An analysis of AI technology-based service encounters: repercussions for hospitality and tourism operations

This chapter focuses on AI in hospitality and tourism service encounters, where we discuss employee-customer interactions across four types of AI service: augmented, generated, mediated, and facilitated service encounters (Li et al., 2021). It then considers the preference between Japan’s fully automated, robot-staffed services and China’s AI-enhanced human encounters. In Japan, the first robot-staffed hotel, the Fedal, is used as a case example, where we review the increasing use of AI and its benefits (efficiency, speed) and drawbacks (depersonalization, machine learning to generate new products and service offerings). We also discuss the increasing use of hybrid service models that combine data-driven efficiency at reducing cost, while remaining competitive and providing a more warm, human, and attentive service. The chapter concludes by offering recommendations on the design and use of AI in service, how to redress job losses, and identify areas for future research – the impact on customer loyalty and the ethical questions faced by AI.