I spent 4 nights at a robot hotel in Tokyo. The future of hospitality is here — but it still needs fine-tuning.
After I checked in, I was greeted by two of Yotel's in-house robot crew members, or 'Yobots'.
Yotel Tokyo has two 'Yobots,' named Tomo and Aibo. The Japanese word Tomo (とも) translates to "friend" when written with the kanji, and Aibo (あいぼう) translates to "partner," or "buddy." Yobots are on hand to escort guests to their rooms and deliver room service.
Once I received my room key, I scanned it with Tomo, who promptly escorted me up to my room.
Tomo escorted me from the lobby to the elevator bank and all the way up to the 6th floor.
While it was a novelty, it wasn't exactly necessary. The human receptionist at the hotel said the hotel hopes the robot crew will be capable of delivering luggage to guest rooms in the future, which I think would be much more useful.
The view from my room overlooked Ginza.
There are 244 guest rooms on the property. Not every room comes with a view, so make sure you book a Premium Plus room, like I was in, which is set on the front side of the hotel and offers nice views of Ginza.
Once the robot room service arrived, I received an automated call on my in-room phone alerting me to open the door.
It probably took less than three minutes from the time I called for robot room service for the Yobot to arrive at my door with my pajamas and toothbrush. I quickly read the instructions and hit a button that opened the robot's drawers. Once I retrieved the items, the task was complete, and the robot returned downstairs.
Set on the ground floor of the hotel, Komyuniti is Yotel's all-day restaurant and bar concept.
Komyuniti is Yotel's all-day restaurant and bar concept. The restaurant is staffed entirely by humans and features a daily happy hour and afternoon tea service. Breakfast and coffee are served buffet-style for an additional fee, though I didn't feel like the meal was worth it.
