JAPAN 'STRANGE HOTEL' ENTERTAINS GUESTS WITH ROBOT STAFF|日本飯店新噱頭 各式機器人為顧客服務

In Japanese, the word Henn-Na means odd or eccentric, but it has recently been used to name a Hotel near Tokyo's Disney Resort, and this Henn-Na Hotel, or strange hotel, does live up to its title. Its premises are staffed with various kinds of robots. Here's our report. Dinosaur receptionists were on standby on Wednesday, March 15 as a second hotel staffed mostly by robots and automatons opened in Tokyo. Media were invited ahead of customers to check out the nine types of robots that help check guests in, clean the lobby, and entertain guests. Humans staff are available and help maintain the 140 automatons on site. The first 'Henn-na hotel', which literally means "strange hotel", opened in Nagasaki, southern Japan in 2015 and was recognized as "the first robot-staffed hotel" in the world by Guinness World Records. ==YUKIO NAGAI Manager of Henn-Na Hotel== The "Hen" in our hotel name 'Henn-na Hotel' can be translated as 'strange' in English but that is not what it means. But can also mean "change" as with our hotel we are changing, developing and evolving. The hotel's reception desk is staffed by robots that speak Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean - an improvement on the "staff" at Nagasaki, which spoke only Japanese. ==YUKIO NAGAI Manager of Hotel== We have placed 'Tapia', an AI (artificial intelligence) robot in every room. That is our hotel's main selling point. 'Tapia' recognises movement of people with its camera and it automatically thinks for itself and in the future will judge and suggest ideas. And as "Tapia" evolves, our lives will change a lot as its role also improves. In addition, there is an egg-shaped "Tapia" robot in each room that turns on appliances and answers questions. This second hotel, operated by low-cost travel agent H.I.S., has opened very close to Tokyo Disney Resort, a top Japanese tourist destination. When the hotel first opened in 2015, thirty humans were still needed to check the grounds and maintain the robots. That has been now cut down to only seven in each hotel now. Hideo Sawada, CEO of H.I.S. insists he will take this business model global. ==HIDEO SAWADACEO of Travel Agency H.I.S.== We are experiencing a lack of workers and fewer young people and think we can expand this new business model of hotels, this Henn-na hotel' with robots, around the world. Room rates begin at about $122 for two people per night. H.I.S. plans to launch 100 more, including some outside Japan, in the next five years. TRANSLATED BY：JESSICA OY