Destroy all humans! And by that I mean, how may I help you - bleep bleep!

Blog 3

One of the disturbing trends which began slowly, but accelerated by the pandemic, is what they call contactless check-in, or more appropriately should be called, human-less check-in. Remember what a chore it was to arrive at a hotel, have someone greet you, welcome you, and then help you? As you can see from the photo, now the burden of interacting with other people has been removed, and an antiseptic soulless hotel experience can be yours.

The latest in self-service check-in kiosk technology, minus the humans

I spoke to Ken, the manager of this hotel. With the exception of an under-paid, overly-exploited janitor (who was also pressed into service as a bellman, front desk, concierge, and housekeeper when an actual human was needed), was the only other person in the building. Ken enthusiastically, and with a straight face, shared with me the prevailing philosophy of this new trend in hotels. He gleefully said, "We honor the guest to own the check-in process!" Double-take, Wha?! "I am assuming your rates are lower than similar hotels, given that you don't have the overhead of a staffed front/bell/concierge/valet desk?" I asked. Shockingly, he proudly proclaimed, "No. We charge the same rate as other comparable hotels." Legendary former Sir Francis Drake Hotel doorman, and colleague, Tom Sweeny, retired in January 2020. I stopped by the hotel to honor his 43 years of service on his last day. In between the dozens (hundreds, really) of well-wishers, he shared one of the reasons he is retiring is not because he was in his late 60s. He is a marathon runner and could probably do the job for another 20 years. He said that few people take taxis or shuttles anymore as Uber and Lyft had supplanted those ancillary sources of income. In addition to that, he said that fewer and fewer people carry cash on them, so they don't tip. Despite the fact he is a native-born San Franciscan, who has an encyclopedic level of knowledge about the city, I observed more people checked their phones than asked him for directions.

There is also a growing Do-It -Yourself trend of Millennials and Gen-Zers who believe that receiving front/bell/concierge/valet service is something their fathers did. These are the emerging types of hotel guests. One that Ubers to his hotel, checks in at the human-less kiosk, carries his own bags, and gets his own towels in the middle of the night since there are no more housekeepers. And he's OK with that. I am not a Luddite, or resistant to change. I use the self-service options in the super market. I use my phone to search for information, and I get the value of having options for checking in to a hotel when the line at the front desk is long, especially when there is a convention in town. Yet as the mid/post Covid world we live in has established the norm of less face-to-face interaction with the people who serve us, can we at least take a step back for a moment. There is value, and a primordial need, to be acknowledged by a real person. There is a greater positive impact when a live human being greets you after a long journey, than a self-service check-in kiosk terminal displaying the words, "May I Help You."