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ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
There has been much talk of robotics and automation in hospitality, including comments that several hotels and restaurants are replacing their staff with robots. While this may make for great marketing and social media coverage, the reality is very different, as Ian Millar, senior in the entrepreneurship and innovation department at EHL, reveals.
When we say “robotics,” we automatically think of physical robots. However, robots can also be software based, such as AI chatbots and in-room voice assistants. Although robotics and automation have come a long way in the past few years, we are still a long way away from mass adoption. Even with the recent unveiling of Optimus, Tesla’s advanced robot that operates without a tether, the hospitality industry has not seen much more than a few ideas in the robotics space.
Must-have robotics and automation in hospitality Firstly, we need to be clear on the definitions of “robotics” and “automation,” as there are different interpretations. As far
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HOSPITALITY NEWS ME | DEC 2022-JAN 2023
as I am concerned, the current hot topic is robotic process automation (RPA). Uipath defines it as a software technology that makes it easy to build, deploy and manage software robots that emulate human actions, interacting with digital systems and software. In the case of hospitality, rather than hotel staff repeatedly entering information into spreadsheets, RPA software would “learn” this manual process and do it automatically without the need for human intervention. Revenue management teams could be reduced to a few key decision makers. This is a tangible example of how hotels could take the first step into automation, which is significantly more impactful than a robot delivering your toothbrush.
I believe we are approaching robotics from entirely the wrong direction. The biggest impact can be made where we have repetitive, mundane and boring tasks that humans have to do on a daily basis. Think about folding napkins, polishing cutlery and peeling vegetables; robots moving dirty laundry around would be superb. Heavy and back-breaking activities that no one really enjoys could be automated. For me, this is the real starting point. However, logic dictates that the availability and cost of such robots is fundamental. It would be extremely difficult to justify purchasing robots for a few hundred thousand dollars in an area where cheap
