Robots in hotels, it's happening now!

Gadget or  a new hospitality innovation leading to a fundamental trend ?

In Moselle in France, the New Grill House employs a waitress unlike any other. White and red plastic dress, heart-shaped eyes and metallic voice: this robot, a new hospitality innovation coming straight from China, can bring the dishes from the kitchen to the tables thanks to a magnetic rail, while embellishing its performance with some phrases like "Bon appétit" or “Please serve yourself”.

This trend of robotization of the hotel industry has made its appearance in high-tech innovation locations, in Japan and in Silicon Valley, before probably conquering the international hotel world. Robots as receptionists, smartphones that act as room keys, voice speakers that turn on the light : the hotel industry is taking the path of innovation by integrating all the high-tech innovations.

"For the past five years, the hotel industry has taken a digital turn”  

(Anton Lissorgues, senior manager and leader in the hotel, tourism and catering sector at Mazars France) 

The United States: leader of this new futuristic trend

The innovation, which I’m sure you’ve heard about and which has made a sensation in the hotel world, is the Botlr, a small robot that looks like R2D2 in Star Wars, which is located at the Aloft Hotel in Cupertino, able to call the elevator thanks to a Wifi connection to deliver drinks, toothbrush or club sandwich in every floor of the hotel. All you have to do is phone him and ask him for a task. The map of the hotel in memory, this robot is able to move autonomously for hours in the corridors.

If the young and trendy brand of the Starwood group has chosen Cupertino to launch this futuristic butler service it is not randomly. The property is located near the Apple’s headquarters, so its clientele is naturally technophile. She quickly got caught up in the game, according to the comments posted on Tripadvisor: “My children loved orders to the Botlr. They were sad when they said good-bye,” says one client from San Jose.

Satisfied with its Botlr, the Aloft brand has already “hired” a second Relay robot from Savioke to serve Aloft Silicon Valley customers. “We embarked on robotics a few years ago, and this experiment proved what we suspected: humans and robots can co-exist and work together to increase the customer experience,” Brian Mcguinness noticed, Global Director of Starwood’s Select Brands.

Asia: the precursor of high-tech curiosities

But the United States is not the only country to see the development of the hotel digitalisation. Asia, fond of high-tech curiosities, is becoming increasingly robotic and a precursor to this new trend.

At the reception of Henn Na, in Nagasaki, a humanoid woman, a dinosaur and a small robot are doing the check-in. Other robots then take charge of carrying the luggage and in the rooms, Chu-ri-Chan, the mascot of the hotel, regulates the temperature or program the alarm clock on request. What a delight for the children who came with their parents in this establishment located in the Huis Ten Bosch amusement park !

In Singapore, nearly 400 hotels already have high-tech employees, some of them in direct contact with customers, others relieving staff of tedious tasks, such as pushing carts filled with towels. “We also have beverage vending robots, concierge robots and more for room service. They can make several deliveries to different floors in one journey,” says Satya Chandrakumar, Head of Business Development at Techmetics, which offers its solutions at Marina Bay Sands, at Sofitel, Park Avenue Rochester and Fraser Suites in the Cité-Etat.

Investment in these robots is very interesting for Singaporean hotels that are facing a growth in tourism coupled with a shortage of labour. In fact, even if the unit cost of these robots is significant (between US$50,000 and US$65,000 for a lifetime of seven years), the return on investment of these robots is less than one year because they replace three jobs.

A concept which remains to be improved

However, while the concept is innovative and fascinating, robots still have some work to do to compensate for the work of humans. Some firms decided to get rid of their mechanical servers because of their limitations and clumsiness. Robots are unable to understand customer feedback, take orders, serve water, or handle big and heavy suitcases.

Furthermore, according to a study conducted by the Mazars firm among 750 travellers on their expectations regarding new technologies, robots are not among the priority expectations. The value added is rather low for the customer, although it is very strong for the image of the establishment. 

And tomorrow ?

Research on improving these robots in hotels continues to be conducted. Researchers at the University of Cornell, for example, are working on a barista robot, which is also intelligent because it adapts to coffee machines other than those on which it was trained. It will probably not be long before these new machines appear behind the counters. 

But in the future, will robots be able to recognize regulars and offer them a drink from time to time? Will they be able to meet unexpected customer expectations?

What Bernard Boutboul, creator and general manager of the firm Gira Conseil, answers negatively: "The day we replace humans in dining halls by robots, it will be the end of restaurants, because we must not forget a fundamental element of the hospitality business: these are service jobs!"

"In the dining room, it’s a show and in the kitchen, it’s a gadget"

(Bernard Boutboul, creator and general manager of the firm Gira Conseil)

In any case, robots could actually have a real impact on hospitality personnel, knowing that, according to the research organization Mckinsey Global Institute, 54% of the actions carried out in the restaurant and hotel industry can potentially be carried out by a robot. A perspective which is puzzling…

So, gadget or future of the hospitality, what do you think?

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