In a new project, the Professorship of Disruption, Innovation and New Phenomena, led by Dr. Ian Yeoman, is thinking outside the box by creating a series of future scenarios in which hotels embrace automation, humanoid robots, and AI. Imagine a future where humanoid robots service hotel bedrooms or create Michelin-starred dishes. This may seem impossible, but a Regieorgaan SIA project starting in January 2026 will explore such scenarios to drive the future of hotels through technology by enhancing productivity and service design in housekeeping, food service, and front office operations.
Using Yeoman and McMahon’s model of the future of work, technology will be examined as a lens for labor replacement, operational redesign, customer experience, and productivity argumentation. These scenarios form part of a wider project led by Dr. Alexander Schmidt of the HotelSchool The Hague, titled Embrace IT: Co-creating Human-Centered Hospitality with AI, Automation, and Augmentation.
The team at the Hotel Management School Leeuwarden will develop scenarios using techniques such as scenario planning and service blueprinting.
As future technologies remain a big unknown, “this study unpacks uncertainties and creates blueprints through design of what the future could be,” says Dr. Ian Yeoman.
Over the next four years, the project will build a sustainable innovation ecosystem within the hospitality industry. By testing and refining new technologies in living labs at hotel schools and in real-world hotel operations, the project will help businesses move from short-term problem solving to long-term, sustainable digital transformation
As Dr. Schmidt explains:
“Hospitality cannot afford to be a digital spectator. Hospitality must become a digital shaper. With Embrace IT, we’re building a Dutch hospitality tech ecosystem where housekeepers, chefs, receptionists, and managers move from ‘technology happens to us’ to ‘we co-create the next generation of guest experiences and hospitality jobs.’ We are turning hospitality SMEs into living labs that experiment, learn fast, and scale what works.”
The consortium includes 21 industry and academic partners, among them TU Delft, Breda University of Applied Sciences, Postillion Hotels, IHCP Support, Mews Systems, RoboValley, Welbo, and Dalco Robotics.
For full details of the project, see the RIA project website or contact Dr. Ian Yeoman.