ABSTRACT
Robots are poised to radically transform the way industries provide services to customers. Tourism and hospitality companies adopt robots to attract guests, decrease costs, fill in job positions, and for other reasons. For the introduction of robots to be successful, they need not only to be a financially feasible investment for companies, but they also need to be accepted by the customers and the employees. This chapter adopts a demand-side perspective and presents some of the findings of the first global survey on attitudes towards robots in tourism, based on a sample of 1,273 respondents from 103 countries and territories. Through cluster analysis, this chapter identifies the characteristics of different identifiable groups of respondents (robophobes and robophiles) based on their attitudes towards robots. The data show that females are more likely to be robophobes than males. Furthermore, the chapter analyses how robophiles and robophobes perceive the robot application in various tourism/hospitality tasks (check-in/out, food preparation and delivery, cleaning, entertainment, etc.) and their willingness to pay for robot-delivered services. The findings show that robophobes have a significantly more pessimistic view upon robot delivery of services, regardless of the service asked about and that robophobes request a price discount for such services. Managerial implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed as well with regard to customer resistance to the robot revolution in tourism and hospitality.
