We have all heard of robots greeting guests at Japan’s Henn-na Hotel, and Aloft Hotels’ Botlr, a robotic belltop handing out drinks to sunbathers. The humble vending machine is essentially an automated version of a barman, and self-check-in automates much of the tasks performed by front office staff.
All of these initiatives make guest lives easier and smoother (or, hopefully will do, in the case of the robots), but the real difference will be made in the back-of-house, far away from the hustle and bustle of guest areas.
Robotic process automation
Let’s start with a very new technology that has emerged over the past five years, robotic process automation (RPA). RPA automates many of the repetitive, rules-based, clerical-type tasks that are performed by humans. For example, many large banks employ armies of workers to process loan and mortgage requests, tasks that often boil down to copying and pasting data, moving files from one place to another, etc. Sophisticated RPA software can mimic human activity and be programmed to do exactly what these workers have been doing, only much quicker, 24/7, and with no smoking breaks.
While the technology is most applicable on a large scale – for companies such as banks, insurance companies and utilities – the technology is advancing at such a rate that smaller companies soon will be able to automate many of their own jobs. In most hotels, the accounts department will handle hundreds, if not thousands of invoices a month. Many of these will be processed according to strict rules, and often by human beings, especially in smaller properties. RPA automates the processing of invoices, reducing the need for large accounts departments and providing a significant cost saving for the hotel.
Behind the scenes
Moving from digital to physical robots, while robot butlers may generate the headlines, robots deployed behind the scenes could have even more of an impact. A few years ago, the clever folks at the University of Berkeley created a robot (called Brett) that managed to pick up and fold towels, before laying them down neatly on top of each other. At the time, this took a laughable 24 ½ minutes, but the ability to manipulate “soft” objects represented a breakthrough. Today, Brett is now building Lego, hanging shirts and fixing toys.
Gimmicks aside, the Berkeley team is developing a robot that can operate in what is known as an unstructured 3-D environment, a constantly changing environment that would accurately describe a typical hotel room. If a robot is able to perceive and adapt to its surroundings, and recognize objects, then there is no reason housekeepers could be supported, if not replaced, by robots. Match these robots to the latest speech recognition software (the latest of which by Microsoft has an error rate of an unheard-of 5.9%), and human/robot teams could be truly the stuff of reality, not just dreams.
Tracking performance
Last, another interesting – yet much less obvious – area that can be automated is performance tracking, specifically employee CVs. Mobile learning has taken the industry by storm, with more and more hotel companies choosing to train their employees in language, vocational and upselling skills through mobile, rather than the classroom. This has resulted in reams of performance data that accurately reflects an employee’s skill set, this data doesn’t lie, cannot be embellished by the candidate and makes it easier for employers to compare like-for-like. It will soon be possible to track an employee’s entire career via mobile, from language ability and upselling skills, to hobbies and interests. Mobile test scores will automatically be updated, providing an accurate, third party endorsement of the candidate. We may, finally, see the end of the CV!
Humans still matter
It is hard to see a hotel in the future that is human-free. Guests will always value the human touch, and it is unlikely that artificial intelligence will replicate human creativity and ingenuity in my lifetime. Back-of-house, though, and things are different. Hotels pride themselves on consistency and quality of service, and they achieve this in large part by adhering to a strict set of rules and standards.
Guest rooms need to be cleaned and arranged in the exact same way, every time; clothing in the laundry is folded in a particular way; supplies and food are stacked according to set patterns. This repetition is ripe for automation, and it is only a matter of time before the technology catches up. The immediate benefits of lower costs, less error and higher productivity are obvious. Long term, though, it is anyone’s guess how hotels will evolve in the age of automation.
David Topolewski is CEO of Qooco, which provides mobile language learning and vocational training solutions for employees in the hospitality and service industries.