Alexa Can Now Be Your Private Butler At Hotels

Jun. 20, 2018

Amazon wants its Alexa voice assistant to not just bepresent across your homebut also help out when you travel to foreign lands and stay in hotels. The company has launched today Alexa for Hospitality, which is aspecial and customized version of Alexa that will add to the convenience of visitorsat hotels, vacation rental, or other hospitality locations.

As per theofficial press release, Amazon will customize the experience to best suit the needs of each hotel or establishment that has tied up with the company. Guests will then be able to use Amazon Echo smart speakers in their room to askAlexa for hotel info on pool hours or fitness center timings, order room service, request housekeeping services, play music or even control other smart devices in the room.

Talking about the launch of Alexa for Hospitality, Daniel Rausch, VP of Amazon said,“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”

Further, Amazon goes on to mention thatguests will “soon” be able to temporarily link their accounts to the Echo speakerin the room. This will allow you to play your own music collection from Amazon Music or Spotify or listen to audiobooks through the speaker. Your account will be disconnected from the in-room Echo speaker once you’ve checked out.

Of course, there are loads of security and privacy concerns. Amazon has tried to address them in its ‘Alexa for Hospitality’FAQ pagesaying that allaudio recordings are deleted dailyand hotels aren’t given access to any of it. All the recordings are encrypted but hotels can ‘measure engagement through analytics’ and tweak the experience for future guests.

Amazon has partnered with Marriott International to bring ‘Alexa for Hospitality’ to their broad array of properties including Marriott Hotels, Westin Hotels and Resorts, St. Regis Hotels & Resorts, Aloft Hotels, and Autograph Collection Hotels. It is expected to go live sometime later this summer, allowing guests to turn to Alexa for almost anything.

So, would you be interested in letting Alexa handle your room service needs? Let us know in the comments down below.