Hotel robots with a human touch for post-COVID-19 era

The COVID-19 pandemic has reimagined the hotel and restaurant experience. As face-to-face interaction has necessarily been reduced, touchless transactions and environments have increased. These technological responses to the pandemic help instill confidence in guests and give them a strong sense of safety, trust, and well-being — but only if they are done right. When an industry known for friendliness and warmth adopts new contactless service measures, there is a risk that the human touch will be lost. The good news is that automation has already been proven to be both effective and service minded. Nearly 35 years after Isaac Asimov’s short-story collection “Robot Dreams,” robots are being utilized in the hospitality sector to provide room service, vacuum hallways, sanitize surfaces, and so much more. In this session, we’ll explore the capabilities and limitations of increased automation in an industry that traditionally prides itself on meaningful personal interaction.