Exploring hotel guests' perceptions of using robot assistants

Abstract The growing popularity of robot services blurs the boundaries of robotics and human life. Concomitant to the trend, many hotel brands have adopted a robot-based automation system in their properties. This study attempted to understand the underlying perceptions of the hotel guests' robot-using behaviors. A sample of 494 potential users of a hotel robot assistant was examined and analyzed. The result showed six factors, including three functional aspects (i.e., facilitating conditions, performance expectancy, and innovativeness) and three emotional aspects (i.e., social presence, hedonic motivation, and perceived importance). Moreover, this study categorized the respondents into cohesive groups that show similar characteristics. Based on different levels of perceptions and demographic information, four clusters were named as ‘The ordinary,’ ‘Enthusiastic adopter,’ ‘Tech laggard,’ and ‘Value seeker.’ The result of this study is expected to help the hotel industry to better target potential customers by understanding the different types of users of robotic technology.