Exploring the barriers and prospects for service robot adoption in the hotel industry: A management perspective

Abstract

The hospitality industry in many countries has recently faced severe labour shortages, leading hoteliers to consider the robotization of services. Many studies have focused on hotels that already use service robots while overlooking those that have not yet deployed them. The key role is played by managers, whose perspective has been neglected in previous studies. This research explores the barriers and prospects for robot adoption from the perspective of hotel managers in hotels where service robotization is not yet widespread. For this purpose, 18 managers of upscale hotels in Croatia, a country heavily dependent on tourism facing a labour outflow and low technological development, were interviewed. Using an inductive thematic analysis, four main groups of barriers were identified: mana- gerial knowledge, employee involvement, service context, and technical aspect. Lack of knowledge emerged as the most critical issue. Hotel managers do not currently consider robotization suitable for luxury hotels but express willingness to use it in the future, depending on hotel size and service type. They see potential applications primarily for back-office tasks. They would use them to support rather than replace staff. The results provide a basis for future studies and practical guidelines for hotel policy development.