After years of development, the growth space in China's hotel industry has gradually narrowed, moving towards a stock-based era. Faced with increasing competitive pressure, more and more enterprises are accelerating the pace of technology introduction and software and hardware upgrades, actively embracing the trend of digital and intelligent service transformation to achieve cost reduction and efficiency improvement.
Affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, hotel robots that can provide intelligent contactless services have become increasingly popular among hotels. At the Beijing Winter Olympics held at the beginning of this year, a fully automated hotel robot that provides 24-hour coffee brewing service frequently appeared on hot search lists, becoming a star product for intelligent contactless services during the pandemic. The emerging field of hotel robots is rapidly moving from the 'trial phase' to the 'normalized phase'.
We believe that, influenced by policy support, technological development and progress, as well as the increasing demand for contactless services during the pandemic, the hotel robot industry has witnessed rapid development.
Definition and Classification
Hotel robots, as service robots, are mainly used in hotel accommodation scenarios to reduce labor costs. The coordination of different types of hotel robots can multi-dimensionally enhance the guest's accommodation experience.
Hotel robots are highly integrated products that incorporate artificial intelligence, robotics technology, and other advanced technologies. Early hotel robots were limited by technical capabilities and mainly used to assist guests with check-in procedures and provide information inquiries. With improvements in image recognition and processing technology, as well as enhanced natural language processing capabilities, some hotel robots now possess the ability to engage in intelligent interactions with humans.
Based on the differences in service scenarios and functions, hotel robots are mainly divided into three categories: guest services, room experience, and security protection. Among them, guest service robots mainly provide repetitive services such as welcome, check-in registration, and meal delivery; room experience robots mainly provide services such as room cleaning and voice intelligent interaction through intelligent technology to enhance guests' accommodation experience in the room; security protection robots mainly improve guests' safety and privacy during check-in through intelligent technology.
Hotel robots can enhance the guest experience, assist guests in making and improving booking decisions, and improve the hotel's image. In addition, hotel robots can provide services to guests 24/7, especially for repetitive tasks, effectively reducing the workload of hotel service staff and lowering labor costs.
Source: Edited and compiled by Frost & Sullivan
Hotel robot technology support
The application of hotel robots has rapidly entered the 'normalized' phase, inseparable from the application of core technologies such as lidar, control and motion systems, as well as environmental perception and navigation systems.
Hotel robots that can clearly 'see' their surroundings and smoothly and intelligently perform motion functions are important conditions for initiating commercial operations. To achieve the above goals, the industry continues to conduct research in core technology areas represented by lidar, control and motion systems, and environmental perception and navigation systems.
Lidar is a radar system that detects targets by emitting laser beams to obtain target-related information. It mainly consists of a laser emission system, an optical receiving system, and a timing device. It is essential hardware for hotel robots to perceive the environment and perform real-time positioning. With its high resolution, anti-interference capabilities, small size, and lower mass production difficulty and cost, solid-state lidar can better meet the usage scenario requirements of hotel robots.
Source: Edited and compiled by Frost & Sullivan
As service robots evolved from logistics robots, hotel robots currently mainly adopt the AMR (Automated Guided Vehicle) mode. Relying on flexible motors combined with wheeled chassis, they achieve high-speed mobility and stable movement. In addition, environmental perception navigation technology, which includes functions such as environmental perception, path storage and planning (SLAM), can actively or passively create maps in the environment by localizing maps, helping robots navigate.
The iteration and application of related core technologies enable hotel robots to dynamically perceive their surroundings in real time, intelligently plan their forward routes, and achieve smooth movement. They are an important contributor to the development of the hotel robot industry.
Source: Edited and compiled by Frost & Sullivan
Source: Edited and compiled by Frost & Sullivan
Policy Support
The state attaches great importance to the research and development of intelligent robot-related technologies and their implementation and promotion. It has successively issued a number of policies, providing guidance and support for the healthy development of the hotel robot-related industry.
