Is it artificial inn-telligence?
Machines are seemingly rendering us obsolete in every sector, from manufacturing to the restaurant industry. In a recent example, an Argentinian tourist was taken aback after discovering that her hotel in Japan had replaced its receptionists with talking robots, as seen in a dystopian TikTok video with more than 845,000 views.
“The receptionists are robots,” wailed the traveler — who goes by @manuenalemania — in the clip, before panning to the cybernetic clerks, who stand stiffly behind the counter in white outfits and pillbox hats like something out of “Blade Runner.”
“Don’t look at me, don’t look at me, don’t look at me,” frets the TikTokker as one of the robo-receptionists greets her.
At one point, it even wishes her a “delightful stay.”
She was reportedly staying at a Henn na Hotel — “Henn na” translates to “strange” in Japanese — in Tokyo, a chain that enlists a variety of humanoid hospitality bots to cater to guests, The Travel reported. The first Henn na opened in Nagasaki with the goal of revolutionizing the hospitality industry by providing visitors with more expedient service.
There are now more than 20 branches of the futuristic inns, whose lobbies are staffed by either humanoid or — wait for it — dinosaur droids. Other high-tech amenities include interactive holograms and RoBoHoN, a mobile robot assistant.
While the intent was to enhance the check-in experience, Manu found the experience extremely unsettling.
“You scare me a lot,” she says to one of the automatons while checking in. She scans her passport at the automated kiosk and inputs the dates of her stay, after which the machine deposits a key card.
That’s when the robot addresses her.
“Your check-in is now complete,” the droid rigidly declares. “We hope you have a delightful stay at our hotel.”
It then bows, prompting the freaked-out Manu to exclaim, “Ay noooooooo!”
Commenters were similarly creeped out by the check-in droids, whose role appears to be purely cosmetic.
“You study hospitality for this,” said one, commenting on the phenomenon of robots replacing human staff.
“At least they didn’t treat you badly,” said another, while others compared the bots to something out of the sci-fi thriller series “Black Mirror.”
Coincidentally, Henna has notably “furloughed” over half of its 240 robotic staffers due to operational challenges, including malfunctions and a failure to meet guest expectations, which ironically created more work for their flesh-and-blood counterparts, the Travel reported.
Many customers claimed that the robot receptionists would often misinterpret commands, highlighting the limitations of this so-called high-tech hospitality.
As such, Henna has hired more human employees to pick up the slack.
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