Hotel guest perceptions of robotic service
Creators: name: Rodwell, Stephen
Publisher: name: Torrens University Australia
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 350402
subject: Hospitality management

description: Abstract Robotic service is increasingly being adopted in hotels around the world. Customer service in hotels is well researched, as is how robots interact with humans. However, due to the nascent nature and limited availability of robotic service technology, there is a dearth of literature investigating how guests perceive and experience them in a hotel service setting. If these devices are to become widely adopted, a comprehensive understanding of guests’ experiences with them is beneficial and required. This research therefore responds to these gaps through an exploration of guest perceptions of their robotic service experience, with the objective of constructing a theoretical framework that represents this phenomenon. To achieve this aim, the research utilised a Constructivist Grounded Theory methodology informed by Charmaz (2006). Thirty-one in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with hotel guests in two research phases. In the first phase of the research, a simulated robotic interaction scenario and a comparable human experience was designed and provided to twenty pseudo hotel guests, who were then interviewed. In the second phase of the research, ten interviews were conducted with interviewees who had already experienced a real, in-situ robotic service experience within a hotel environment globally. Interviews were analysed using initial, focused, and theoretical coding aligned with the Constructivist Grounded Theory methodology. The findings of this research, and the substantive theory developed, progress the conceptual understanding of the phenomenon of hotel-based robotic service perceptions. The Grounded Theory of Robotic Service Perceptions comprises two interrelated theoretical categories that provide an understanding of hotel guests’ expectations and experiences of robot service. The category of expecting conceptualises hotel guests’ expectations for general service and their more specific expectations for robotic service. The category of experiencing conceptualises hotel guests’ experiences of robotic service through disliking, observing, and enjoying aspects. The first objective of this study isto analyse hotel guest experiences when provided by a robot versus a human. An exploration of guest perceptions of robotic service when compared to human service is a consistent theme of analysis throughout the experiencing category and its Page vi subcategories. As such, this objective is achieved primarily in Chapter Five, and secondarily in Chapter Four. Objective two of this study is to construct a theoretical framework of robotic service hotel guest experiences. The objective is addressed through the construction of the Grounded Theory of Robotic Service Perceptions (Chapter Six) and the associated model presented in that chapter. The third objective is to explore hotel guest perceptions of how robotic service experiences can be improved. This objective is achieved in Chapter Five, with the exploration of the aspects and expectations the interviewees had for robotic service improvement in the future. The Grounded Theory of Robotic Service Perceptions contributes theoretical understanding of guest experiences of hotel-based robotic service, and specifically guest perceptions of key aspects of robotic service events. The methodological and theoretical frameworks development in this research provides a better understanding of consumer perspectives of in-situ robotic service technology use. Through these insights, hotel management and service organisations more broadly, can better integrate robotics into their service delivery. With the construction of an abstracted understanding of robotic service perspectives, this study further develops a general awareness of this type of service as a multifarious and complex experience. Implications of the research are relevant to any service organisation considering introducing robotic service, or how they could utilise the technology to improve guest experiences.