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Purpose: The goal of the chapter is to define customer attitudes towards robots in travel, tourism and hospitality (TTH) and to analyse their most significant characteristics.

Design/methodology/approach: The book chapter develops a conceptual framework of attitudes towards robots in travel, tourism and hospitality, based on critical analysis of relevant publications.

Findings: The chapter provides a definition and discussion of the characteristics of customer attitudes towards robots in TTH. It elaborates the structural elements of attitudes towards robots, and the links and interactions between the elements.

Research limitations: Research limitations stem from the small number of studies on customer attitudes towards robots in TTH.

Practical implications: The theoretical analysis can be used as a starting point for empirical studies of customer attitudes towards robots in travel, tourism and hospitality.

Social implication: Combined services, based on human employee-service robot collaboration, are the optimal decision for forming favourable customer attitudes towards robotisation and automation in tourism and hospitality. In that way clients’ needs of high technological convenience, interpersonal communication and socialisation are met simultaneously.

Originality/value: This research is among the few publications that study customer attitudes towards robots in travel, tourism and hospitality. The authors develop a matrix of users’ attitudes and behaviours when using robots in travel, tourism and hospitality.

Building on both the uncanny valley and construal level theories, the analyses detailed in this paper aims to address customers’ explicit and implicit attitudes toward various service robots, categorized by the degree of their human-like appearance, namely, mechanoids (low human-likeness), humanoids (medium human-likeness) and realistic robots (high human-likeness).

The analyses reflect a mixed-method approach, across three studies. A qualitative study uses focus groups to identify consensual attitudes. An experiment measures self-reported, explicit attitudes toward the three categories of robots. Another experiment explores customers’ implicit attitudes (unconscious and unintentional) toward robots, using three implicit association tests.

Customers express both positive and negative attitudes toward service robots. The realistic robots lead to both explicit and implicit negative attitudes, suggesting that customers tend to reject these robots in frontline service settings. Robots with lower human-likeness levels generate relatively more positive attitudes and are accepted to nearly the same extent as human employees in hospitality and tourism contexts.

Because customers reject, both consciously and unconsciously, very human-like robots in service encounters, managers should leverage this key finding, along with the more detailed results, to inform their strategic introduction of robots into hospitality frontline service settings.

The combined qualitative and quantitative studies specify and clarify customers’ implicit and explicit attitudes toward robots with different levels of human-likeness, in the real-world setting of hospitality and tourism services. Such insights can inform continued research into the effects of these service innovations.

This study aims to apply the service robot acceptance model (sRAM) to examine how attitude toward human–robot interaction (HRI) and engagement influence consumer acceptance of service robots in a frontline setting.

Data was collected from 255 visitors who interacted with a robotic tour guide at a city museum. The data was analyzed using smart PLS 4.0.

The findings show the positive effects of subjective norms, appearance, perceived trust and positive emotion on both attitude toward HRI and engagement. In addition, social capability impacted attitude toward HRI, whereas perceived usefulness affected engagement.

To deliver engaging museum experiences that bring about positive word-of-mouth and intention to visit, managers need to incorporate the sRAM dimensions in the design and deployment of service robots.

This research uses field data to empirically validate the sRAM in the context of service robot acceptance. It introduces engagement as a novel mediating variable, enriching current understanding of human-like qualities in HRIs.

The hotel industry has witnessed an increasing number of service automation through service robots such as robot concierges. However, few studies have documented how to identify how hotel guests perceive a robot concierge for their service encounter. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the effects of robot concierges on hotel guests’ attitudes and adoption intentions of robot concierges.

This study investigated the effects of robot concierges’ morphology and their level of interactivity with guests at different levels of hotel service on guests’ attitudes and their intentions to adopt robot concierges. To achieve the study’s objectives, this study conducted a 3 × 2 × 3 between-subjects factorial design experiment. Moreover, the survey asked questions about subjects’ preferences of their service encounters (e.g. human employees, robot concierges and/or no preference) and reasons for their selected preference.

