, July 16. Henn-na hotel, translated into the « weird hotel », describes the human experience of a place almost exclusively run by robots.

                         Source : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FogiE8_3fPE

The hotel opened its doors in the Huis Ten Bosch theme park in Sasebo, a strategic location choice, where attractions and innovative experiences are part of the game.
After interviewing Hideo Sawada, the hotel owner, Monisha Rajesh learned that 90% of Henn-na hotel staff are robots. From robot receptionists to robot porters, everything is handled by machines from check-in to check-out through the concierge service. Guests can open their hotel rooms using facial recognition and thanks to Chu-Ri-Chan, a cute and small robot disposed in place of the awakening, lights are turned on and off using voice commands. Chu-Ri-Chan can also help guests to check the weather forecasts and provide wake-up calls!

Hideo Sawada’s aim is to equip the hotel with robots only, doing actual jobs. The owner decided to put a low rate policy in place and benefits from it. Mr. Sawada highlighted that robots, in fact, are not asking for any salary or paid leave and are exploitable 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The price of a room as well as hospitality services are accordingly less expensive than in traditional hotels. The journalist gives the example of the baggage room robot, which stores luggage in individual drawers for only 2.5 £ (approx. 3€). In traditional hotels, this amount is not even an employee tip! And yet, this service is a significant added value for any hotel!

From our perspective, there are significant limits regarding employment but as Japan is not suffering much from unemployment, with an unemployment rate of 3.3%, why not try to implement this new concept? As Monisha Rajesh points out, the importance of human interactions is critical in the hospitality industry and we think that guests are not ready to be welcomed by non-human beings at the front desk of a hotel yet. As people are more and more willing to benefit from customized and tailor-made services, we are afraid that robots are not as attractive as Hideo Sawada would like them to be for the moment.

However, this service is still in progress and needs to improve in order to perfectly meet the needs and thoughts of the customer, who wishes for fast care, personalized services and interaction.

Being welcomed by robots in hotels seems a bit weird today as human contact remains a priority in the service industry. But what a performance to have created such a machine in the hospitality industry!

Cécile ROUX & Margaux SCHERER

Robots are taking over the tourism industry!

 

Between the 9th and 13th of March 2016 was held the 50th edition of the tourism trade show ITB, in Berlin. The whole class of the SEMTM master got the opportunity to go there and learn more about the new trends in Tourism and discover how this industry work from the inside.

 

Even before entering the first exhibition hall, the visitors of the fair were welcomed by a new addition to the tourism industry, the robot hostess, Chihira Kanae.
This droid is considered as the “more human-like” robot ever build and was brought to ITB from Japan, as her first international appearance (TechAdvisor).

 

Source: http://borneobulletin.com.bn/coming-to-a-hotel-near-you-the-robot-humanoid-receptionist/

 

Her job was to greet visitors and she was “answering questions and guiding people in the right direction” (Reuters). Speaking 4 languages, namely Chinese, Japanese, German and English, Chihira Kanae is supposed to advise and guide visitors as well as a human hostess would do.

Indeed, “a survey of travelers across Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Canada, Brazil, Japan, the U.S. and China, done by online travel and entertainment deals site Travelzoo showed that 80 percent of consumers expected robots to play a big part in their lives before 2020. However, the survey also showed people still wanted the human touch when on holiday and in certain countries, such as Germany and France, consumers were more skeptical.” (Reuters)

 

In addition, another robot named Mario joined Chihira during ITB. Less human-like, his goal is to do the check-in in hotels and currently the “Marriott hotel in Ghent has been trialling Mario, using him to hand out room keys, high-five guests and liven up meetings held in the hotel by reading out presentations.” (Reuters) Mario speaks 19 languages.

 

Source: http://www.capital.fr/bourse/actualites/le-monde-du-tourisme-peuple-de-robots-au-salon-itb-de-berlin-1108433

 

 

These evolutions show that high technologies such as robots will soon be omnipresent in various industries including the Tourism sector. Robots can be used as receptionists in hotels or offices, in addition to their human counterparts.  As it has been explained by Fabrice Goffin, co-founder of QBMT whose software powers Mario, to Reuters at the fair: “the point is to make people smile and give them a unique experience. It's not to take the place of employees”.

