'Unmanned Hotels' how good of an idea is this?
I just read an article over at Pink Tentacle about what some might call a leap forward in the hotel industry. Unmanned hotels are a concept being developed by a team of five companies in Japan hoping to eliminate the tough process of checking into a hotel at the front desk. This is how it would work according to Pink Tentacle:
When hotel guests reserve a room online with their RFID-enabled credit card, a "key" is assigned to the card. Since the credit card is the key, guests can bypass the check-in process and proceed directly to the room at the allotted time. The door lock recognizes the IC chip embedded in the credit card and opens for the guest upon arrival. The system eliminates the need for front desk staff to remain on duty.
Although Japanese law requires someone at the front desk you can bet that hotel staffs in these unmanned hotels will be cut in half. A dozen or so of these hotels are scheduled to begin operations in Japan as soon as 2008.
So is this a good idea? I know a lot of people who wouldn't mind skipping the whole talking to the front desk clerk, especially when he or she is in a foul mood. Are we starting to rely on convenience and automation a little too much though? Human interaction is an important part of life and I think that by letting our world get caught up in speedy unmanned checkouts, hotel rooms, and whatever else "the man" can unman could affect us negatively in the long run. What about all the jobs people won't have by our continued shift towards automated services?
So sure it is a cool concept, but is the unmanned hotel going to be a hotel industry revolution, or just take us one step closer to avoiding any face to face contact?
