Multi-stakeholder perspectives on the impacts of service robots in urban hotel rooms

The main purpose of this exploratory research study was to determine urban hotel guest, manager, and staff perspectives on the impacts in terms of costs and benefits of the introduction of service robots in rooms. It was conducted to fill a literature gap on multi-stakeholder perspectives on the use of in-room service robots. Using a variety of data collection methods including a survey and interviews, the perspectives of stakeholder groups were found to be dissimilar. Hotel guests perceived more benefits than expenses while management views were more focused on the costs and technical aspects. Managers and financial officers primarily had a return on investment perspective on hotel robot use. The negative attitudes held by hotel managers toward service robots were related to costs of implementation and a concern that these costs could not be recouped. The technology readiness index, service robot acceptance model, and technology organization environment (TOE) framework were applied to examine guest perceptions and adoption attitudes.