Here is some interesting hotel news…

A hotel in Japan will be opening in July which will have a robot staff performing many important tasks.

Besides the robots, the hotel will also have other interesting technologies incorporated into the plans.

The hotel will be called Henn-na Hotel which means Strange Hotel.

The first phase of the hotel is planned to open on July 17 and will have 72 rooms. An additional 72 rooms will be completed in 2016.

I first heard about this hotel in an article from CNN. According to the article, “the hotel will feature three “actroids” (robots with strong human likeness) that will act as receptionists. They’ll be able to engage in intelligent conversations with human guests”.

Besides the robo-receptionists, the hotel will also have four service & porter robots as well as others performing jobs such as cleaning.

There are hopes that robots can eventually run 90% of the hotel and they would also like to build 1,000 similar hotels around the world in the future.

Besides robots, here are some other very interesting features:

• Facial-recognition technology will be used to get into your room
• Minimal amenities will be left in the room and guests can request other items through a tablet.
• “Instead of air-conditioning, a radiation panel will detect body heat in rooms and adjust the temperature”

Room rates will be determined based on demand. (Surge pricing for hotels???)

CNN says that guests will bid for rooms during peak season. There will be a price cap on the bidding.

I guess if we’re going to be dealing with robots at the reception desk, asking for suggestions on things like where to eat or favorite things to do won’t really have any purpose anymore. I’d assume a robot’s answer to these questions would be much like just doing a google search.

And if you’re the type that tries to get an upgrade by slipping a $20 bill to the receptionist, I think you’ll be out of luck trying this trick on a robot!

What do you think about robots taking on prominent service roles at hotels? I think for things like cleaning and other behind the scenes jobs it could work but when it comes to checking in, I think I’d rather deal with a person.

Find out more from CNN about Japan’s Strange Hotel here.