Anyone who has been on the receiving end of a robotic “Hello madam” or “Hello sir” is unlikely to be fazed by the prospect of actual robots taking over the greeting duties in shops and hotels. As we reported yesterday, visitors to the ITB Berlin trade show last week were greeted in English, German, Chinese and Japanese by a humanoid-looking robot called ChihiraKanae.
With digital assistants such as the iPhone’s Siri and similar programmes becoming increasingly sophisticated, nobody should be surprised that some hospitality jobs are predicted to go the way of bank tellers for most interactions.
Some of those employed in that sector now might even welcome this, since strict corporate rules governing how they interact with customers have the effect of hampering their ability to respond in a way they believe best meets their customers’ needs. One might hope that this will free them up to pursue jobs that actually reward individual ability, creativity and flair.
