Hotel managers’ perceptions towards the use of robots: a mixed-methods approach

Abstract

Adopting a supply-side perspective, the paper analyses Bulgarian hotel managers’ perceptions of service robots using a convergent mixed methods design. Structured quantitative data were collected from 79 managers using a questionnaire, while interviews were used for the collection of qualitative data from 20 managers. The findings indicate respondents feel that repetitive, dirty, dull, and dangerous tasks in hotels would be more appropriate for robots, while hotel managers would rather use employees for tasks that require social skills and emotional intelligence. The individual characteristics of respondents and the organisational characteristics of the hotels they currently worked in played little role in their perceptions of service robots. The managers considered that robots would decrease the quality of the service and were generally not ready to use robots. Additionally, the interviewees indicated that skilled and well-trained employees were more valuable and more adequate than robots for the hospitality and tourism industry. Theoretical and managerial implications are provided as well.

Get Close to the Robot: The Effect of Risk Perception of COVID-19 Pandemic on Customer–Robot Engagement

“…Although previous research analyzed customer attitudes toward service robots in the general service context [37,[87][88][89], little research has taken the context of public health emergencies into account. This research aimed to discuss the effect of perceived risk on customer-robot engagement in a public health emergency.…”

“…Further, customers will pay more attention to service robots, show more enthusiasm towards service robots, and have more interaction with service robots. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, most researchers found that customers preferred service to be provided by human staff rather than by service robots [37,[87][88][89]. Some research on anthropomorphism argued that anthropomorphized robots could reduce resistance from customers [84,85].…”

Co-Creating New Directions for Service Robots in Hospitality and Tourism

“…However, careful market research is needed to ensure positive interactions, and especially understanding how this might change the overall culture of "hospitality" in service sectors like hotels and restaurants, as well as customer perceptions of the kinds of tasks and interactions they feel are permissible and feel comfortable with undertaking. Study of Bulgarian hotel managers' perceptions of service robots indicates comfort with "repetitive, dirty, dull, and dangerous tasks" as more appropriate for robots, and that the hotel managers "would rather use employees for tasks that require social skills and emotional intelligence" [67] (p.505). Research on human resource managers' perceptions of service robots show that they feel that while service robots may increase efficiency and productivity of hotel activities, they may also end up resulting in high costs, skill deficits and significant changes to the organizational structure and hotel culture [68].…”

Service robots are an option for contactless services due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the hotels

“…Zeng et al (2020) showed the growing interest and demand of SR in the tourism industry. Ivanov et al (2020) investigated the hotel manager perceptions towards SR in Bulgaria. According to the findings, respondents believe that repetitive, dirty, dull, and dangerous hotel tasks would better suit robots.…”

“…Studies conducted by Kim et al (2021); Lau (2020); Minor et al (2021); Wang and Wang (2021) showed robots as a possible solution for the hotel industry to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous studies measured the perception of hotel managers towards robots adoption (Ivanov et al 2020;Lee et al 2018). Also, the customer preference and adoption behaviour towards robots were measured (Seo and Lee 2021).…”