You're Kidding!

  I just read about this weird place in Japan.  Its the hotel called Henn-na Hotel in southern Nagasaki in the Huis Ten Bosh a 380 acre waterfront theme park celebrating Dutch Culture.

This hotel stands out in multiple ways.

First,  Henn-na means weird and the hotel is using as many robots as possible to cut costs. There are no more than 10 live people on the premises at any time.

Second the reception is manned by two different robots depending on the language.  The English speaking robot is actually a ferocious-looking dinosaur while the Japanese speaking robot is a female humanoid who blinks her eyes at you.

Third, the standard rooms are much smaller than standard American rooms at 226 square feet vs 325 square feet.  The hotel also offers a superior room at 306 square feet  and deluxe rooms at 355 square feet.

Fourth, although the rooms come with a hair dryer, electric kettle, cups, mugs and Wi-Fi, there are not refrigerators or Televisions (you are expected to use a tablet for watching shows).

As far as I can tell, the live humans are there to make the beds because robots are not able to do that particular job.  The price of a room is listed at about $320 per night according to the website but reports have put the room as low as $80 per night.  You would have to check things out to see which is correct.

I don't know how I feel about a mostly run robotic hotel.  I have enough trouble with phone calls that are answered by voice recognition software.  Usually I never get the software to recognize the terms I use so I end up falling back on anything that will get me connected to a real person.  Sometimes, I resort to pushing the zero button in hopes it will connect me.

I have seen those machines that allow you to use a credit card to order a drink and the machine mixes it so it pours out into the glass.  I've never used one because I like the personal touch of a real person.  So if you are interested in something like this, you know where to stay.