AI Text Messaging VS Humans IRL?

Last Wednesday night, I accidentally booked a hotel room at an unstaffed-by-humans-in-the-building hotel in the Silicon Valley & have been looking forward to sharing my experience with you ever since as it threads-into our boutique fitness industry!

The Front Desk staff = a computer kiosk with a screen. In the lobby, I was greeted by a person onscreen, clearly working remotely. I uploaded my ID, credit card for incidentals and was emailed a room code in lieu of a key/card to scan. I was told to turn around from where I was standing, to find the self-serve breakfast lounge. We hunted around the premises to find the ice machine, as an example; which was ok as the hotel was adequate in its design with decent signage. 

About an hour later, I received a text message from an AI helper named Alfred, who directed me to text the thread if I required a late check out or needed help at the hotel for any reason. (Fine. Got it.)

I felt like an old lady irritated – “get off my line you kids and your tech 'progress'!!" but decided to give everyone the benefit of the doubt; maybe I would have a great experience as the night went on, even if with a virtual concierge rather than a live one.

When my father realized there was not a blanket stocked in his room and he was too cold to sleep, I texted Alfred the AI helper to bring one. No response. Did so again. Nothing. 

Remember: no live people on premises….so I gave my father my sweatshirt to sleep in. In a room he paid for.

5 minutes later, I stepped in a mystery liquid…apparently the mini-fridge was leaking. Cute!

Again: there was no one to tell; AI Alfred was not replying and no one was working IRL at the desk.

As we headed the next morning to yet another pre-operation doctor's appointment at Stanford Medical, my father innocently asked what I thought of the hotel.

I climbed up on my soapbox:

“People on screens, robots via text message and no direct human interaction is not hospitality I expect, at bare-minimum, from a hotel whether it is a Motel 6 or a Six Senses resort.”

I hear from colleagues in Europe there's a Pilates studio in Amsterdam (PLTS) which has, in part in at least 1 location to date, adopted a boutique-fitness iteration of an automated non-hospitality experience with no front desk staff to assist and welcome coaches in delivering an experience worth money. 

 Do you believe authentic human engagement is central to what we do? 

As always, would love to hear your thoughts; I enjoyed hearing from so many of you last week with your go-to In N Out Burger orders

Have a great rest of your week! 

Noël

P.S. Purchase our customizable Employee Handbook Template HERE. Remote ways to work together are here.