The results demonstrated that the robot’s morphology significantly influenced guests’ attitudes toward robot concierges. In particular, the caricatured robot was the most preferred morphology of robot concierges. The findings showed that even if guests had favorable attitudes toward robot concierges, they preferred human employees to robot concierges because of humans’ sincere and genuine interactions.

This study contributes to the literature by investigating the causal impacts of the morphology of robot concierges, level of interactivity and level of hotel service on guests’ attitudes toward robot concierges. The thematic analysis of service encounter preference provides an overview of the factors that guests expect for their service encounters in a hotel setting.

The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate what aspects of service robot interactions with customers can lead to meaningful outcomes in the view of customers. The study examines functional and emotional elements of AI service robots in terms of meaningful outcomes.

This study highlights AI service robots' meaningful outcomes as a viable research problem and proposes a research model utilizing the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) framework. As an empirical approach, 260 datasets were collected from customers who have experience with AI service restaurants in China.

The study examines the functional and emotional elements of AI-powered service robots on the attitude of and meaningful outcomes for customers. The results showed that the emotional (perceived friendliness and perceived coolness) and functional (perceived safety and robot competence) attributes of human–robot interactions (HRI) significantly affect the attitude toward using service robots. Second, the attitude toward using service robots significantly influences the experiential outcome and instrumental outcome of meaningful engagement.

This study highlights two elements (i.e. functional and emotional) of HRI effectiveness using two metrics: experiential and performance outcomes. Future studies should generalize the research findings of service robots in the current study using a larger quantity of data from various service fields.

As the first empirical study highlighting the customer experience with service robots, this study opens up a feasible research direction for the service industry to pursue in terms of conducting HRI studies from the view of customers. It identifies a research model pursuant to customers' experience with HRI in creating meaningful outcomes and it theoretically extends the SOR model to the hospitality study, focusing on the HRI issue.

COVID-19 is expected to enhance hospitality robotization because frontline robots facilitate social distancing, lowering contagion risk. Investing in frontline robots emerges as a solution to recover customer trust and encourage demand. However, we ignore how customers perceive these initiatives and, therefore, their efficacy. Focusing on robot employment at hotels and on Generation Z customers, this study aims to analyze guests’ perceptions about robots’ COVID-19 prevention efficacy and their impact on booking intentions.

This study tests its hypotheses combining an experimental design methodology with partial least squares. Survey data from 711 Generation Z individuals in Spain were collected in 2 periods of time.

Generation Z customers consider that robots reduce contagion risk at hotels. Robot anthropomorphism increases perceived COVID-19 prevention efficacy, regardless of the context where the robots are used. Robots’ COVID-19 prevention efficacy provokes better attitudes and higher booking intentions.

The sampling method used in this research impedes this study’s results generalization. Further research could replicate this study using random sampling methods to ensure representativeness, even for other generational cohorts.

Employing robots as a COVID-19 prevention measure can enhance demand, especially if robots are human-like. Hoteliers need to communicate that robots can reduce contagion risk, particularly in markets more affected by COVID-19. Robots must be employed in low social presence contexts. Governments could encourage robotization by financially supporting hotels and publicly acknowledging its benefits regarding COVID-19 prevention.

This study combines preventive health, robotics and hospitality literature to study robot implementation during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on Generation Z guests – potential facilitators of robot diffusion.

The hospitality industry in developed countries is under pressure due to labor shortages and it is likely more food and beverage operations will have to be automated in the future. This research investigates the public’s perceptions of the use of robots in food and beverage operations to learn about how the public perceives automation in food and beverage.

Data were collected from a survey disseminated online in 12 languages, resulting in a sample of 1,579 respondents. The data were analyzed using factor analysis and OLS regressions.

The data also reveal that generally positive attitudes toward the use of robots in tourism and hospitality is a strong indicator of positive attitudes toward the use of robots in an F&B setting. The data also illustrate that the public’s perception of appropriateness of the use of robots in F&B operations is positively related to robots’ perceived reliability, functionality and advantages compared to human employees.

The implications illustrate that the public seems to be generally accepting robots in food and beverage operations, even considering the public’s understanding and acceptance of the limitations of such technologies.

