Can robots substitute human receptionists? Results from a field experiment

Abstract

Hospitality companies are facing personnel shortages and high turnover rates and considering robots to take over tasks. Recent years have seen an increase in the deployment and research on service robots. However, most studies use methods where guests report on hypothetical encounters with service robots. These interactions might not be representative of actual experiences, which is why researchers call for experimental repetitions of their work. Answering to these calls, we deployed a robot in a hotel lobby. Participants could choose to interact with either the robot or the human reception staff. We collected data from 166 respondents. Although the experienced social presence was lower for the robot, there was no significant difference in the number of requests solved and the experience of hospitality. Although this is promising, we highlight that currently, reception robots are not able to operate a reception, as certain key tasks have not been automated.