Purpose

This paper aims to investigate potential consumers’ willingness to pay for robot-delivered services in travel, tourism and hospitality, and the factors that shape their willingness to pay.

Design/methodology/approach

An online survey yielded a sample of 1,573 respondents from 99 countries. Independent samples t-test, Analysis of variance (ANOVA), cluster, factor and regression analyses were used.

Findings

Respondents expected to pay less for robot-delivered services than human-delivered services. Two clusters were identified: one cluster willing to pay nearly the same price for robotic services as for human-delivered services, whilst the other expected deep discounts for robotic services. The willingness-to-pay was positively associated with the attitudes towards robots in tourism, robotic service experience expectations, men and household size. It was negatively associated to travel frequency, age and education.

Research limitations/implications

The paper’s main limitation is its exploratory nature and the use of a hypothetical scenario in measuring respondents’ willingness to pay. The data were gathered prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and do not reflect the potential changes in perceptions of robots due to the pandemic.

Practical implications

Practitioners need to focus on improving the attitudes towards robots in tourism because they are strongly and positively related to the willingness to pay. The marketing messages need to form positive expectations about robotic services.

Originality/value

This is one of the first papers to investigate consumers’ willingness to pay for robot-delivered services in travel, tourism and hospitality and factors that shape their willingness to pay.

中文翻译：

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机器人提供的旅游和酒店服务的支付意愿——一项探索性研究

目的

本文旨在调查潜在消费者对旅行、旅游和酒店业机器人交付服务的支付意愿，以及影响他们支付意愿的因素。

设计/方法/方法

一项在线调查产生了来自 99 个国家/地区的 1,573 名受访者的样本。使用独立样本t检验、方差分析 (ANOVA)、聚类、因子和回归分析。

发现

受访者预计为机器人提供的服务支付的费用低于人工提供的服务。确定了两个集群：一个集群愿意为机器人服务支付几乎与人工提供服务相同的价格，而另一个集群预计机器人服务有很大的折扣。支付意愿与旅游业对机器人的态度、机器人服务体验期望、男性和家庭规模呈正相关。它与旅行频率、年龄和教育程度呈负相关。

研究限制/影响

该论文的主要局限性在于它的探索性以及在衡量受访者支付意愿时使用的假设情景。这些数据是在 COVID-19 大流行之前收集的，并未反映大流行对机器人认知的潜在变化。

实际影响

从业者需要专注于改善旅游中对机器人的态度，因为它们与支付意愿呈强正相关。营销信息需要形成对机器人服务的积极期望。

原创性/价值

这是第一篇调查消费者对机器人提供的旅行、旅游和酒店服务的支付意愿以及影响他们支付意愿的因素的论文之一。