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Purpose: The purpose of this chapter is to elaborate on the major conceptual and practical considerations of the use of robots, artificial intelligence and service automation (RAISA) in travel, tourism, and hospitality companies (TTH).

Design/methodology/approach: The chapter develops a conceptual framework of the major issues related to the use of RAISA in the travel, tourism and hospitality context.

Findings: The findings indicate that while there is a creeping incursion of RAISA into TTH, there are major concerns that the TTH industry has to consider in regard to automating TTH services.

Practical implications: In a practical sense, the chapter identifies the decisions that TTH industry professionals need to take when dealing with RAISA technologies. Furthermore, the chapter elaborates on the impacts RAISA have on business operations, marketing management, human resources and financial management of TTH companies. The TTH industry has to adjust its practices and communicate with its workforce in ways as not to increase Luddite tendencies and resistance among employees.

Social implications: The analysis shows that there is an upcoming era in which automation of services will be so advanced that wealthy countries may not need to import labour to make up with its own aging workforce, suggesting that RAISA and its further development has the potential for disrupting society and international relations.

Originality/value: This chapter provides a comprehensive review of the issues related to the use of RAISA in the TTH industry, including the drivers of RAISA adoption in tourism, advantages and disadvantages of RAISA technologies compared to human employees, decisions that managers need to take, and the impacts of RAISA on business processes. It shows how macroenvironmental pressures shape the microeconomic decisions to use RAISA in a TTH context.

Purpose: The purpose is to introduce the fundamental economic concepts that must be wrestled with the incorporation of robots, artificial intelligence and service automation (RAISA) into the travel, tourism and hospitality industries.

Design/methodology/approach: This chapter uses cost-benefit analytical framework of the incorporation of RAISA technologies into travel, tourism and hospitality industries.

Findings: The chapter elaborates on the economic fundamentals of RAISA adoption into the travel, tourism and hospitality industries. The analysis reveals that many financial and non-financial costs and benefits need to be considered when taking a decision to use RAISA technologies. Automation of tasks leads to simultaneous substitution and enhancement of human employees. Introduction of RAISA technologies results on inevitable deskilling of some and upskilling of other tourism and hospitality jobs.

Research limitations/implications: The chapter is conceptual and conclusions are limited by the views and interpretations of the authors.

Practical implications: RAISA technologies will become increasingly omnipresent in the travel, tourism and hospitality industries. That is why an understanding of the costs and benefits and many of the practical impediments to the incursion of RAISA into the workplace should be understood to make a transition from human-performed tasks to technology-performed tasks.

Social implications: Replacement of human labour will have significant social implications for the workforce and employers.

Originality/value: This is one of the few publications that discuss the economic aspects of the incorporation of RAISA technologies into travel, tourism and hospitality industries.

Purpose: The purpose of this chapter is to review and critically evaluate robots, artificial intelligence and service automation (RAISA) applications in the restaurant industry to educate professors, graduate students, and industry professionals.

Design/methodology/approach: This chapter is a survey of applications of RAISA in restaurants. The chapter is based on the review of professional and peer-reviewed academic literature, and the industry insight section was prepared based on a 50-minute interview with Mr. Juan Higueros, Chief Operations Officer of Bear Robotics.

Findings: Various case studies presented in this chapter illustrate numerous possibilities for automation: from automating a specific function to complete automation of the front of the house (e.g., Eatsa) or back of the house (e.g., Spyce robotic kitchen). The restaurant industry has already adopted chatbots; voice-activated and biometric technologies; robots as hosts, food runners, chefs, and bartenders; tableside ordering; conveyors; and robotic food delivery.

Practical implications: The chapter presents professors and students with a detailed overview of RAISA in the restaurant industry that will be useful for educational and research purposes. Restaurant owners and managers may also benefit from reading this chapter as they will learn about the current state of technology and opportunities for RAISA implementation.

Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this chapter presents the first systematic and in-depth review of RAISA technologies in the restaurant industry.

Purpose: An examination of the uptake and application of Robotic, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation (RAISA) technologies by the events industry.

Design/methodology/approach: Academic and practitioner literature review and analysis pertaining to the relevance of RAISA in events.

Findings: The events industry has tended to rely on automation in staging and event production and the application of RAISA in events has been limited but holds great potential for the future. Whereas, in the hospitality and tourism industries RAISA has been applied across a range of service functions. For example, in such industries, artificial intelligence, machine learning and service robotics technologies have become commonplace. Nonetheless, the same level of adoption of RAISA in events is less evident particularly in front-of-house operation, due largely to the incompatibility with the raison d'être of event attendance – the purposive congregation of people seeking an event experience.

Research limitations/implications: The findings are the views of the authors and are therefore reliant upon existing events management literature on RAISA and their interpretation of this information and its application to the events industry.

Practical implications: RAISA has the capacity to play a crucial technical function in the events industry. However, it needs to be acknowledged that an event is essentially an experiential product which is simultaneously delivered and consumed in a particular setting/venue. RAISA applications and techniques avail event management immense sustainability and growth potential.

