Hospitality bosses are reconsidering automation as labour costs surge – but will it work?
The reception workers at the Henn na – or “Weird” – Hotel gaze blankly at guests.
Some of the uncanny staff members look like Japanese women. Others are talking Velociraptors. All of them are robots.
In fact, the novelty Tokyo hotel is known for being the first in the world to be “run by” machines. They speak different languages and carry out front-of-house tasks such as greetings, check-in and tourist information.
Bosses have claimed the robots could eventually yield savings of 75pc on labour costs.
Tellingly, however, the hotel still relies on a small army of human “stagehands” for the important jobs that require the most manpower. They take care of mishaps, tidy up bedrooms, water the plants and keep hard-to-reach areas free of cobwebs.
Until now, deploying robots has seemed more like a gimmick than a serious strategy to hospitality bosses, who aren’t interested in using machines that will only slow them down.
Yet with the technology improving rapidly, many are now re-examining how automation could shake up the industry.
One veteran executive says this is primarily being driven by labour costs, which have surged in Europe and the US.
READ MORE: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/09/05/the-hotels-hiring-robots-to-cut-their-wage-bills/