From robot concierges to app-unlocked room doors, the most high-tech hotels in the Americas aren’t just adding modern hospitality tech products, they’re rewiring the whole guest experience around automation, personalization, and “frictionless” stays. If your ideal check-in involves zero lines, your room understands your preferences before you touch a switch, and a robot can deliver extra towels without awkward hallway small talk, these are the places pushing hospitality into the future.
1) Otonomous Hotel, Las Vegas: AI-first hospitality (with a humanoid concierge)
Las Vegas has always been a testing ground for spectacle, so it’s fitting that one of the newest “AI-powered hotel” headlines is coming out of the city. Reports describe the Otonomous Hotel as leaning heavily into automation, with a humanoid robot concierge named “Oto” greeting guests and providing recommendations, an attention-grabbing signal that the front desk is becoming as much software as staff.
What makes this kind of concept interesting isn’t just the robot; it’s the idea of a hotel designed around AI as the default interface for service. Expect this to be a blueprint other properties watch closely.
2) MGM Resorts (Las Vegas + beyond): phone-as-key at scale
Lots of hotels offer mobile check-in. Fewer do it at huge scale across major resorts. MGM Resorts’ app-based Digital Key is available at many of its properties, meaning you can check in and unlock your room door using your phone at hotels including Bellagio, ARIA, Vdara, MGM Grand, Park MGM, Mandalay Bay, Luxor, and more (availability varies by property).
The “high-tech” magic here is operational: once mobile keys are common, everything from elevator access to identity verification and on-property offers can be streamlined into a single digital flow.
3) Hilton’s Connected Room: your preferences, synced to the room
Hilton’s Connected Room concept aims to turn the guest room into a controllable ecosystem, temperature, lights, and hospitality TV managed from your phone (or remote), with personalization designed to feel more like “your” room than a generic one.
This is a different flavor of innovation than robots: less novelty, more repeatable convenience. For frequent travelers, the best tech is the stuff you stop noticing because it simply removes little annoyances.
4) citizenM (New York, Miami, and more): the iPad runs the room
citizenM built a brand around compact, design-forward rooms that lean hard into smart controls. Across many guest accounts, the signature is the in-room tablet that controls lighting “moods,” blinds, temperature, and entertainment, more like a cockpit than a hotel room.
It’s a great example of tech that changes behavior: instead of fiddling with random wall switches, you set scenes (sleep, work, chill) and let the room follow your lead.
5) YOTEL New York Times Square: meet YOBOT, the luggage-storing robot
YOTEL New York is famous for its resident robot, YOBOT, which handles self-service luggage storage, turning a practical task into a mini attraction.
Beyond the photo-op factor, it’s a reminder that “hotel tech” isn’t only in rooms. Back-of-house automation, storage, deliveries, logistics, is often where hotels gain real speed and efficiency.
6) Hotel Monville, Montreal: delivery robots that actually earn their keep
If you’ve ever wondered whether hotel robots are more than a gimmick, Hotel Monville is a strong counterexample. The property has been noted for using autonomous delivery robots to bring items to guestrooms, food, beverages, and amenities, while also interacting with guests in public spaces.
This is the sweet spot for robotics in hotels: repetitive errands that free human staff to focus on higher-touch service.
7) Aloft’s voice-activated room experiments: “talk to your hotel”
Voice control in hotel rooms has been tested in different ways, and Aloft drew attention with voice-activated room pilots that used a custom iPad experience and Siri to control lighting and temperature, plus handle requests hands-free.
Even if voice control isn’t every traveler’s favorite, it points to a broader trend: the interface is shifting from “call the desk” to “ask the room.”
What “high-tech” really means in 2026
The most advanced hotels aren’t necessarily the ones with the flashiest gadgets. They’re the ones that make the whole stay smoother:
- Frictionless arrival: mobile check-in + digital keys (MGM’s scale is a standout).
- Room-as-a-platform: app or tablet control that feels intuitive (Hilton Connected Room, citizenM).
- Automation where it matters: robots for deliveries and logistics (Hotel Monville, YOTEL’s YOBOT).
- AI as interface: concierge experiences that start to look like intelligent, always-on service (Otonomous).
