Artificial Intelligence and Robotic Adoption by Customers in the Global Hotel Sector

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics contribute to the future of the tourism and hospitality industry. This assertion can be demonstrated by the rapid and sustained adoption of these innovations in the industry, particularly in the tourism accommodation sector, mainly by hotels. Hotels build competitive advantage using high technology, infiltrating various service environments. However, understanding the effectiveness of AI and robotics in hotels equally requires an in-depth understanding of customers’ reactions to adopting these digital tools. Studies that focus on this strand of literature could be more varied. This chapter closes this scholarly gap, which has practical and policy implications. This chapter explores adopting and accepting AI and robots in the hotel sector. This chapter draws on a semi-systematic literature review approach identified in the Web of Science and Google Scholar databases. This chapter adopted thematic data analysis. The synthesis of findings draws upon the factors affecting AI and robot adoption, such as individual, service, technical, performance, social, cultural, and infrastructural factors. The study also identifies the key barriers that hinder the consumer’s adoption of AI and robots in the hospitality and tourism industry: psychological, social, financial, technical, and functional. The study concludes that the adoption of AI and robots in the hotel sector is still in the embryonic stage.