Japanese hotel to use robot staff

Japanese hotel to use robot staff

A new hotel in southern Japan is about to open and its robot staff are ready.

There is one at the reception to welcome and check guests in, another to carry bags and operate a locker room.

In a media preview on Wednesday at Henn-na Hotel, which translates to “weird hotel”, a dinosaur robot greeted those who went to the concierge counter.

The brains behind this project is Hideo Sawada, CEO of low-cost travel agent H.I.S..

“Of course these robots cannot just replace all human labour, but in terms of being friendly and polite, they are unbeatable. That’s why I asked developers to make robots for this hotel,” he said in an interview with TV Tokyo.

There are other technological innovations in the hotel — facial recognition will allow guests to enter their room without the hassle of carrying around a hotel key.

Inside the room itself, an interactive tulip-shaped robot responds to guest’s commands to set alarms or adjust the light. The radiation panels installed in each room will automatically raise or lower the room temperature to a comfortable level for guests, by detecting their body heat.

All this electricity will be partly powered by solar energy, which will cut down on costs, the hotel said.

Sawada said the concept is aimed at travelers on a budget.

“I think low-cost hotels will become a trend just as low-cost airlines did. This is the first attempt toward that,” he said.

Room rates begin at 7000 yen ($56) per night, but will be auctioned to the highest bidder during peak season.

The company also runs the Huis Ten Bosch theme park, where the hotel is located. Henn-na hotel is scheduled to open to the public on Friday.

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