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Amazon recently announced a new program designed to help hotels deploy Alexa’s voice-enabled smart devices across their properties.

Using the Amazon Echo in their room, guests can now ask Alexa for hotel information, contact the hotel to request guest services, play music in their room and more. For hotels, Alexa for Hospitality helps deepen guest engagement through seamless voice-first experiences that offer new ways for guests to access services and amenities during their stay.

Many of the larger chain hotels such as Hilton Hotels and Premier Inn Hub Hotels have already added additional automated technologies to aid their customer service offering.

Hospitality AI Technologies

Amazon has recognised that hotels are a perfect showcase for its automated AI technologies. Hotel guests expect convenience, and that is exactly what Alexa promises.

 

This is more than simply putting an Echo on a guests bedside table to replicate the tasks performed by the Echo in your living room at home. The idea here is that guests will be able to ask Alexa for specific information, such as open hours of the gym, as well as ordering room service or asking the concierge for dinner recommendations using just their voice.

“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,” said Amazon VP Daniel Rausch. “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.”

Using Alexa for Hospitality, hotels will be able to configure Alexa so that guests are able to control their various connected smart-room gadgets, such as thermostats, TVs, and lights, as they would at home. But these integrations open up some interesting future use cases, too. According to Amazon, guests will soon be able to connect their own Amazon account to the Alexa-powered device in their room so they can access their music and audiobooks. This integration will be temporary, with the connection automatically cut once a guest checks out.

The system is currently being trialled byMarriott Hotels, Westin Hotels & Resorts, St. Regis Hotels & Resorts, Aloft Hotels, and Autograph Collection Hotels, which given their size – shows the investment Amazon are putting behind this kind of technology.

Alexa built for hospitality businesses

The Alexa for Hospitality system will come with a suite of tools for configuring the Echo devices, including a dashboard where hotels can update their information, enable skills, adjust settings and track usage.

According to Amazon the devices are designed to be deployed in a matter of minutes, and can alert an admin if they go offline.

They’ll also allow the hoteliers to measure guest engagement through analytics and reporting, allowing the hotel to adapt its own systems accordingly.

Comfortable with the technology

Over the next few months voice control (like Amazon Alexa and Google Home Mini) will be integrated with more devices like household TVs and music systems. So, Amazon’s step in to the world of hotels doesn’t seem like a bad idea – they are simply capitalising on the fact that Alexa owners have grown so comfortable using Amazon’s virtual assistant that they have probably already called out for Alexa by mistake when traveling, forgetting for a moment that she’s not there.

Just like hotel guests, park guests want hospitality experiences that are personalised, and memorable. Alexa for Hospitality helps deliver those immersive experiences, so parks can delight their guests, and improve their teams’ productivity.

Watch this space… Alexa makes delivering a great customer experience simple. All a guest has to do now is – just ask!