Social implications: Events are expressions of human social interactions and activities. Given the recent trend in sports media consumption as a substitute for live event attendance compounded by barriers to event attendance such as heightened terrorism threat and high expense/cost, there is a real risk of degradation of the social significance of the events industry. The prudent uptake of RAISA has the potential to emolliate the barriers to attendance while facilitating effective marketing and industry sustainability.

Originality/value: This chapter provides a new perspective in focusing on the potential applicability of RAISA in event management practice.

Purpose: The development of service automation continues to underpin the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors providing benefits for both customers and service companies. The purpose of this chapter is to showcase the practice of self-service technology (SST) usage in the contemporary tourism and hospitality sectors and present a conceptual framework of customer SST adoption.

Design/Methodology/Approach: This chapter offers an examination of theory, research and practice in relation to SST usage in tourism, highlighting the benefits and drawbacks arising for both customers and service providers. Since the benefits are achieved only if SSTs gain effective adoption with customers, this chapter focuses on concepts underpinning the study of customer SST adoption. Drawing on SST adoption factors and SST customer roles, a conceptual framework of SST adoption is discussed.

Findings/Practical Implications: This chapter examines the principles and practice underpinning the usage of self-service technologies in the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors, with specific reference to customer SST roles in co-creation. The customer SST roles provide a more detailed and nuanced picture of the customer perspective on SST usage. These nuanced roles are captured in a conceptual framework which seeks to further refine the understanding of customer SST adoption.

Research Implications & Originality/Value: The framework provides a useful foundation for further research with a focus on customer empowerment in SSTs. The future development of service automation will require a balance between the delivery of a personalised and smarter customer experience and technology applications that are unobtrusive and which do not pose any ethical or privacy concerns.

Purpose: The research investigates the presence of technology ideologies in consumer discourse on tourism and hospitality robots.

Design/methodology/approach: Using a netnographic approach, the research involved immersion in online discourses and collection of consumer posts from a variety of social media platforms. Data was subjected to a thematic analysis informed by the technology ideology framework described in the literature review.

Findings: Online consumer narratives about tourism and hospitality robots are dynamic and varied and reveal a multitude of technology ideology-related positions. The research confirms the applicability of the technology ideology framework to online discourses on service robots and finds that anthropomorphism triggers additional concerns.

Research implications: The findings suggest that future research on the acceptance and use of service robots should go beyond psychological concepts.

Practical implications: Without uncovering and understanding technology sensemaking processes with respect to service robots, the introduction of service robots in hospitality and tourism might trigger consumer resistance or lead to inferior service experiences.

Social implications: The research suggests that sensemaking of technology, specifically service robots, is complex and colored by pertinent ideologies. Policies and regulations regarding service robot adoption and implementation should consider these various positions.

Originality/value: The paper introduces technology sensemaking and technology ideology as important theoretical frameworks to understand consumer perceptions, attitudes, uses and relationships in regard to service robots in hospitality and tourism contexts.

Purpose: The purpose of this chapter is to critically evaluate the implementation of technologies from the perspective of guest services, innovation and visitor experiences. The paper focuses on the value of robots, service automation and artificial intelligence in hospitality and examines their influence on service quality

Design/methodology/approach: The chapter is a critical and conceptual overview of the emergence and implementation of robots, service automation and artificial intelligence in the hospitality with an emphasis on service, service quality and guest experience. A comprehensive overview of the academic literature of customer service and guest experience is combined with industry examples from various service operations in hospitality in order to examine the implementation of RAISA in the hospitality industry from a range of academic and practical viewpoints.

Findings: The chapter argues that despite the global acceptance of technologies in service industries in general and hospitality in particular, it remains difficult to find the right balance between digital and human interactions. In the context of service quality, the implementation of robots and service automation is increasingly important for gaining a competitive advantage, but the provision of more personalized guest experiences remains controversial.

Originality/value: The study provides a comprehensive and systematic review of RAISA in a hospitality context and examine their impacts on service quality. The chapter is a critical examination of the potential of RAISA to transform the service experience and raises some fundamental questions regarding the need for RAISA, its practical implications and impact over the understanding and measurement of service quality.

Purpose: This paper presents a review of the current state and potential capabilities for application of robots, artificial intelligence and automated services (RAISA) in hotel companies.

Design/methodology/approach: A two-step approach was applied in this study. First, the authors make a theoretical overview of the robots, artificial intelligence and service automation (RAISA) in hotels. Second, the authors make a detailed overview of various case studies from global hotel practice.

Findings: The application of RAISA in hotel companies is examined in connection with the impact that technology has on guest experience during each of the five stages of the guest cycle: pre-arrival, arrival, stay, departure, assessment.

Research implications: Its implications can be searched with respect to future research. It deals with topics such as how different generations (guests and employees) perceive RAISA in the hotel industry and what is the attitude of guests in different categories of hotels (luxury and economy) towards the use of RAISA. It also shows what is the attitude of different types of tourists (holiday, business, health, cultural, etc.) and what kinds of robots (androids or machines) are more appropriate for different types of hotel operations.

Practical implications: The implications are related to the improvement of operations and operational management, marketing and sales, enhancement of customer experience and service innovation, training and management.

Originality/value: This book chapter complements and expands research on the role of RAISA in the hotel industry and makes some projections about the use of technologies in the future.