Perceptual service robot attributes affecting customer value co-creation intention in luxury hotels industry

Service robots have become a trend in hotel services, presenting new opportunities and challenges for the development of the hospitality industry. This study aims to explore how the perceptual attributes of service robots affect customer value co-creation intention in the luxury hotel industry. In China, Shanghai is the city with the most hotels from luxury brands and the city with the highest number of service robots deployed in luxury hotels. Currently, only 11 luxury hotels in Shanghai use service robots. Therefore, this study conducted an online survey of customers who have used service robots in these 11 luxury hotels in Shanghai. A total of 644 responses were collected from customers in luxury hotels in China who have used service robots through convenience sampling. Subsequently, the data underwent a validity analysis, and structural equation modeling was used to process the data. The results indicate that when service robots are perceived as possessing anthropomorphism, animacy, perceived intelligence, and perceived safety, they significantly enhance the customer hospitality experience. These attributes boost the enjoyment and trust customers feel when interacting with the robots, leading to greater engagement during the experience. Notably, likeability lacks significant impact on customer hospitality experience, suggesting that in luxury hotel settings, customers place more emphasis on whether robots possess practical attributes like intelligence and safety. Moreover, the customer hospitality experience serves as a significant mediator, implying the anthropomorphism, as the most critical attribute.