Purpose

This paper aims to analyze if and to what extent mechanical artificial intelligence (AI)-embedded in hotel service robots-influences customers’ evaluation of AI-enabled hotel service interactions. This study deploys online reviews (ORs) analytics to understand if the presence of mechanical AI-related text in ORs influences customers’ OR valence across 19 leading international hotels that have integrated mechanical AI – in the guise of service robots – into their operations.

Design/methodology/approach

First, the authors identified the 19 leading hotels across three continents that have pioneered the adoption of service robots. Second, by deploying big data techniques, the authors gathered the entire population of ORs hosted on TripAdvisor (almost 50,000 ORs) and generated OR analytics. Subsequently, the authors used ordered logistic regressions analyses to understand if and to what extent AI-enabled hospitality service interactions are evaluated by service customers.

Findings

The presence of mechanical AI-related text (text related to service robots) in ORs influences positively electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) valence. Hotel guests writing ORs explicitly mentioning their interactions with the service robots are more prone to associate high online ratings to their ORs. The presence of the robot’s proper name (e.g., Alina, Wally) in the OR moderates positively the positive effect of mechanical AI-related text on ORs ratings.

Research limitations/implications

Hospitality practitioners should evaluate the possibility to introduce service robots into their operations and develop tailored strategies to name their robots (such as using human-like and short names). Moreover, hotel managers should communicate more explicitly their initiatives and investments in AI, monitor AI-related e-WOM and invest in educating their non-tech-savvy customers to understand and appreciate AI technology. Platform developers might create a robotic tag to be attached to ORs mentioning service robots to signal the presence of this specific element and might design and develop an additional service attribute that might be tentatively named “service robots.”

Originality/value

The current study represents the first attempt to understand if and to what extent mechanical AI in the guise of hotel service robots influences customers’ evaluation of AI-enabled hospitality service interactions.

中文翻译：

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客户对酒店服务中机械人工智能的评估：一项使用在线评论分析的研究

目的

本文旨在分析嵌入酒店服务机器人中的机械人工智能 (AI) 是否以及在多大程度上影响客户对 AI 支持的酒店服务交互的评估。本研究部署了在线评论 (OR) 分析，以了解 OR 中与机械 AI 相关的文本是否会影响 19 家将机械 AI（以服务机器人的名义）集成到其运营中的领先国际酒店的客户 OR 价。

设计/方法/方法

首先，作者确定了三大洲率先采用服务机器人的 19 家领先酒店。其次，通过部署大数据技术，作者收集了 TripAdvisor 托管的所有 OR（近 50,000 个 OR）并生成 OR 分析。随后，作者使用有序逻辑回归分析来了解服务客户是否以及在多大程度上评估了支持人工智能的酒店服务交互。

发现

手术室中与机械 AI 相关的文本（与服务机器人相关的文本）的存在对电子口碑 (e-WOM) 效价产生积极影响。酒店客人在写 OR 时明确提到他们与服务机器人的互动，更容易将高在线评分与他们的 OR 相关联。手术室中机器人的专有名称（例如，Alina、Wally）的存在对机械 AI 相关文本对手术室评分的积极影响起到了积极的调节作用。

研究限制/影响

酒店业从业者应评估将服务机器人引入其业务的可能性，并制定量身定制的策略来命名他们的机器人（例如使用类似人的名字和简称）。此外，酒店经理应更明确地传达他们在人工智能方面的举措和投资，监控与人工智能相关的电子口碑，并投资于教育非精通技术的客户了解和欣赏人工智能技术。平台开发人员可能会创建一个机器人标签，附加到提及服务机器人的 OR 上，以表示此特定元素的存在，并且可能会设计和开发一个额外的服务属性，该属性可能暂时命名为“服务机器人”。

原创性/价值

当前的研究代表了首次尝试了解以酒店服务机器人为幌子的机械 AI 是否以及在多大程度上影响客户对 AI 支持的酒店服务交互的评估。