The hotel industry for many years has been applying different methods to which they can improve efficiency and customer service for its customers. In Japan, the Henn na Hotel or the Weird Hotel in english, is controlled almost entirely by robots. The hotel is part of an amusement park and it uses a female and dinosaur robots to assist guests to check-in to the hotel.
One of the major point that I want to highlight from this article in the use of intelligence is the efficiency of the robots. The use of robots only requires the guests to input their personal information after instructed to do so. Other innovations included are the automated trolley and the facial recognition system. The trolley aids guests in carrying their luggage and personal belongings to their rooms and the facial recognition is utilized during check-in on the guests as a replacement for electronic keys. I think the facial recognition is a better use of technology because it is more efficient than replacing a lost key and it can ensure that the correct person has access to their room. The trolleys would also serve as very useful compared to personnel because the service would be labour-saving and the multiple trolleys would be able to assist more guests. In addition to that the ‘robot cloak room’ for hotel guests that is operated by a big ‘robotic arm’, stacks and stores guests personal items into a locker. I think that this is a more secure method of preserving personal item compared to a lock and key that could easily be jacked.
Another point that I noted to be important is the cost of staying at the hotel and utilising the different technologies which is said to be cheaper than some more upscale hotels in Japan. The cost of staying in a nicer hotel could be estimated to be ‘twice or three times that much’ as the Henn na Hotel, whose price starts at 9,000 yen.
Finally, the third important point I found to be interesting are the other capabilities the owner of the hotel is considering to apply to the robots which is other languages such as Chinese and Korean. In terms of demographics it would be essential to install other languages to improve communication and robot interactions with humans
The article was successful in explaining the efficiencies of these technology and how it can tremendously improve customer service in hotels, however it is apparent that the hotel will lack some human social interaction because they are programmed in a certain way. In addition to that some humans are still required to work in the hotel for security purposes and a detailed analysis would be required on how security would be preserved.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/16/japans-robot-hotel-a-dinosaur-at-reception-a-machine-for-room-service
I think this is a very interesting innovation, as it will save companies labor costs and allow them to be more competitive overall. By using several AI as employees, with only one human employee, a company will be able to significantly lower direct labor costs and still complete all necessary tasks. I also think it is interesting to see them incorporating multiple languages, as it seems that this technology will lead to greater globalization and international business ventures as well. I suspect that these kinds of innovations will become even more common as AI technology becomes more commonplace, and will help to improve standards of business practice.
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