The 50th edition of ITB Berlin saw travel technology take it up a notch. Amongst other things that dazzled the trade show, robot humanoids greeted the visitors with a much human-like accord. At the entrance to Berlin’s exhibition hall where thousands of travel industry professionals had gathered for the trade show, ChihiraKanae, the robot, greeted visitors—in English, German, Chinese and Japanese.

Robots are making an entry into the hospitality industry that has until now always prided itself on delivering a warm and personable touch. ChihiraKanae was dressed in a blue jacket and a neck scarf  at the ITB Berlin. Her first European welcome was immensely anticipated as a great move in the travel industry. There she sought employment for herself and her kind alike. Three months ago, her “sister” began working as a meet-and-greeter in a Tokyo shopping centre. Their creator, Toshiba, also foresees a great future ahead for them in tourism.

Oxford University’s Carl Benedikt Frey, Co-Director of the Oxford Martin Programme on Technology and Employment at the Oxford Martin School believes that robots do have a big future in the industry. He quoted

“In tourism, quite a few jobs remain non-automatable, like concierges or chefs. But a wide range of jobs is very much sustainable to automation”

He suggested that robots could diversify technology usage in travel space as it would reduce dependency on manual labour. It would also further encourage cost cutting. The key is that they should be allowed to do tasks that require basic communication.

The industry has seen organisations like Savioke who are creating this artificial intelligence to assist the hospitality sector. The trend started picking up when 2015 saw Henn na Hotel, Japan run a pilot on using these humanoids as receptionists. Connect here to find the entire story.

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Come October and all eyes will be on Singapore as it plays host to TravelRave 2015, Asia’s Premier Travel & Tourism Week. The sixth edition of this world class festival boasts of a fantastic line up of events including Web in Travel 2015, ITB Asia 2015 and many more. One of the key conferences scheduled to take place during TravelRave 2015 is the 6th annual Hotel Technology Conference. It brings together CIOs, CTOs, General Managers, Information Officers and Operations Managers of hotel properties over a common platform. Hotel executives will be discussing the implementation of emerging tech in the hospitality industry.

Speakers from popular hotel chains and thought leaders will be also sharing their success stories, insights and first hand experiences. It is expected that the conference will be attended by about 200 delegates from across the Asia Pacific region. The 6th Hotel Technology Conference will be taking place on 22nd October, 2015 at Cassia Ballroom 3/F, Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.

Image Credit: Hotel Technology Conference, 2014

Some Sessions to watch-out for

• Those who come early, can grab a Selfie with Savioke, the robot that also helps with delivery of items in hotel chains. Steve Cousins, CEO of Savioke will also be talking about how we can use Robots for task management in hotels. (Also Read: Robot hotels will be the future but are we going to see them in India?)
• Beacons are being talked about the across the entire travel industry and the hotel segment is no different. This session will focus on how beacons can be used to build engagement with guests. (Also Read: How an Indian Traveller’s Journey will change with Beacons?)
• Tony Lee, Vice President, at The Ascott Limited will be talking about the role wearable technology can play in the hotel industry.
• There will also be a cracking panel on Mobility to discuss all things mobile and how guests and hotels are equipping themselves with its rapid evolution.
• Ken Kline, Senior Director of IT, Carlson Rezidor will be sharing results from their study that examines the reasons behind low guest satisfaction due to internet access.

There are just some of the sessions from an exciting line-up of talks & panel discussions. You can view the entire schedule over here. To register for this conference, visit here.

TravHQ is proud to be the Media Partner for Hotel Technology Conference.

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Robots are making buildings, driving cars, cleaning houses, mowing lawns, working in banks and now will also manage hotels. In Japan, Henn na hotel (which appropriately translates into ‘weird’) recently opened its doors for guests from across the world. It is a budget hotel but what sets it apart is the fact that it is largely managed by robots.

You are greeted by a female humanoid at the front desk (or a slightly scary dinosaur if you would prefer English over Japanese). The guests have to respond by pressing keys at the desk. This hotel runs as a part of an amusement park and according to the hotelier, this move isn’t just a gimmick but a serious attempt to employ technology to increase efficiency.

Set yourself to be greeted by a dinosaur at Henn na hotel in Japan

What is beyond the front desk?

At this robot hotel, guests don’t have to bother about carrying room keys, and no there aren’t any mobile based keyless systems in place like Starwood. A digital image of the guest is saved during check-in which is then used to unlock the room door using facial recognition technology. The luggage is carried to the room by robot porters and another tiny robot inside the room tells you the weather and sets your alarms. There are actually no human beings at this robot hotel and the only role that they have is to monitor the functioning of the system.

Are they the only one doing this?

Miles away in United States, Aloft, a Starwood brand, is experimenting with Botlr, a robot which looks straight out of Star Wars series and can potentially handle the job of routine room-service inside the hotel. Developed by Savioke, this little robot can hold small items like toiletries and newspapers and deliver them to the guest rooms. The hotel staff has to load the requested items and dial in the room number. With pre-programmed maps and motion sensing technologies similar to Microsoft Kinect, the Botlr can find its way around the hotel. You can watch the video to see Botlr in action.

In New York, YOTEL uses robots to take care of jobs like making coffee, delivering laundry, cleaning rooms and other similar jobs. It is not just the robots that hotels are experimenting with. New technologies like keyless entry, mobile check-ins, smart mirrors and many others are going to change the human dependent hotel industry. While the adoption is picking up gradually, we do expect premium hotel chains to integrate the technology driven experience as a customer retention strategy.

Should we expect a robot hotel in India?

Booking a hotel has always been a costly affair in Japan. A room night at a decent hotel in Japan can cost around $200-$220 and Henn na is offering rooms at $80 putting it in the budget segment. Of course, the initial investment would have been high for the hotel but in the near future, they should be able to make sizable savings on operating costs. The population of Japan is declining and there are a large number of old people. The immigration policies are also very strict. This leads to very high labour costs and thus employing technology will help cut costs. In India, the scenario is quite the opposite. The labour costs are so low that you cannot actually imagine a human staff being replaced by a programmed robot.

As is the case with new technologies, shifting towards the robot driven hotels will require heavy initial investments. The budget hotel market is still developing and most of the luxury hotel chains are bearing heavy losses. They might not like the idea of another huge investment when they are already grappling with these losses. If a hotel tries to do something similar to Henn na in India, it would be more about making the news and hogging the limelight instead of solving a real user problem.

In California, Botlr isn’t exactly replacing their hotel staff. It is acting more as an enabler to assist the staff in running errands that would otherwise keep them occupied. The delivery of small items will be faster and won’t require having staff members waiting as standby to fulfil the requests. The Savioke team has worked with elevator companies to develop a system that allows Botlr to operate lifts via Wi-Fi to achieve the same.

The Indian hospitality industry can perhaps pick up nuggets from what these hotels are doing to improve the experience of guests, but a hotel like Henn na is still a very far-fetched idea. Delivering late night snacks, assisting differently abled people, controlling room lights digitally and faster check in systems are some areas where they can make a head-start.

It is still too early to comment on how much of an impact the entry of robots in hotels can make, especially in India, but sooner or later, they are going to enter the hospitality industry. Who knows the battle between budget hotel chains might evolve to a different level alltogether 

What we have seen until now is just a start and the future enhancements to such systems could bring a lot more to the table. What’s your take on the robot hotels? Do you think we will see something similar in India soon?

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