As a leading economic sector in many countries around the world tourism industry is changing rapidly under the pressure of information and communication technologies spread in every activity into daily life and business. Almost unnoticed, technology and artificial intelligence have replaced humans in certain spheres. The question is whether their replacement is positive for the tourism supply or it is not even close. This is especially important for the boutique hotels offering innovative accommodation concept and personalized high-quality tourist product. The aim of the current study is to prove that boutique hotels need both - automated processes and human touch and to outline the limits of the right balance how to emphasize that symbiose in order to benefit of greater loyalty and ongoing revenues.
AppAdvice. (2019) Edward, the virtual host. [Online] Available from: http://bit.ly/32CaE4n [Accessed 03/11/2019].
Bainbridge, L. (1983) Ironies of Automation, Automatica, 19(6). pp. 775-779.
Bassano, C. (2018) How to Find the Balance Between Automation and Human Support. [Online] Available from: http://bit.ly/2O3wUPg [Accessed 11/11/2019].
Benbria. (2016) How Hotel Automation Benefits Guests. [Online] Available from: http://bit.ly/33EIbMx [Accessed 11/11/2019].
Bizcommunity. (2017) Tech can't replace the human touch in customer experience. [Online] Available from: http://bit.ly/2KbWxfB [Accessed 11/11/2019].
Bukht, R. & Heeks, R. (2017) Defining, Conceptualising and Measuring the Digital Economy, Manchester Centre for Development Informatics Working Paper 68. pp. 1-24.
Cognizand. (2017) Hospitality in the Digital Era: The Road to 2025. [Online] Available from: https://cogniz.at/34P2dUJ [Accessed 11/11/2019].
Fitzgerald, M., Kruschwitz, N., Bonnet, D. and Welch, M. (2013) Embracing digital technology, MIT Sloan Management Review. [Online] Available from: https://bit.ly/2JP3aH0 [Accessed 11/11/2019].
Frohm, J., Lindström, V., Winroth, M. and Stahre, J. (2008) Levels of Automation in Manufacturing, International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics. 30 (3). pp. 1-28.
Goldberg, K. (2012) What is Automation? IEEE transactions on automation science and engineering. 9 (1). pp. 1-2.
GSMA. (2014) Understanding the Internet of Things (IoT). London: GSM Association.
Ivanov, S. (2019) Ultimate transformation: How will automation technologies disrupt the travel, tourism and hospitality industries? Zeitschrift für Tourismuswissenschaft 11 (1). (forthcoming).
Jukes, L. (2019) Digital automation vs human touch. [Online] Available from: http://bit.ly/32EgiCS [Accessed 11/11/2019].
Kandampully, J. and Solnet, D. (2015) Service Management: Principles for Hospitality and Tourism. Kendall Hunt Publishing, Iowa.
Kotler, Ph., Kartajaya, H. and Setiawan, I. (2017) Marketing 4.0. Moving from Traditional to Digital. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Malcheva, M. (2018) Competitive Advantages of Boutique Hotels in the Context of a Sharing Economy. Izvestia Journal of the Union of Scientists – Varna, Economic Science Series. 7 (3). pp. 71-83.
Marinov, S. (2015) Vazmojnosti na informacionnite tehnologii za razvitie na sistemata za upravlenie na turisticheska destinacia. Sb. statii “Tendencii i predizvikatelstva pred globalnia turizam”. Infrastructure and communications. Sofia: UNWE, pp. 292-298.
Moura, P. and Nicoletti, S. (2018) Ciudades inteligentes e Internet de las cosas: cómo fomentar su desarrollo en América Latina. Santiago: GSM Association of Latin America Offices.
Novillo-Vicuña, J., Rojas, D., Olivo, B., Ríos, J. and Villavicencio, O. (2018) Arduino y el internet de las cosas. Alicante: Editorial Área de Innovación y Desarrollo, S.L.
Parasuraman, R., Sheridan, T. & Wickens, C. (2000) A Model for Types and Levels of Human Interaction with Automation, IEEE transactions on systems, man, and cybernetics – part A: Systems and Humans 30 (3). pp. 286-297.
Parviainen, P., Tihinen, M., Kääriäinen, J. and Teppola, S. (2017) Tackling the digitalization challenge: how to benefit from digitalization in practice. International Journal of Information Systems and Project Management. 5 (1). pp. 63-77.
Robinson, D. (2008) Analog. In Fuller, M. (eds.), Software Studies: A Lexicon, edited by Mathew Fuller. Cambridge: MIT Press. pp. 21-31.
Rose, K., Eldridge, S. & Chapin, L. (2015) La internet de las cosas - una breve reseña. Reston: Internet Society.
Schumacher, A., Sihn, W. and Erol, S. (2016) Automation, digitization and digitalization and their implications for manufacturing processes, Innovation and Sustainability, International Scientific Conference Bucharest, Romania, pp. 28-29.
Sabre Altimeter. (2018) Digital transformation of the guest experience. [Online] Available from: http://bit.ly/2Q8BzSB [Accessed 11/11/2019].
