| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
In FY 2022, I continued retrieving comprehensive background information of hotel robot-related literature in different databases such as Scientist Direct, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, summarized the literature by different themes/applications, and has published one hotel robot-related paper in a SSCI-listed hospitality and tourism journal. In April, May, and Sept 2022, I conducted questionnaire surveys with Henn na Hotel staff from Henn na Hotel in Kansai area,Hokuriku area, Tohoku area, and Seoul, Korea. In July and August 2022, interviews and telephone interviews were conducted with hotels which have smart elements in Greater Bay area (i.e., Hong Kong SAR, Shenzhen, Hangzhou). In October 2022, along with the promotion of national travel subsidy program by Japanese government, I conducted in-depth interviews with Henn na Hotels in Kanazawa and Tokyo. In December 2022, along with the new opening of Henn na hotel in Kagoshima, Kyushu, I continued conducting in-depth interviews with Henn na hotel in Kyushu area.In Feb and Mar 2023, as the whole world has been recovering tourism, in-depth interviews were conducted with hotel staff in Oasis Avenue in Hong Kong (i.e., the first smart hotel in Hong Kong just opened in Dec 2022), future hotel Alibaba in Hangzhou, China, and smart hotels in Shanghai, China.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
3: Progress in research has been slightly delayed.
Reason
Overall, the research was carried out smoothly as planned. In AY 2022, as planned, questionnaire survey and interviews were conducted with hotel staff along with the gradual recovery of world tourism. However, affected by the pandemic, travel has not been fully recovered, hence, questionnaire surveys with consumers were not carried out as planned.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
My research plan for AY 2023 is to conduct questionnaire surveys relating to hotel robot use from the perspective of consumers. Also, I will conduct interviews with hotel staff in robot/smart hotels in Japan or other countries/regions within the Asia Pacific. In addition, based on the theory of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), I will continue to extend and propose a Robot Service Acceptance Model (RSAM) model within hospitality context, draft hotel-robot related papers to be published in SSCI-listed journals.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Affected by COVID-19, travel has not been fully recovered, hence, questionnaire survey plan from the perspective of consumers could not be carried out as planned. Hence, the amount will be added to this year's budget to conduct questionnaire surveys with consumers. Questionnaire survey among consumers will be carried out from the coming December 2023 to Feb 2024 either on-site (i.e., Henn na hotels in Japan) or online platform (e.g., SurveyMonkey, Sojump).
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