In July, the Henn-na Hotel will open in the city of Sasebo, Japan, and its owners hope this will be a new frontier for the hospitality industry.

It will be staffed by 10 life-like robots, with only two flesh-and-blood staff members on the premises.

The robots will greet guests, carry bags, and even clean rooms once a guest leaves. Complete with an eerily realistic female face, they are designed to speak several languages and respond to guest enquiries in the 72-room hotel.

The aim is to create an all-round hi-tech experience, including facial recognition software to open doors.

While not every receptionist or bellboy is under immediate threat from an imminent robot uprising, the wider hotel business is embracing new technologies.

GTRIIP, a start-up founded in Singapore that has opened offices in the US, has developed a documentless check-in service using the iPhone's biometric features.

Guests can securely check in at participating hotel chains using Apple's Touch ID fingerprint recognition technology to access the booking details saved on their device.

At the hotel, receptionists have their own "kiosk app" for checking in guests.

Co-founders Maxim Thaw Tint and Stanley Myo Lwin, both frequent travellers, were frustrated with time-consuming hotel processes and the need to carry multiple IDs or reservation documents.

"When we researched the existing biometric technologies we found that the Apple Touch ID is out there since 2013 together with the iPhone 5S," says Mr Thaw Tint.

"We decided to leverage on this because we don't want to reinvent the wheel."

GTRIIP is of particular interest to business travellers, says Mr Thaw Tint, who will often choose the same hotel group, due to their loyalty program.

"[This] is good for pre-verified Touch ID," he says.

The start-up is already working with hotels in the US, Singapore, Sri Lanka, India, and Myanmar.