Robot technology integrates many disciplines such as machinery industry, artificial intelligence, and communications, and is an important symbol of a country's scientific and technological level. The state attaches great importance to the research, development, implementation, and promotion of robot technology, especially the diversification of application scenarios.
Centering on related fields such as intelligent manufacturing and artificial intelligence, relevant departments have successively introduced a series of policies and plans to support the development of next-generation robot technologies, intelligent robot learning and cognition, human-machine natural interaction and collaborative integration, etc. They aim to overcome key technologies in core areas, facilitate the commercialization of service robots, encourage the application and implementation of research and development achievements, and provide guidance and support for the healthy development of related industries such as hotel robots.
It is expected that in the future, with the continuous rise in public recognition and acceptance of robots, the hotel robot industry will develop rapidly.
Source: Government official website, edited and organized by Frost & Sullivan
Current development status and market scale
The rapid development of mobile communications and the Internet has laid an important foundation for the development and application of the Internet of Things (IoT) and hotel robots in hotels. The increased demand for 'contactless services' during the pandemic has directly driven the development of the industry.
The popularization of the Internet has provided a platform for Internet of Things applications, and the rapid development of mobile communications and the Internet is the foundation for the development and application of the Internet of Things. In recent years, the number of communication base stations in China has increased rapidly, and 5G networks have covered all prefecture-level cities, which is conducive to improving the network environment. The full coverage of the Internet in hotels and the improvement of network speed have laid a foundation for the construction of hotel Internet of Things applications. The development of the Internet and telecommunications industry has promoted the development and application of the Internet of Things in the hotel industry and has become an important driving factor for the development of the hotel robot industry.
During the pandemic, the epidemic prevention work in quarantine hotels and regular hotels has become a top priority to stop the spread of the virus. The demand for various contactless hotel services, including reception, check-in, delivery, information services, etc., has grown rapidly, providing an important application scenario for hotel robots. After the pandemic, the sales of hotel robots have significantly increased, effectively promoting the development of the hotel robot industry.
Under the influence of various factors, China's hotel robot industry has developed rapidly in recent years. In 2021, the market scale exceeded 500 million yuan, and it is expected to grow to about 2 billion yuan by 2026, indicating a significant market growth potential.
After years of development, China's hotel robot industry reached a market scale of about 100 million yuan in 2017. Affected by the pandemic, the demand for contactless services in hotels across the country increased. More and more people realized the safety and hygiene of robot services, which promoted a rapid expansion of the industry market scale. By 2021, the market scale had exceeded 500 million yuan.
In the future, with the decline in demographic dividends, robots as an important supplement to labor force may become a trend. It is expected that by 2026, the market size will grow to about 2 billion yuan, with a compound growth rate of nearly 15% from 2021 to 2026, indicating a significant overall development space for the industry.
Source: Edited and compiled by Frost & Sullivan
Future trends
In the future, the penetration rate, functionality, and synergy with hotel facilities of hotel robots may continue to improve.
With the increasing acceptance of hotel robots by the public, manufacturing enterprises are seeing continuous expansion in sales and a continuous improvement in scale production levels. The cost of robots is expected to decrease, and it is anticipated that the penetration rate of hotel robots will continue to rise in the future.
With the popularization of hotel robots, robot services are gradually being accepted by consumers. Consumers also have higher expectations for the services that robots can provide. A series of new types of robots have emerged on the market to offer various services to hotel guests, and it is expected that the functionality of hotel robots will further improve in the future.
In addition, hotel robots usually need to take elevators during their work. Due to the need to improve robot technology, hotels often have to modify elevators to reduce accidents. In the future, the collaborative cooperation between hotel robots and elevators will be further enhanced.
Additionally, the delivery robot currently still requires manual placement of goods and manual parameter setting on the robot's display screen, and has not yet achieved true 'contactless service'. In the future, hotel robots need to possess the technical capability to accurately grasp goods, strengthen coordination with intelligent shelves, and achieve true 'contactless service'.
Source: Edited and compiled by Frost & Sullivan