 

Even if those robots are not build with the goal of replacing human staff, in the tourism industry, many jobs are likely to become automatized and that aspect might bring fear in the eyes of employees. Nevertheless, there is still no substitute for a tip from the concierge to plan you free time and evening out. Also a welcoming smile from the staff at the reception still cannot be replaced.

 

 

Lucile BESSON & Léa MARET

 

Sources:

http://techadvisor.lk/2016/03/10/7213/

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-tourism-robot-idUSKCN0WC1SY

http://borneobulletin.com.bn/coming-to-a-hotel-near-you-the-robot-humanoid-receptionist/

http://www.capital.fr/bourse/actualites/le-monde-du-tourisme-peuple-de-robots-au-salon-itb-de-berlin-1108433

 

 

 

 

Hotels go high-tech

Services provided by the hotel industry is constantly moving. At the occasion of it fifth edition, the annual mobile summit will announce the ‘best technologies and strategies to help your company grow on mobile’.

The guest experience is changing and taken into consideration due to the race to innovation.

The J.D. Power report shows that the guest is put in the middle of the attention. Creating a full experience goes through collaborative technologies and network. Using new technologies such as robot and self service bookings enable hostels to deliver flexible and reactive experiences: “with devices and experiences that cooperate for immediate satisfaction”. (J.D Power report).

New technologies in the hospitality are growing up. Indeed, new ways of offering services into hotels are set up. If you are going to the headquarter of Apple, you will be able to find a new type of Hotel and services. Indeed, the Cuppertino hotel provides to its guests new technology robot to serve its residents. It is not a simple robot that delivers products, it is also a full experience provider. It looks like a buttler that brings your order to your room. It is ultra connected to move itself through the different rooms. It collects customers orders and deliver them to their room by wi-fi connection. Moreover, it brings an additional value to the customer experience by mixing the appearance of the most famous robots such as wall-e and R2D2. It appears as familiar and playful: “Boltr draws the greatest inspiration from the robots of our childhood with the productivity of Wall-E, the humor of Rosie from The Jetsons, and aesthetically reminiscent of perhaps the most famous robot of all, R2D2” said Brian McGuinness, Senior Vice President of Starwood’s Specialty Select Brands.

In the same time, Yotel, a new brand hotels company, developed in flexible booking hours hotels, uses also this technology. It is a self service booking hotel, located in transit areas such as airports and business venues. The YOBOT, Yotel Robot, welcome the guest and takes in charge the customer’s requests. For instance, the YOBOT will carry out your luggage for the necessary lenght of time needed. A customer without an available room at the time of his arrival will be able to safely drop off its packs even if he cannot attempt the room. In the same way he will be able to leave its luggages event if he has already checked out. It brings flexibility and interactivity to the hotel customer experiences.

Which can of new technology is also used to develop customer experience via IT technology? Safety is one of the main point of customer needs. Indeed, the fear of loosing your keys access to the hotel is not a problem anymore. Thanks to the RFID technology, new hotels provide a keyless technology to their guest. Through a wirst band, the tourist will be able to access freely to the hotel, and be guided to its room without telling anything to the elevator which will be able to ride you right to your room. Also, such as  the Alma Barcelona, Hotels use new fingerprint technology, as Apple and its Iphone. Only the right finger print will open the door: “Other hotels like Alma Barcelona have taken keyless entry one step further and are now using fingerprint-activated room entry”.

Douglas Coupland once said, “Even when you take a break from technology, technology doesn’t take a break from you.” It holds the necessity for hotels to use the new technology. To improve the customer experiences, hotels needs to rely their strategy on new technologies in order to provide high quality experience for travellers. To conclude, hotels technologies, robot experiences, retina screen connections, enable a full customised experience. It is create a new source of data collection for hotels in order to provide the most suitable offer to its customers.

Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LLxI5L_5jg
http://venturebeat.com/2015/02/14/robots-retina-scans-and-infrared-sensors-hotels-go-hi-tech/


Nicolas Pluvert & Sixtine Gautier