Custom views and reception robots: This is what hotels of the future will look like

Custom views and reception robots: This is what hotels of the future will look like The first signs of a technological transformation that will revolutionize the hotel industry are already becoming apparent and increasingly visible to guests The combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics has made its way into the hospitality sector. Javier García Cuenca, vice-president of Magic Costa Blanca hotels and president of Spain’s Hotel Technology Institute (ITH), says that the transformation started on the corporate side, with the most tedious aspects of running and managing a hotel. For example, there are now digital agents to help with organizing macro-events, sending out emails, contracting catering staff and monitoring lists of attendees.

But the shift is spreading to other areas of the hotel industry more visible to customers, from autonomous cleaning robots that detect dirt buildup to check-in avatars on screens positioned at hotel entrances that provide information on gym schedules, gluten-free breakfast options and personalized, immersive experiences. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what’s to come, as demonstrated at the latest edition of the International Tourism Trade Fair (Fitur), which was held in Madrid in January and served as an excellent vantage point from which to glimpse the future. Hotelverse is a pioneering room booking technological platform that employs the use of digital twin imaging.



Travelers pay for the service, which allows them to choose the exact room in which they want to spend their vacation, including what they’ll see when they go out onto the balcony and how close they’ll be to the pool, according to Fermín Carmona, co-founder and CEO, who compares the process to choosing seats on an airplane. This is done using a 3-D plan of the premises accessed via one’s booking confirmation email. Guests select their space based on their preferences from past trips, personalized recommendations and most popular options among other users, employing filters like bed type and square feet (every option, of course, comes with a price tag).

More than 60 hotel brands have instituted the service, according to Hotelverse, including Hyatt, Radisson Hotel Group, Iberostar Hotels & Resorts, Barceló Group, Barceló Group and Palladium Hotel Group. Traveler Kayla Madsen says she reserved at the Hotel Gran Tacande Wellness & Relax in Tenerife . After virtually exploring all the rooms, she opted for a Gold Level suite that featured a hydromassage bathtub on the balcony.

“When I arrived, it was exactly how I’d imagined it,” she said “When you add images taken by drones to the digital twins, the experience becomes totally immersive,” said Beatriz Heras, head of digital transformation at ITH, as she guided visitors through the six themed areas of the TechYHotel exhibition in Fitur’s technology and innovation section. Through a website, guests experience a kind of astral trip, through which they virtually visit the destination before doing so in-person. The fact that the TechYHotel exhibition features more — and more sophisticated — robots every year is a sign of the progressive incorporation of automation in the hotel sector.

There are multi-functional and versatile models for cleaning, service and merchandise transportation. At the end of 2024, Meliá Hotels International and the startup Wiongo Robotics began a pilot program of four dish-washing robots at the Sol Katmandu Park & Resort in Magaluf, Mallorca. Yotel New York receives visitors with an enormous robotic luggage handler in the lobby, which automatically stores suitcases in lockers.

“The processes for taking care of luggage are being automated and becoming more intelligent ,” said Heras, who points out that Perseo by BTV smart lockers are integrated with the FoundSpot service, which connects with travelers from around the world who have lost their luggage. A post shared by YOTEL (@yotel) “There are a lot of solutions that are already being used in other sectors and are now beginning to be implemented in hotels,” says Heras. The same goes for entertainment venues.

She says there are already bars that are 100% automated, with beverages on tap and robotic arms that serve them. Tokyo’s Henn Na holds the Guinness World Record for being the first hotel staffed by robots, including disturbing dinosaurs working in reception and a barista entrusted with making the coffee. “Guests interact simply, through voice and text, and use different communication channels to make their requests to the artificial intelligence,” Heras explains.

The tool allows actions like taking a photo to communicate that a room needs cleaning or has damage, or having the AI reserve a spa session or a dinner for two at a restaurant. Amazing Up is an interactive screen that allows customers to personalize their own exclusive map and directions in the Spanish city of Valencia (which can be printed or downloaded to a cell phone). The solution provides for an immersive visit, thanks to the charming cardboard virtual reality glasses offered in the rooms of Valencia’s Caro Hotel .

The establishment developed an intelligent room project named TechYRoom 2.0 in collaboration with the city’s office of tourism and ITH. The package comes equipped with PressReader, a digital platform featuring unlimited access to thousands of newspapers and magazines from around the world, as well as UGround’s advanced AI assistant, which operates via WhatsApp and provides for direct communication between customer and hotel, client and destination.

Knowing how to properly integrate advanced technology is just as important as having it in the first place, in Heras’s opinion. You could say that AI is the baton used to conduct an orchestra of the senses according to each guest’s desires: lighting to relax or to work; a scent that generates an olfactory memory (thanks to Cuarto Sentido technology). There’s even interactive digital art, such as the installation that was created by video and virtual reality studio Onionlab for the Barceló Sants Hotel in 2021.

Viewers controlled its visual content via arm movements or through a cell phone application. ITH closed Fitur 2025 with a SUCO Session, offered by the startup Wipass. This is an immersive experience in which participants wear headphones through which they listen to electronic music and the voice of the creator of this phygital practice, South African yoga master and DJ Jamie Beron.

It’s curious to watch, from the outside, a group of people moving in silence while following the guide’s instructions: hug yourself, do the warrior pose, jump, dance...

The rooftop of the Nobu Hotel in Ibiza has already hosted several SUCO Sessions. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition Tu suscripción se está usando en otro dispositivo ¿Quieres añadir otro usuario a tu suscripción? Si continúas leyendo en este dispositivo, no se podrá leer en el otro. ¿Por qué estás viendo esto? Tu suscripción se está usando en otro dispositivo y solo puedes acceder a EL PAÍS desde un dispositivo a la vez.

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