A recent University of Houston report on robots in hospitality claims that by 2030 over a quarter of hospitality jobs will be replaced by robots. Will robots ever replace all humans in hospitality? Next-gen technology will undoubtedly replace mundane, repetitive, and dangerous jobs in hospitality performed by housekeepers, porters and baggage handlers, concierges, security guards, line cooks, room service, bartenders, waiters, etc. Some hoteliers claim that hospitality is an industry of "people serving people" and robots will be playing only a marginal role. Others, citing the high labor costs which constitute as much as 50%-84% of overall hotel costs in these low travel demand, low occupancies era, predict that robots will replace humans in all dangerous, repetitive and mundane jobs at the property.

The question is, are robots coming to a hotel near you anytime soon? 

Ian Millar
Ian Millar
Manager of Institute of Business Creativity & Senior Lecturer at EHL Hospitality Business School

Robots No!, No!, No! so no R2D2 coming soon in a hotel. But automation yes as a first step. Hospitality is ripe for RPA and many benefits can be taken from that. Maybe one day physical robots will in hotels but positioning this as a labour cost reduction option and really seeing this wrongly. Robots will need constant attention and maintenance. so you will need to employ extra engineers to "service" the robots. they are currently cumbersome and slow and have limited capabilities. A hotel employee could carry bags to a room, then fold napkins and polish cutlery. there is not one robot today that could do all three tasks with the same precision and timing as a human.

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