As robots take on more jobs in hotels — from checking in guests to handling luggage and delivering items to rooms — their success depends on more than whether they complete the task. Guests also notice how the interaction feels.
New research gives hotel operators a way to measure both.
Tingting Zhang
Tingting Zhang, associate professor of hospitality at the University of South Florida, introduces ROBOQUAL, an 11-item scale designed specifically to measure how hotel guests perceive robotic service quality.
Published in the International Journal of Hospitality Management, the study found that guests judge robotic service across three dimensions: overall service quality, task efficiency, and robotic empathy.
That distinction matters because traditional measures of hospitality service quality were developed around interactions with human employees. ROBOQUAL considers not only whether a robot performs its job effectively, but also whether it conveys the social and emotional cues guests may expect during a hospitality experience.
Researchers developed the scale through a literature review, five focus groups and a four-stage validation process involving 1,600 valid responses.
For hotel managers, the scale could provide a more systematic way to assess robotic services and understand whether investments in automation are delivering both operational efficiency and a positive guest experience.
Authors: Ahmet Hacikara, University of South Alabama; Kevin Murphy and Murat Hancer, University of Central Florida; Tingting Zhang, University of South Florida; Dogan Gursoy, Washington State University and Huaqiao University.