Futuristic Travel Features Customer Service Robots

Back in the 90s, Americans thought traveling in the new millennium would include robots, flying cars and technology beyond our wildest dreams. Although the travel industry still has a long way to go to meet these futuristic expectations, one forward-thinking feature can be found in today’s hotels and airports: robots.

In an effort to meet the customer service needs of travelers, major hotel chains and airports have employed robots where human interaction can be replaced by machine. One example can be found in Ghent’s Marriott Hotel, where a two-foot-tall robot named Mario roams the halls, hands out key cards to guests and speaks 19 languages.

Robots with even more functionality can be found at Silicon Valley’s Aloft Hotel, where a robot named Boltr can bring amenities to guests such as bathroom necessities or extra towels. At the Crowne Plaza Hotel in San Jose, Dash is a friendly robot that can deliver snacks to guestrooms.

At Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, a rolling information kiosk named EMIEW3 travels on two wheels and provides quick language translations for confused travelers. At Schiphol International Airport in Amsterdam, a clearly Dutch robot — towering at six feet tall — helps lead passengers to their departure gates. With such innovation in hotels and airports, customer service positions for actual humans may be on the decline.