Continuous Hospitality with Social Robots at a hotel

Social robots are being increasingly employed in service encounters at hotels. This study explored the possibility that social robots can engage in heartwarming interactions with hotel customers. A collaboration design known as ‘Continuous Hospitality with Social Robots’, in which social robots comp...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inSN applied sciences Vol. 2; no. 3; p. 452
Main Authors Nakanishi, Junya, Kuramoto, Itaru, Baba, Jun, Ogawa, Kohei, Yoshikawa, Yuichiro, Ishiguro, Hiroshi
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cham Springer International Publishing 01.03.2020
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
3. Engineering (general)
Applied and Technical Physics
Chemistry/Food Science
Collaboration
Communication
Cooperation
Customer feedback
Customer satisfaction
Customer services
Design
Earth Sciences
Efficiency
Employees
Engineering
Environment
Field study
Field tests
Heart
Hotels
Hotels & motels
Investigations
Materials Science
Research Article
Robotics
Robots
Service industries
Hotels
Hospitality
Social robots
Heartwarming interaction
Collaboration with robots
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Social robots are being increasingly employed in service encounters at hotels. This study explored the possibility that social robots can engage in heartwarming interactions with hotel customers. A collaboration design known as ‘Continuous Hospitality with Social Robots’, in which social robots compensate for gaps in hospitality through heartwarming interaction, was evaluated. A field test was conducted in which social robots engaged in heartwarming interaction with customers in a public area of a hotel and then collected customers’ impressions of the social robots and overall service via a questionnaire and an interview. The results demonstrate social robots’ potential for engaging in heartwarming interactions that enhance overall customer satisfaction through the use of the ‘Continuous Hospitality with Social Robots’ collaboration design. An exploratory analysis suggests that the perceived impressions of the interaction with social robots are influenced by customer gender and the duration of interactions. Furthermore, the results suggest that social robots could be utilized in other roles at hotels, namely effective advertisement through heartwarming interaction and mental support for employees who do not interact with customers.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
ISSN:2523-3963
2523-3971
DOI:10.1007/s42452-020-2192-7