Android vs humanoid: rethinking uncanny valley in online hotel booking

Purpose As the tourism and hospitality industry increasingly adopts service robots, their portrayal in online booking plays a critical role in shaping consumer decisions. While prior research has emphasized physical service encounters, this study aims to address the underexplored question of how consumers respond to highly humanlike robots (androids vs humanoids) in digital prepurchase contexts. Design/methodology/approach Four experimental studies were conducted in online hotel booking contexts. Study 1 tested whether android (vs humanoid) robots increase booking intentions through enhanced likeability and perceived intelligence. Study 2 examined whether the effects differ between hedonic and utilitarian accommodations. Study 3 introduced a close-contact imagination scenario to test whether mentally simulating close human–robot interaction (HRI) diminishes androids’ advantage and reactivates the uncanny valley effect. Study 4 investigated whether this reactivation varies across consumption types. Findings Contrary to the uncanny valley hypothesis, androids are generally perceived as more likeable and intelligent in digital prepurchase contexts, boosting reservation intentions. Likeability has greater influence in hedonic contexts, while perceived intelligence matters more in utilitarian settings. However, when consumers are prompted to imagine close-proximity HRI, androids lose their advantage, which results in lower booking intention and supporting uncanny valley predictions. Originality/value This research introduces a novel perspective on HRI by showing that the uncanny valley effect is context-dependent: diminished in digital booking environments but reactivated through imagined close-contact scenarios. It advances HRI theory and offers actionable insights for presenting service robots in online hotel platforms.