Alexa may
soon follow you outside your house and into your hotel — on Tuesday, June 19,
Amazon unveiled Alexa for Hospitality, a version of the Amazon Echo designed
for hotels, resorts, vacation rentals, and other travel destinations. With the
new program, guests can use Alexa to order room service or ask for more towels,
while travelers with an Alexa device at home can connect their account to
access their own music and audiobooks.
The service uses the existing Echo device and gives the
personal assistant a few new features designed specifically for hotels. But for
travelers, the new Alexa means using voice control instead of a call down to
the front desk for amenities, concierge, or even simple questions like asking
what the pool hours are. Alexa can also play music when requested by guests.
Like
the in-home Amazon Echo, the device’s capabilities can be customized by
downloading different Alexa skills. Hotels can allow Alexa to control the
lights, thermostat, and TV with other smart devices, while Alexa can also be
programmed for other travel-friendly features, like asking Alexa about the wait
at the airport. Since these skills are custom downloaded, travel destination
can customize the voice assistant to each location or brand.
Alexa
will also give the hotel feedback through analytics, which Amazon says will
help the program improve based on the feedback from different guests.
While
the hotel owners can give the in-room Alexas different skills, travelers can
soon connect an Amazon account to make the hotel Alexa feel a bit more like the
at-home Alexa. In a feature that isn’t yet on the device but is coming soon,
Alexa for Hospitality will allow users to sign in from their hotel rooms. Once
logged in, users have access to the music and audiobook connected to the
account. Amazon says that Alexa will automatically log off during the check-out
process.
“Customers
tell us they love how easy it is to get information, enjoy entertainment, and
control connected devices by simply asking Alexa, and we want to offer those
experiences everywhere customers want them,” Daniel Rausch, an Amazon vice
president, said in a statement. “Alexa for Hospitality makes your hotel stay a
little more like being at home and gives hospitality providers new ways to
create memorable stays for their guests.”
The feature
is coming first to Marriott International properties, including selected
Marriott Hotels, Westin Hotels and Resorts, St. Regis Hotels and Resorts, and
Autograph Collection Hotels. Some properties will get the travel-friendly Alexa
beginning today, June 19, while other properties are rolling out the feature
over the summer. Availability for hotel and rental owners is launching by
invitation only.
If
you’d like to see if the full article, go check it out over at Digital Trends!
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