Amazon has launched Alexa for Hospitality, a programme designed to bring its voice assistant into hotels, enabling guests to order room service, request housekeeping or call the concierge for dinner recommendations without even picking up the phone.
The Internet giant is extending the voice-first service to hospitality providers on a by-invitation-only basis. The experience will be rolled out to select properties under brands such as Marriott Hotels, Westin Hotels & Resorts, St Regis Hotels & Resorts, Aloft Hotels and Autograph Collection Hotels starting this summer.
Jennifer Hsieh, vice president customer experience innovation, Marriott International, said: “Guests of Charlotte Marriott City Center and Marriott Irvine Spectrum will be among the first to experience a curated list of Alexa for Hospitality features. We will be evaluating guest feedback and adoption to inform how we expand the skills, features and functionality offered through Alexa in our hotels.”
Alexa can also be configured by hospitality providers to allow guests to control and adjust in-room devices like lights, thermostats, blinds and TVs to their individual preferences or ask Alexa to play music from popular services including iHeartRadio and TuneIn.
Moreover, guests can be given access to Alexa skills to check airport wait times, play games, get in a guided workout, play white noise to help them fall asleep, and more.
Soon, Alexa for Hospitality will support the ability for Amazon customers to temporarily connect their Amazon account to the Alexa-enabled device in their room. Once connected, guests will be able to play their personal music from services including Amazon Music, Spotify and Pandora; and listen to audiobooks with Audible.
And when a guest checks out, Alexa for Hospitality automatically disconnects their Amazon account from the in-room device.
To facilitate Alexa integration for hotels, Alexa for Hospitality is working with major property management, ticketing and guest engagement solutions.
According to Amazon, Alexa for Hospitality is built to work with existing hotel technologies, reducing or eliminating the need to retrofit or upgrade existing investments, and works with a range of trusted hospitality solution providers. Features developed by DigiValet, Intelity, Nuvola, and Volara allow guests to make requests like “Alexa, order wine” or “Alexa, book a spa appointment” with requests routed to hotel property management systems.
Alexa for Hospitality also works with guest room entertainment providers including World Cinema and GuestTek for voice control of TV experiences, and in-room control of connected devices using Crestron and Inncom by Honeywell.
In addition, hotels can customise the deployment by selecting default music stations that match their brand, adding property contacts to order room service or booking a spa treatment, and connecting to custom skills that only their guests can access.
For example, at Marriott Hotels properties where Alexa for Hospitality is deployed, guests can take advantage of the brand’s partnership with TED by requesting Alexa play a TED Talk.
