Where is the human factor in the hotel of the future?

In 2015, a hotel managed by 243 machines opened in Nagasaki (Japan). In 2019, the owners of the chain to which it belongs, Henn na, fired half of that robotic staff, for being incompetent: they did not understand customers well and were more in the way than contributing. His CEO, Hideo Sawada, gave up and then hired people, but not before telling The

Wall Street Journal

that he would return, like the Terminator, to fulfill his dream of an establishment without flesh and blood workers. Some day.

Five years later, the sophisticated technology of the hotel of the future set up by the Hotel Technology Institute (ITH) at Fitur 2024 leads us to wonder if that day has arrived. Here the guest can carry out all the screen processes through, without hardly seeing anyone else's face, thanks to digital platforms, avatars, virtual assistants on WhatsApp, applications to check the dining room capacity or order room service. The question is, where is the human factor in all this?

“Today, the most efficient machine to serve a person is another person,” Álvaro Carrillo, general director of ITH, is quick to respond. “If you let an engineer assemble your hotel, everything can be automated, it is technically possible, but is it what the client wants?” he says. “I want to talk to a person when I understand that what they tell me provides added value,” reflects David Fernández Rubí, CEO and founder of Linguistic Factory, which designs digital

humans

with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Emotional Intelligence. And all that depends on the moment and traveler profile. If you are traveling for work and need to get to your room as soon as possible to prepare for the next day's meeting, perhaps the best thing is a quick

check-in

at a

totem

at the reception and a snack ordered via

app

. But if what he wants is a romantic dinner as a couple, he looks for the receptionist to recommend a restaurant and tell him tricks like “choose the table by the fireplace, it's very special.”

Rufino Pérez, director of operations and head of the global transformation of Minor Hotels for Europe and America, believes that guests demand technology to improve their experience, and that it is up to them to choose how to use it, and how much. “Some profiles choose to deal in person, in a more traditional way; Others prefer to do it all themselves, whenever they want, through our digital platforms,” he details. For the latter, which are on the rise, accommodations are investing in digitalization. The NH group (part of Minor Hotels) has recently incorporated the Alexa Smart Properties for Hospitality service – a solution designed to integrate Alexa AI into the rooms – in its hotels (initially in Barcelona, ​​soon also in Madrid). While ITH and Turisme de la Comunitat Valenciana have inaugurated the first hotel technology room with artificial intelligence, ITH TechYroom 1.0, at the RH Corona del Mar Hotel in Benidorm.

The machine is very useful for solving basic and routine processes, it helps to personalize, but it does not offer the emotional touch nor is it as decisive when a problem arises. It's like when you talk to an e-commerce

chatbot

for more or less simple questions, but you end up asking to speak to an operator if things get complicated. The employee is the added value, and his assistance is an extra, even a luxury, that is recognized and appreciated. “It makes the difference between a correct hotel and one you want to return to,” says Fernández Rubí.

Bulletin

The best travel recommendations, every week in your inbox

RECEIVE THEM

This line of argument is taking shape, solid, until the

millennials

, born between the eighties and the nineties, enter the conversation. Elena Herraiz, 26, and Víctor Gata, 27, form the globe-trotting couple Viajero Extranjero, whose Instagram account is followed by almost 750,000 people. As they themselves confess via video call, their generation avoids human contact more than their predecessors, and feels much more comfortable

messing around,

also when traveling. They at least cannot conceive of taking a getaway (or anything else) without their

smartphone

. “We like everything that can be done from the mobile phone; It saves steps and avoids misunderstandings, especially when you are not interacting in your language,” says Herraiz. Although the least important thing is to talk. “My parents talk on the phone; For me, if I can solve it by

email

, WhatsApp or an

app

, the better, faster,” she adds.

“The smartphone is the great facilitator of

millennials

, who do not want to be disconnected,” concludes an Expedia report on tourists of these ages. Both this study and other recent ones by Amadeus and American Express agree that they like to get off the beaten path and feel local while visiting a destination, but at the same time they demand security and avoid risks; They look for authenticity and personalization to then upload the experience to their social networks. Shaped as their habits are by the immediacy of a mouse click or a button press on the mobile phone, they demand that the things they ask for are already, and good. Technology helps them achieve their aspirations and demands.

Herraiz and Gata believe that in the next age group, generation Z, of which they themselves are borderline, this taste for relating more to technology than to people becomes more acute. “I see him in Elena's brother's group, who is a total Z, and he doesn't consider calling to order a pizza; It is always by application. If they have to call for whatever reason, it is an uncomfortable moment,” says Gata. Both observe that, the younger they are, the more introverted the travelers are, “capable of even missing out on a service they have paid for in order not to interact with people,” they say. “We do complain, we are more protesting,” they laugh. And they value the human factor in a hotel. “Me more than her, I'm a year older,

”

Gata jokes. They resist thinking that the algorithms and avatars of generative artificial intelligence are going to replace people. But they admit: “We have sometimes connected to chats and the answers they give you are incredible, nothing basic, very complex.”