Social Media Comments about Hotel Robots

Abstract

The Henn-na Hotel in Japan has employed robots for its operations since 2015. In January 2019, the hotel announced it had fired half its robotic workforce. This news generated many comments on social media. The purpose of this study is to analyze the comments to inform researchers and practitioners about people’s reactions to this news. Based on topic modeling techniques, the results show the comments focus on three topics: (1) The difficulty of using robots to replace human services, (2) The robot embodiment, and (3) The apprehension about job replacement. Reviews of the associated comments indicate there is skepticism about the robots’ abilities to replace human services. However, there is also apprehension about job losses when robots become more capable of taking over the jobs. With regards to the robot embodiment, there are low sentiments for the female humanoid at the front desk as it was perceived as ‘scary’ and ‘horrible’. The comments suggest the hotel to: (1) upgrade its technology, (2) improve the appearance of the female robot, and (3) address people’s concerns regarding job losses. The study discusses the implications of the results.