An Argentine influencer’s review of a hotel in Japan where a robot employee greets guests is an online topic.
According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP) in Hong Kong on the 14th, Manuelemania from Argentina released the check-in process handled by the robot on social media (SNS) at the Henna Hotel in Tokyo on the 25th of last month.
The video showed the uniformed humanoid robots lining up at the reception as soon as he entered the hotel. He described the robot employees as “cold and creepy.”
When the robot employee turned around, he said, “Don’t look at me, don’t look at me,” looking nervous. Soon after, he even said, “You’re so scary” to the robot that was helping him check in. When he scanned his passport and entered his stay in the kiosk, a room key card was issued. The robot said, “Check-in is complete. I hope you have a nice stay.”
The video has been viewed more than 88,000 times, attracting attention from netizens around the world, and netizens have expressed mixed reactions.
Some responded, “This is how most horror movies start” and “It’s a little scary,” while “I think I’ll be kinder than people.” There were also positive responses such as “It looks convenient.”
Henna Hotel, which first opened in Nagasaki, Japan in 2015, currently operates more than 20 branches in Japan, including Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. Dinosaur design robots are in charge of check-in at some branches, which are listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s first robot hotel.
However, the technological limitations are still clear. As robots repeatedly made voice recognition errors, insufficient customer response, and frequent breakdowns, the hotel reduced more than half of its 240-odd robots and rehired human staff at some branches.
JENNIFER KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
