“Peak Bengaluru Moment – A Virtual Receptionist”.
The CEO of Entourage’s one-of-a-kind experience when visiting a hotel at India’s tech hub, Bengaluru, has gone viral across the internet.
Delhi-based Ananya Narang encountered a virtual receptionist rather than a live human on the laptop screen placed in the front desk of a hotel.
Taking to LinkedIn to share her experience, she called this her very own “Peak Bengaluru Moment” and added that the hotel had no staff except two security guards and a few technicians.
Instead, it was trained hospitality staff sitting in the head office who coordinated and arranged everything for guests via video conferences, doing away with the need for a receptionist on location.
“You’ll see this nowhere in India yet, except the Silicon Valley,” she concluded.
Netizens React:
The post quickly gained traction across social media and sparked a heated clash of different reactions.
Some users praised the innovative approach and expressed interest in seeing it evolve still further in the future.
“Now that’s some interesting and futuristic progress!” a user wrote enthusiastically.
“Wow, that’s amazing! I guess the hotel staff is now just a click away. Who needs a physical receptionist when you can have a virtual one? Welcome to the future of hospitality!” another user said in response to Narang’s original post.
However, many also expressed criticism and exposed some gaping flaws in this technologically based approach.
“This is zero hospitality,” a user complained.
“People need to understand that the most crucial component of hospitality is the human connection. This is an example of shoehorning technology in a way that’s not a good fit,” another added.
“This is a great parable for Indian startups and their ‘innovation’. It worsens the customer experience. It worsens the worker experience. But there’s a shiny tech buffer thrown in for the sake of it,” said X user Vinay Aravind.
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