In Nagasaki, Japan, a new hotel called the Henn-na just opened up. It’s nicknamed “Strange Hotel” for a reason. This hotel is run by robots!
That’s not a sarcastic catch phrase or put down, that’s the truth. A lady robot will check you in and bow to you, literally. A dinosaur robot will serve as your concierge and entertain the kids. Robots will handle your bags and give you travel suggestions. You don’t even use a room key. You use facial recognition technology. Don’t expect a hotel bar, restaurant, diner, or continental breakfast or even an in-room refrigerator, microwave, or coffee maker at Henn-na. You get snacks from a vending machine. The goal of this technology on steroids is to cut cost, save energy, and give customers an experience they’ve never have before. Though the hotel owner admits it was expensive to get the robotic system set up, he believes it will be much cheaper than human labor cost. Rooms at Strange Hotel start at around $80 a night.
Keep in mind Japan is obsessed with robot culture. They’re robots that serve as store greeters, psychiatrists, even as companions. But an all robot hotel is creepy on all levels, even for Japan. What if there is a robot malfunction? What if something goes wrong? Who are you going to report to? I know humans can be difficult to deal with at times. So I can see the appeal of an all robot hotel from that perspective. I just don’t share that perspective. According to a JD Poll, most American and Canadian travelers don’t. Most of us prefer a human being checking us in. We prefer our microwaves, refrigerators, and continental breakfasts. And what about jobs? The hotel/hospitality industry accounts for millions of jobs around the world, from minimum wage to executive jobs. How are you just going to toss all these working people out on the ground just to save the CEO money? Good luck explaining that one. And it’s still $80 a night. With the exception a handful of cities, I can still find a nice human run hotel for that much or less. Would you stay at a robot hotel?