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Japan hotel ditches the droids and brings back the human touch
It seems the world is not quite ready for a fully automated hotel staffed by robots.
Japan’s Henn na Hotel – dubbed the Strange Hotel – brought in more than 200 droids starting in 2015 to usher in a brave new world of automated hospitality.
However it hasn’t quite gone to plan with about half being given the boot.
After the novelty wore off, the limitations became apparent, with some robots unable to compete with real humans.
Hotel owner Hideo Sawada said humans had to take over some tasks such as photocopying guest passports at the front desk, and robots were not able to deliver guest luggage to all rooms.
They were only able to move on completely flat surfaces.
The in-room virtual assistant called Churi, was unable to answer guest queries and even kept trying to respond to a guest snoring all night.
"When you actually use robots you realize there are places where they aren’t needed — or just annoy people," Sawada told the Wall Street Journal.
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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