Robots, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality

by Stanislav Ivanov, Craig Webster

Overview

Using a combination of theoretical discussion and real-world case studies, this book analyses the use of robotics, artificial intelligence and services automation (RAISA) within the travel, tourism and hospitality industries. 

Divided into two sections, the book first concentrates on the theoretical aspects surrounding the use of RAISA in travel, tourism and hospitality. Themes explored include:

• economic fundamentals
• customer attitudes
• chatbot adoption
• service quality

Following on from this, the second section concentrates on current and future use of RAISA technologies in specific subsectors of the tourism economy: hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, museums, and events. 

With an international scope of authorship and focus, the book is a useful reference source for scholars, students, and general readers interested in robotics, artificial intelligence, and automation technologies. Alongside this, the business insights and case studies examined in the book offer practitioners guidance on how these technologies can and will be incorporated into organizations, particularly those in the travel and tourism industry.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781787566880
Publisher:	Emerald Publishing Limited
Publication date:	10/14/2019
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x (d)

About the Author

Stanislav Ivanov is Professor and Vice Rector (Research) at Varna University of Management, Bulgaria. He is the Founder and Editor-in-chief of the European Journal of Tourism Research and serves in the Editorial boards of over 30 other journals. Alongside publications in multiple academic journals, such as Tourism Management and Tourism Economics, he is also the author of Hotel Revenue Management: From Theory to Practice (2014).
Craig Webster is an Associate Professor in the Department of Management at Ball State University, USA. His research interests include the political economy of tourism, public opinion analysis, and human rights. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Tourism Today, has published in numerous international peer-reviewed journals, and is the co-editor of Future Tourism: Political, Social, and Economic Challenges (2012).  

Table of Contents

Introduction: RAISA in future travel-related industries; Stanislav Ivanov and Craig Webster  
Section 1: Theoretical Issues of Robots, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality 
1. Conceptual Framework of the Use of Robots, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation in Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality Companies; Stanislav Ivanov and Craig Webster 
2. Economic Fundamentals of the Use of Robots, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality; Stanislav Ivanov and Craig Webster 
3. Self-Service Technologies in the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Sectors - Principles and Practice; Petranka Kelly, Jennifer Lawlor and Michael Mulvey 
4. Customer Attitudes Towards Robots in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality - A Conceptual Framework; Velina Kazandzhieva and Hristina Filipova 
5. Making Sense of Robots - Consumer Discourse on Robots in Tourism and Hospitality Service Settings; Ulrike Gretzel and Jamie Murphy 
6. Chatbot Adoption in Tourism Services: A Conceptual Exploration; Dandison C. Ukpabi, Bilal Aslam and Heikki Karjaluoto
7. The Impact of Robots, Artificial Intelligence, and Service Automation on Service Quality and Service Experience in Hospitality; Nikola Naumov
8. Greggg - A Scalable High Performance, Low Cost Hospitality Robot; Sam R. Thangiah, Michael Karavias, Ryan Caldwell, Matthew Wherry, Jessica Seibert, Abdullah Wahbeh, Zachariah Miller and Alexander Gessinger
Section 2: Application of Robots, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality 
9. Robots, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation in Hotels; Georgina Lukanova and Galina Ilieva
10. Robots, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation in Restaurants; Katerina Berezina, Olena Cifci and Cihan Cobanoglu
11. Robots, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation in Travel Agencies and Tourist Information Centres; Maya Ivanova
12. Robots, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation to the Core: Remastering Experiences at Museums; Nuria Recuero Virto and Maria Francisca Blasco Lopez
13. The Role of Robots, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation in Events; Alfred Ogle and David Lamb

Editorial Reviews

The book provides theoretical underpinning and practical evidence of the application and impacts of robots, artificial intelligence and service automation (RAISA) in various tourism sectors including hotels, restaurants, museums, events and tourism information centres. The book includes chapters contributed by international scholars, all recognised in their own field. The book chapters discuss the implications of RAISA from both the tourism demand and supply perspective such as technology adoption, tourists’ reactions and attitude towards RAISE, operators’ soft and hard benefits and costs. The book is a valuable reading for tourism scholars, students and professionals alike.

Professor Marianna Sigala

This work for students and scholars explores theory and applications in the use of robots, artificial intelligence, and service automation (RAISA) in the travel, tourism, and hospitality industry. The book begins with conceptual frameworks and economic fundamentals, then discusses customer attitudes, consumer discourse, and chatbot adoption. Current and future applications are described in hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, tourist information centers, and museums. B&w photos are included. Distributed in North America by Turpin Distribution.

Annotation ©2019

The book embraces the frontiers of robot development in hospitality and tourism, which can deliver useful insights to both academic researchers and university students. This book takes readers on a modern and advanced journey to conceptual frameworks of robot-related technologies and their applications to hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, tourist information centers, and other related fields. It is a must-read primer for anyone who would like to understand the latest changes brought by robots to the hotel and tourism industry. This book indeed does a good job to start the topic with conceptual frameworks, connecting theory with principles and practice.

Rob Law

This work for students and scholars explores theory and applications in the use of robots, artificial intelligence, and service automation (RAISA) in the travel, tourism, and hospitality industry. The book begins with conceptual frameworks and economic fundamentals, then discusses customer attitudes, consumer discourse, and chatbot adoption. Current and future applications are described in hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, tourist information centers, and museums. B&w photos are included. Distributed in North America by Turpin Distribution.

Annotation ©2019

This book is a welcomed addition to the travel, tourism, and hospitality literature. It discusses a timely and increasingly important issue of robots, artificial intelligence, and service automation and provides the readers with the most comprehensive collection of knowledge on these topics. The book looks at the issue from both theoretical as well as practical perspectives and provides a wide selection of current examples. With contributions from more than 30 authors from all over the world, this book is worth reading not just for tourism students, academics and practitioners, but also for anyone in service industries. Tourism and hospitality will drastically transform as the technologies discussed in this book develops, but so will many other service fields. Other service industries can also learn from the various artificial intelligence, service automation and robotic issues explored in this book.

Juho Pesonen

This is the very first book that focuses on robots, artifical intelligence and automation technologies (RAISA) in tourism and does this from a social science perspective. It comprehensively covers the theoretical problems of RAISA adoption in tourism, principles of service automation, attitudes towards robots, impacts of RAISA on business processes and competitiveness, and the use of chatbots. Furthermore, it shows the practical issues that arrise from the application of RAISA technologies in various tourism sectors such as hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, tourist information centres, events and museums. What I find particularly valuable is that the book delves deep into the economic aspects of RAISA technologies in tourism - a problem which has been quite neglected in research. Numerous photographs and figures are used to visualise authors' ideas. The book is valuable for practitioners, researchers, and students.

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis