Japanese hotel staffed by human-like robots leaves influencer terrified
An influencer from Argentina was vacationing in Japan when she came across a hotel completely staffed by humanoid robots — something she likened to an episode of Black Mirror.
With the rise of generativeAIand self-driving cars like WAYMO, it finally feels like we’re in the future… but one futuristic hotel in Japan left a tourist completely unsettled, rather than excited.
‘Manuenalemania‘ is an Argentinian influencer who boasts over 27K followers onInstagramand 46K onTikTok, where she shares her experiences traveling abroad.
In June 2025, Manu posted a video from her time at the ‘Henn na’ hotel in Tokyo, Japan, which translates to “strange,” or “weird,” in English… and after taking one look at the staff, it’s not hard to see why.
Hotel staffed by robots creeps out social media
The entire establishment is completely staffed by uncanny, human-looking robots that are just eerie enough to be off-putting instead of awe-inspiring. Manu shared a clip of herself checking into the hotel as two of the robots stood behind the counter, their soulless eyes staring out blankly.
“We actually arrived here, and the receptionists are robots,” she exclaimed in the video. “No, no, don’t look at me. Don’t look at me like that. …Oh, you scare me a lot!”
Things only got more eerie after one of the robot clerks welcomed her to the hotel in English, wishing her “a delightful stay at our hotel” with a bow.
Viewers were quick to echo her sentiments in the comments, with one comparing the clip to an episode of Black Mirror: “Black Mirror is becoming more and more real.”
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“This is how horror movies begin,” said another.
“It gave me vibes from the House of Wax!” yet another said.
Henn na is a chain of robot-staffed hotels with locations across Japan, and has even expanded to Seoul, South Korea and New York in the USA. Some of its hotels follow certain themes, such as its location in Maihama Tokyo Bay, which is home to robotic dinosaurs.
As toldon its official website, Henn na hotels have “come to believe that it is necessary to continue to change with sensitivity to the characteristics of each region and the trends of each era” in order to “meet the demands of our guests.”
