The English-speaking receptionist is a robotic dinosaur; the Japanese-speaking one is a female humanoid. From the front desk to the porter -- a completely automated trolley that takes bags to the rooms -- this hotel in Sasebo, Japan, which opens today, is staffed almost totally by robots. Aptly named the Weird Hotel (Henn-na Hotel in Japanese), the property has 72 rooms and plans to add another 72 next year.
There are no standard room keys here; facial recognition technology is used to open the guestroom door. Once in the room, a pink tulip is the control center and can answer questions about the time and weather and turns the room lights on or off.
For more ways that technology is changing the hotel experience -- perhaps not as dramatically as at the Weird Hotel -- head here.