“Imagine arriving at this hotel in Tokyo at midnight and finding this. It’s giving me the creeps.”
In an era where technology is making us double-think what we once considered impossible, it seems we are losing the capacity to be amazed every time we encounter a new high-tech product. That is until we see a humanoid robot welcoming us behind the front desk of a hotel.
Highlights
- Spanish influencer Carla Domènech shared her experience with humanoid robot clerks at a hotel in Tokyo.
- Many people found the robot clerks unsettling, while others raised concerns about the future of hospitality workers.
- Carla mentioned that the hotel also had human clerks at the front desk.
Spanish influencer Carla Domènech is a well-traveled woman. She spent a month in Thailand, strolled through the streets of Prague, and visited the mesmerizing Sahara Desert in Morocco. Yet she was completely taken aback during one of her recent trips to the Japanese capital when she encountered a pair of unlikely hotel clerks and realized she would not be able to communicate with either of them.
Image credits: carladomenechp
“I need to show you something that’s really scary,” Carla began narrating in her video posted on June 7, which immediately caught people’s attention and received thousands of comments.
She proceeded to focus her camera on a pair of humanoid robots smiling behind the counter in their cream-colored uniforms.
“I’ll talk to them,” Carla announced before greeting the pair in Spanish. To her surprise, she received an answer in Japanese. She then said “Hello” again, this time in English. Once again, the female-like robot responded in the local language.
"Imagine arriving at this hotel in Tokyo at midnight and finding this. It's giving me the creeps," the Spanish tourist said
Image credits: carladomenechp
Image credits: carladomenechp
The young woman then walked to the front of the nearby desk to see if the other android “spoke” English. After waving her hand in front of the humanoid’s face to try to get a reaction, she realized that the check-in process would be far more complicated than she had expected, as this one, too, didn’t seem to understand her.
“I don’t get it. I’m really scared…I can’t even look them in the eyes,” the tourist can be heard saying at the end of the video.
In the comments, people began drawing comparisons to horror films, stating they would change hotels if they were in her place and expressing concern over the future of hospitality workers—or customer service employees in general.
Watch Carla's experience at the high-tech Henn na Hotel below
“I’d run away and leave everything behind... you can send it to me by mail. But I’d look for another hotel. How awful!” a TikTok user commented about the intimidating humanoids.
“Shouldn’t they speak several languages? It’s the least they can do since they are machines…” another argued.
“How gloomy…It seems like the beginning of a horror film,” a separate user chimed in.
“Well, this will be normal soon. Everything will be operated by artificial intelligence, robots, and machines,” someone else penned.
Carla put (some of) these worries to rest after clarifying that the hotel also had human clerks at the front desk.
The post sparked comparisons to horror films and raised concerns about the future of hospitality workers
Image credits: tokyo-ginza
The presence of robots in hotels isn’t a new phenomenon in a country known for its high-tech industry like Japan.
In 2015, the Henn na Hotel was certified by Guinness World Records as the first hotel with working robots. The decision to make robot-operated services—from reception to room service, security, and cleaning— was born out of a fear that there may be a shortage of as many as 3,000 hotel rooms in Tokyo for the 2020 Olympics, ReedSmith reported.
At the time, it was thought that robot-staffed hotels might be part of the solution to this problem.
However, even if the decision streamlined service, it ultimately led to some complaints from guests who missed traditional human interactions when the robots failed to understand their accents or didn’t respond adequately to non-pre-programmed questions.
According to a report by Allied Market Research, the hospitality robots market is expected to reach $3.08 billion by 2030
Image credits: tokyo-ginza
The hotel has since reduced its 243-robotic workforce by more than half while retaining the human-like employees in areas where they were found to be effective and cost-efficient.
The Henn na chain, where Carla was staying, has five hotels in Tokyo that are operated by humanoid robots.
According to a report by Allied Market Research, the hospitality robots market is expected to reach $3.08 billion by 2030.
The reactions to Carla’s video highlight that many travelers may not be ready to welcome this change with open arms yet. What some have interpreted as a symbol of technological advancement, others perceive as unsettling experiences that can feel too distant or cold compared to the warmth of human interactions.