A Hotel in Japan that is Almost Entirely Run by Robots is Now Open

Japanese Robot Hotel - Henn-na Hotel

Like something out of a science-fiction movie, a new hotel has recently opened up its doors and it is entirely staffed by robots. It’s called the Henn-na Hotel and it is located, where else, but in Japan. It seems to be the first of its kind, and it could offer one of the most unique experience in the entirety of the hospitality industry. The hotel is a smaller attraction that is part of Huis Ten Bosch, a large theme park located in Sasebo, Nagasaki.

Henn-na Hotel roughly translates into “strange hotel”, and this hotel is certainly strange. From check-in to check-out, guests will predominantly only interact with robots. The hotel has been positioned as a low-cost, low-matinance novelty hotel, but it is certainly getting a good deal of attention. As soon as you enter the lobby of the hotel you will be “greeted” by animatronic robots. They mostly look like humans, but the owners also decided to include a raptor, for whatever reason. Guests will check-in with these robots at the front desk, robots that also speak a few different languages, from there it only gets even more interesting.

Japanese Robot Hotel

After you check-in with a multi-lingual, robotic dinosaur, another robot will come to greet you. These “porter” robots will then carry your bags and luggage, and then direct you to your room. Everything is automated, and from what I’ve heard from individuals who have stayed here already, it works surprisingly well minus a few hiccups of course. Additionally if you prefer, you can check-in and check-out all through a mobile application, but the fun here is intreating with the robots.

Japanese Robot Hotel - Henn-na Hotel bedroom 2

Japanese Robot Hotel - Henn-na Hotel bedroom

The rooms themselves are fairly standard and simple, but they still manage to offer the amenities that you would want from a hotel. Instead of using keycards to open your room, the hotel room doors have a small camera on them. These cameras can recognize guests faces, and then unlock the door with facial recognition software. So you simply just look at the camera, and boom, the door opens for you. But if you’re too weirded out by that, you can also opt for a more traditional keycard. The rooms also have motion sensors in them as well. They can detect when guests are in the room and keep the lights on. When you leave, they will automatically turn themselves off. Additionally robots will also come and clean your room, should you need it.

The hotel offers a total of 72 rooms which come at a variety of different sizes. With an average price of just $73 dollars per night, it’s not that expensive either. And besides, you cannot get a hotel experience like this anywhere else, at least for the time being that is. The managers of the property also have plans to increase the size of the hotel during a second phase of construction that is set to take place sometime in the near future. They will add another wing to the hotel, bringing their capacity up to 144 rooms in total.

A man by the name of Hideo Sawada is behind all of this. He wanted to create and design a hotel that was affordable, interesting, and certainly extremely unique. While he does acknowledge that human interaction is crucial for luxury hotels, he says that it is not needed for a hotel of this nature. He exclaims that the robots cut down the cost of labor by 70% which then allows them to offer rooms at a more affordable price. $73 dollars per night to stay at one of the most unique hotels in the world is certainly not a bad idea, and it seems to be working as people from around the world are looking to spend a night here. Besides outside of this cool hotel, you have an entire theme park at your disposal.

So is the future of the hospitality industry that which is one filled with robots and a robotic staff? It’s hard to say, but as robotics and technology inevitable advance, these robot hotels could become the norm. As cool as this hotel is, I feel that it would seem very odd to not interact with any other humans at all, besides the other guests that is. So what do you think? Is this the future of hotels, or just a gimmick meant to draw people in? I suppose we will find out in the future.

Photos from h-n-h.jp/en/

Written by Sebastian Hensiek

From Philadelphia, Sebastian is a fan of music, writing, art, and entertainment.