Japan has surprised us in the last few days with something new: a robot hotel. Nagasaki now has its Hen-na Hotel (“weird hotel”), staffed almost exclusively with automatons. Read all about it here!
Passengers visiting the robot hotel at the Huis Ten Bosch theme park in the Nagasaki prefecture will be welcomed by a very realistic looking ladies, if they speak Japanese… or by a dinosaur if they speak English. Several robots staff this hotel, and will carry luggage to the rooms, control the lockers, clean, and other tasks while the room service is all managed via tablets provided by the hotel itself. The doors to each of the guest’s rooms will use facial recognition and practically the entire building will be using solar energy, a measure taken both to save energy and protect the environment.
Another bit of news is that the prices of the rooms will be changing through time, using a bid system which works in direct relationship to the demand each time of the year. There is a minimum base price of $60 USD per room, and a max of $150 for the triple room which isn’t all that high, all things considered. They have yet to release the prices for the special and luxury rooms, but this is a five star hotel after all so it could be quite higher.
In the future, the hotel will grow to have some 72 rooms, as their website explains, and a future expansion which will add 72 more by March of 2016. There is also a plan to open some 1000 hotels just like this around the world – quite ambitious.
It would seem that the Japanese are ready for this idea to catch on. If this will have results or not, only time will tell, but if you want to travel to Nagasaki and give this place a try. head over to their official website (in English) and make your reservation.
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