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 stunned after discovering that her hotel in Japan had replaced its receptionists with talking robots, as seen in a dystopian TikTok video with greater than 845,000 views.
“The receptionists are robots,” wailed the traveler — who goes by @manuenalemania — within 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 take a look at me, don’t take a look at me, don’t take a look at me,” frets the TikTokker as one among 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 series that enlists a wide range of humanoid hospitality bots to cater to guests, The Travel reported. The primary Henn na opened in Nagasaki with the goal of revolutionizing the hospitality industry by providing visitors with more expedient service.
There are actually greater 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 reinforce the check-in experience, Manu found the experience extremely unsettling.
“You scare me so much,” she says to one among the automatons while checking in. She scans her passport on 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 might have a pleasant 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 the least they didn’t treat you badly,” said one other, 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 because of operational challenges, including malfunctions and a failure to fulfill guest expectations, which mockingly created more work for his or her flesh-and-blood counterparts, the Travel reported.
Many purchasers claimed that the robot receptionists would often misinterpret commands, highlighting the restrictions of this so-called high-tech hospitality.
As such, Henna has hired more human employees to choose up the slack.
