At first I thought this news about a theme-park hotel staffed with robots was just a gimic:
http://indianexpress.com/article/world/asia/worlds-first-robot-staffed-hotel-to-open-in-japan/
But if you think about it, if you were a company wanting to start automating basic hotel functions, this would be a great place to start (on the other hand, I take it nobody in this company ever saw Westworld). Assumedly this first version will be rough – I doubt the robots will be much more than show pieces – but it provides a good training ground for seeing how robots could be integrated into human customer service industries.
Sure, I don’t think I want to be one of the first people to stay at this hotel – I think I would wait til the bugs get worked out. However, I was interested to see this:
Room rates will vary depending on demand. Instead of being presented with a fixed price, guests will bid for rooms during peak season. The highest bidders will secure rooms, though there will be a price cap on bidding.
The hotel says room fees at opening will be from 7,000 Yen (USD 60) for a single room to 18,000 Yen (USD 153), the highest possible price after bidding, for a triple room.
An interesting booking model, and pretty low prices. Of course I’ll bet the prices at Westworld were pretty cheap too..