Experience True Artificial Intelligence At Alibaba’s Latest Futuristic Hotel

Stepping inside the Chinese giant Alibaba’s futuristic hotel, you will be greeted with one-meter-black-disc-shaped robots delivering food and fresh towels.

The robots belong to a set of high technology tools that, according to the company, can cut down the cost for human labor drastically. Moreover, for some guests, it also eliminates the need to interact with other human beings.

The hotel called FlyZoo was officially opened last month and has a total of 290 rooms. Alibaba expects to market this kind of technology to the hotel industry shortly.

This is also an experiment to test the comfort levels of Chinese consumers with unmanned commerce.

Alibaba Future Hotel Management’s CEO, Andy Wang, said:

Inside FlyZoo, the softly-lit white walls remind us of Hollywood spaceships. At podiums at the check-in area, hotel guests will need to scan their face, ID or passports. Those who have Chinese national ID can perform check-in with just their smartphones.

Inside the elevators, the guests will have to scan their faces again to verify the floors they are staying at.

Face scan is also used to open room doors.

Tracy Li, a guest at FlyZoo, said:

Li also mentioned how safety was her first priority. And she was absolutely pleased that her room can only be opened with her face scan.

In the rooms, the voice command technology from Alibaba is utilized for changing temperature, closing the curtains, adjusting the lighting and ordering room service.

At the restaurant of the hotel, taller robots with capsule shape will be in charge of delivering pre-ordered food made by guests through the FlyZoo app. At a bar, you can taste 20 different cocktails mixed by a huge robotic arm. Charges will be added automatically to the room rate by facial recognition cameras.

When guests want to check out, there is a button on the app. After they press that button, the room will be locked, and the room rate is charged through an online wallet of Alibaba. And according to Wang, after the transaction is completed, the system will immediately delete the facial scan data.

The name of the hotel, FlyZoo, actually derives from a Chinese pun which means “it’s a must to stay here.” The hotel is in Hangzhou city, about 170km to the southwest of Shanghai. From the headquarters of Alibaba, it is easy to reach the hotel on foot. 1,390 yuan (about $205) is the minimum amount of money for one night at FlyZoo.

The company still employs human though. But Alibaba refused to disclose a specific number. The human staff consists of chefs, cleaners, and receptionists that will offer check-in assistance to guests that don’t want to do face scan but use electronic key cards instead.