The research suggests that a critical element in terms of incorporating automation into future food and beverage operations is encouraging consumers to have generally positive attitudes toward the use of robots in hospitality and tourism industries.

This survey is based upon the data gathered in multiple countries to learn about how individuals perceive the use of robots in food and beverage operations, illustrating the attitudes that will assist or hinder the automation of this service industry.

This study aims to investigate the consumer acceptance of robots in hotels before and after COVID-19, with a specific emphasis on whether COVID-19 had a significant effect on the acceptance of robots by hotel guests and whether guests had higher levels of acceptance of hotel robots since the initial COVID-19 outbreak was brought under control in China.

The sample for this research included Chinese hotel guests before and after COVID-19, with 247 responses obtained before its outbreak and a further 601 responses gathered after. Several hypotheses were developed and tested in a pseudo-experimental design.

The results showed that COVID-19 increased hotel guest acceptance of robots. After COVID-19, the perceived importance of the usefulness, social influence, attitude and value of robots increased, while the perceived importance of the ease of use and anthropomorphism of robots decreased. As a contactless service, the usefulness of robots was more valued by customers. This led customers to lower their requirements for the ease of use of robots. In addition, people were more concerned about the social influences on robot use.

Hotel guest attitudes and behavioral intentions toward robots and the services they can provide are changing. However, whether this change is purely ephemeral and motivated by a pragmatic stance triggered by COVID-19 remains to be established.

The hospitality industry is encouraged to create a new profile of guests in terms of their favorable or unfavorable disposition toward being served by robots. Hotels should consider the deployment of robots according to the demographic characteristics of customers (e.g. according to guest age levels).

This research demonstrated that major crises affect customer attitudes and behaviors toward new technologies. COVID-19 resulted in guests paying more attention to the advantages of services offered by hotel robots as a means of reducing the probability of contagion.

疫情前后酒店机器人非接触式服务的技术接受度对比研究

摘要

本研究调查了新冠疫情爆发前后酒店顾客对机器人接受程度的变化, 重点研究了新冠疫情是否对机器人的潜在接受程度有显著影响, 以及自疫情在中国得到控制以来, 顾客对酒店机器人的接受程度是否有所提高。

本研究的样本主要是新冠疫情爆发前后的中国酒店顾客, 在疫情爆发前收集了217份样本, 在疫情爆发后收集了601份样本。研究提出了若干假设, 并采用伪实验设计进行了检验。

结果显示, 新冠疫情的爆发提高了酒店顾客对机器人的潜在接受度。新冠疫情后, 机器人的有用性, 社会影响, 态度和价值的影响增加了, 而机器人的易用性和拟人化的影响降低了。由于机器人的无接触服务, 使得顾客更加关注有用性。这导致顾客对易用性的关注降低。此外, 顾客更加关注使用机器人的社会影响。

酒店顾客对机器人服务的态度和行为意图正在发生变化。然而, 这一变化是否是短暂的, 只是由新冠疫情驱动的, 仍有待确定。

我们鼓励酒店业根据客人对机器人的接受/不接受程度来创建一个新的客户档案。酒店也可以根据顾客的人口统计学特征（比如年龄）来部署机器人。

这项研究表明, 重大灾难会影响顾客对新技术的态度和行为。 COVID-19的爆发导致客人更加关注酒店机器人的服务优势（降低传染概率）。

Aceptación de la tecnología antes y después de la pandemia del COVID-19: Servicios ofrecidos por robots en hoteles

Resumen

Esta investigación analiza la aceptación por parte de clientes del uso de robots en hoteles antes y después del comienzo de la pandemia del COVID-19, prestando una atención especial a si dicha pandemia ha tenido un efecto significativo sobre los niveles de aceptación de robots por parte de clientes en hoteles en China a raíz de la pandemia del COVID-19.

La muestra de este estudio incluye clientes de hoteles en China encuestados antes y después del brote de COVID-19, con 247 cuestionarios recogidos antes del brote y otros 601 después del mismo. Este estudio incluye una serie de hipótesis puestas a prueba adoptando un diseño de investigación de carácter pseudo-experimental.

