Hospitality in the Cyborg Age: The Power of Brain-Computer Interfaces in a Field-Experiment

This paper explores the emerging role of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) in the hospitality industry. BCI technology allows users to control devices with their thoughts, potentially transforming guest experiences. The study investigates how guests perceive BCI-enhanced experiences compared to traditional ones. Drawing from service and human-computer interaction literature, the paper conducts a quasi-field pre-study, where participants interact with a BCI-equipped waitress. Surprisingly, participants perceived the BCI-equipped waitress as superior and warmer, resulting in an improved service experience. The research contributes in two ways: it advances understanding of how people perceive BCI-augmented interactions in hospitality and explores the use of BCIs in addressing service failures, improving efficiency in handling customer complaints. The paper outlines plans for larger-scale field studies and online experiments across different hospitality contexts. This research offers insights into the evolving landscape of human-computer interaction in hospitality, with practical implications for the industry’s future.