Mr. Hospitality: What's the point?

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Seriously. An "Emergency Hospitality" hologram? Is that EVER a thing? I'd have thought it a contradiction in terms.

So what is Mr. Hospitality even doing there? What possible use could "hospitality" (by nature, a casual thing) have in an emergency? In case La Sirena picks up unexpected passengers?

And even so, what can Mr. Hospitality do that a replicator can't?

Also, Rios doesn't even LIKE the guy. So why doesn't Rios just delete him?

 

[F. King Daniel]

La Sirena is a commercial transport ship. It's to keep the guests happy.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I guess I'm just a bit flummoxed by the "emergency" part. It doesn't make a ton of sense.

Keeping the guests happy? That's useful, I guess, but why do they need a hologrammatic crewmember to do that?

And like I said, Rios himself hates Mr. Hospitality. Is there some reason Rios just doesn't erase him?

 

[fireproof78]

Largely I would imagine it is there to provide some social interaction and support while the ship is going through something nasty.

Why shouldn't it be a thing?

 

[eschaton]

I guess I'm just a bit flummoxed by the "emergency" part. It doesn't make a ton of sense.

Keeping the guests happy? That's useful, I guess, but why do they need a hologrammatic crewmember to do that?

And like I said, Rios himself hates Mr. Hospitality. Is there some reason Rios just doesn't erase him?

My guess is because Rios hates dealing with guests even more than he hates the EHH.

On a normal ship, there would be a human to deal with this under Rios's command, but since hes a loner, he has had no human crew, so he relies upon the "emergency" crew.

 

[Kilana2]

He doesn't seem to have problems with female guests..... Male guests he sends to Mr. Hospitality....

 

[cosmic mouse]

My guess is because Rios hates dealing with guests even more than he hates the EHH.

On a normal ship, there would be a human to deal with this under Rios's command, but since hes a loner, he has had no human crew, so he relies upon the "emergency" crew.

He can also temporarily deactivate the hologram, as opposed to actually offing another living being (e.g. Neelix) , which might give him enough of a break that he can better tolerate the annoyance.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

He doesn't seem to have problems with female guests..... Male guests he sends to Mr. Hospitality....

But is Mr. Hospitality "fully functional"?

 

[Kilana2]

But is Mr. Hospitality "fully functional"?

I prefer the real Rios. Ay caramba!

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I think the "Emergency" part of the moniker is just a holdover from the EMH since it was the first of its kind. So everything after that became Emergency ________ Hologram by default even if it wasn't intended to be used in an emergency.

Besides, what if you wake up and need some coffee but the replicator is like all the way across the room? That's a coffee emergency and a job for the EHH. Janeway knows what I'm talking about.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I guess I'm just a bit flummoxed by the "emergency" part. It doesn't make a ton of sense.

He's a backup system like the EMH on Voyager. Angry guests, nobody available: EHH!

Keeping the guests happy? That's useful, I guess, but why do they need a hologrammatic crewmember to do that?

He's a backup, presumably he'd normally have a flesh-and-blood crewmember for the job. Or perhaps he did and fired them, or they died or left. I never thought the holograms were supposed to be running as often as they were. Rios just can't be arsed to hire and pay a crew.

And like I said, Rios himself hates Mr. Hospitality. Is there some reason Rios just doesn't erase him?

Because he needs him for the guests, since his people skills are a little lacking.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Lots of things could constitute an "emergency". No toilet paper? That's an emergency.

 

[cosmic mouse]

Lots of things could constitute an "emergency". No toilet paper? That's an emergency.

That's the ETPH.

 

[scnj]

There's something genuinely horrifying about the phrase "Please state the nature of the toilet paper emergency."

 

[Turtletrekker]

There's something genuinely horrifying about the phrase "Please state the nature of the toilet paper emergency."

Welcome to 2020.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

To hell with the toilet paper, we still haven't seen a £&©#ing toilet.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I guess they'd have holographic toilet paper.

 

[Llywela]

Mr Hospitality clearly stated that he came with the ship's basic installation - all of the holograms do. This isn't a Starfleet vessel carrying a full crew complement. It is a small privately owned transport freighter, probably mass produced (the fact that it has a basic installation, and that Rios 'accidentally' selected the self-scan option tells us that; it certainly wasn't custom-built!), and I'd guess the existence of an entire holographic crew that can be activated when needed and deactivated when not needed was probably one of its selling points, tailor-made for ship's captains with neither the means nor inclination to hire an actual crew. Perfect for the kind of one-man operation Rios runs.

The purpose of the hospitality programme seems just as evident to me as the rest of the holograms. It is there to offer hospitality - to deal with any passengers, in short, so that the captain doesn't have to if he doesn't want. Rios might not carry passengers habitually, but that's where the mass produced nature of his ship comes in. Hospitality is part of the basic installation. There are clearly quite a number of crew cabins on the ship, given the number of people collected by La Sirena over the course of the season. So, this type of ship can be used to carry passengers as well as cargo - hence the hospitality hologram.

I'd guess the 'emergency' part of the holograms' designation is, as suggested above, a holdover - or simply a signal that they aren't intended to be run in perpetuity (as, indeed, Rios does not), but merely activated when required.

 

[TedShatner10]

Lots of things could constitute an "emergency". No toilet paper? That's an emergency.

I thought they'd have the infamous 3 Sea Shells in bathrooms by then.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

To hell with the toilet paper, we still haven't seen a £&©#ing toilet.