Los resultados de este estudio apuntan a que el brote de COVID en China conllevó un incremento en la proporción de los clientes de hoteles propensos a aceptar el uso de robots en este contexto. Después de la pandemia, hubo un incremento en la percepción de la importancia de su utilidad, influencia social, actitud y valor de los robots en este contexto, mientras que descendió la percepción de la importancia de la facilidad del use de robots y antropomorfismo descendió. Como servicio sin necesidad de contacto físico, la utilidad de los robots en hoteles fue más valorada por los clientes Esto produjo una disminución en los requisitos de los usuarios en lo referente a la facilidad del uso de robots en hoteles. Además, los participantes en esta encuesta se mostraron más propensos a valorar la influencia sobre la sociedad del uso de robots.

La actitud de clientes de hoteles y su aceptación del uso de robots en este contexto, así como los servicios que éstos proveen están cambiando rápidamente. No obstante, aún no se sabe con certeza hasta que punto estos cambios son meramente efímeros y motivados por una actitud pragmática hacia la crisis creada por la pandemia del COVID-19.

El sector de la hostelería debería intentar desarrollar un perfil de clientes nuevo en lo referente a su grado de aceptación de los robots como parte de los servicios ofrecidos. Los hoteles deberían considerar el uso de robots en los servicios ofrecidos dependiendo de las características demográficas de sus clientes (ejem. Nivel de estudios y formación).

Este estudio demuestra que las crisis de gran magnitud, como lo es la pandemia actual de COVID-19, pueden afectar las actitudes y comportamientos del consumidor en lo referente al uso de nuevas tecnologías. La pandemia del COVID-19 ha llevado a muchos clientes de hoteles a prestar una mayor atención a las ventajas de los servicios ofrecidos por robots como forma de reducir las posibilidades de contagio.

This study profiles and segments potential tourists on the basis of their various attitudes toward artificial intelligence (AI) services. Furthermore, this study distinguishes descriptors among the different clusters, such as preference for using diverse AI services, overall image of AI services, willingness to use AI services (WUAI), willingness to pay more for AI services (WPAI) in tourism and hospitality, and characteristics of respondents.

An online survey was conducted in South Korea. Data on 758 potential tourists were used for K-means cluster analysis.

This study identified three distinct tourist segments with differentiated attitudes toward AI services: the group aspiring to use or fantasizing about AI services (Cluster 1), the group being knowledgeable and supportive of AI services (Cluster 2), and the group having low interest about AI services (Cluster 3).

Members of Cluster 2 were the most marketable as this segment exhibited the greatest knowledge of and support for AI services, while Cluster 1 would be an ideal segment to launch and test novel AI services.

This study extends the authors’ knowledge of AI scholarship by unpacking the existing market segments, which could be tapped to sustain AI penetration in the tourism industry. Hence, this study contributes to existing debates on AI scholarship, which is predominated by conceptual reflections and issues of AI services in the tourism and hospitality field.

This study investigates human behavior, specifically attitude and anxiety, toward humanoid service robots in a hotel business environment.

The researcher adopted direct observations and interviews to complete the study. Visitors of Henn-na Hotel were observed and their spatial distance from the robots, along with verbal and non-verbal behavior, was recorded. The researcher then invited the observed hotel guests to participate in a short interview.

Most visitors showed a positive attitude towards the robot. More than half of the visitors offered compliments when they first saw the robot receptionists although they hesitated and maintained a distance from them. Hotel guests were also disappointed with the low human–robot interaction (HRI). As the role of robots in hotels currently remains at the presentation level, a comprehensive assessment of their interactive ability is lacking.

This study contributes to the HRI theory by confirming that people may treat robots as human strangers when they first see them. When a robot's face is more realistic, people expect it to behave like an actual human being. However, as the sample size of this study was small and all visitors were Asian, the researcher cannot generalize the results to the wider population.

Current robot receptionist has limited interaction ability. Hotel practitioners could learn about hotel guests' behavior and expectation towards android robots to enhance satisfaction and reduce disappointment.

Prior robot research has used questionnaires to investigate perceptions and usage intention, but this study collected on-site data and directly observed people's attitude toward robot staff in an actual business environment.