AWS for Industries

Alexa Smart Properties for Hospitality launches in the UK

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Today we are excited to announce the launch of Alexa Smart Properties for Hospitality in the UK. From today, solution providers and UK properties can start integrating Alexa’s world-class AI into valuable end-to-end experiences at scale. Alexa Smart Properties simplifies tasks for guests like playing music, ordering room service, calling the front desk and even checking out.

Mercure Hotels, part of Accor, will introduce the new Alexa experience across select properties in collaboration with Hotel Cloud. You can check out the experience at Mercure Hyde Park Hotel, a 72 room luxury hotel in central London, today!

How Guests Will Experience Alexa Smart Properties for Hospitality

Using Alexa in their room, guests can control and adjust compatible in-room devices such as lights, thermostats and blinds, or play music from popular services. Many exciting Alexa Smart Properties features — such as music and smart home controls — are available out-of-the-box, though hospitality providers may also choose to develop custom skills to further personalise their guests experience. For example, guests can ask Alexa for information like the Wi-Fi password or fitness centre location, request hotel services like housekeeping (“Alexa, I need towels”), call the concierge, and more.

Additionally, hoteliers and property managers have the option to enable skills from the Alexa Skills Store on the devices they manage so that their customers can check airport wait times, play games, get a quick guided workout, play sleep sounds to help them fall asleep, and more. Alexa’s Skill selection includes popular skills like Audible Stories, BBC News, BBC Sounds, Sleep Sounds, and many more.

Guest’s use of Alexa in their room is optional, Echo smart speakers have a Microphone Off button that electronically disconnects the microphone. With Alexa for Hospitality, guests use Alexa without connecting their Amazon account to the Alexa enabled device and voice recordings are not saved. For more information on privacy visit www.amazon.co.uk/alexahospitality/guest.

What Our Early Adopters Say

Mercure Hyde Park

“Alexa Smart Properties   has brought a lot of excitement to all the team members at Mercure Hyde Park, especially during Covid-19 where staffing levels are strained. Alexa arrived at the perfect time to help our teams by answering many of the common guest queries, along with a potential to increase room service revenue, simply due to the convenience provided by Alexa for ordering hotel services,” said Edward Wilcock, Director of Revenue, Mercure Hyde Park.

“One unexpected yet welcome gain has been the improvement in efficiency throughout the property. Housekeeping and maintenance staff can tell Alexa when they’ve cleaned or fixed a room, which immediately updates the property management system. This saves a significant amount of time and rooms are turned around and ready for new guests much faster.”

Hotel Cloud

“At Hotel Cloud, we use the latest technologies to optimise and enhance each part of a hotel’s management strategy: from revenue, through to marketing and guest experience,” said Amit Popat, CEO, Hotel Cloud.

“That’s why we joined Amazon’s Alexa Smart Properties programme, which is a perfect fit in the Hotel Cloud ecosystem. With Alexa and Hotel Cloud, properties can provide a rich, personalised experience for their guests, using our simple and intuitive platform. Furthermore, we can deliver cost savings and relieve pressure on staff by managing guest requests in a seamless and unified system, supporting reception, housekeeping and maintenance.

Combined with our advanced hospitality AI, we help to deliver the right recommendations to the right guests at the right time, increasing guest satisfaction and creating upsell opportunities.

The Alexa Smart Properties for Hospitality launch arrives at a critical moment for the hospitality industry; enabling hotels to connect with customers in a touchless and convenient way, driving revenue and costs savings whilst delivering on the great experience guests are looking for.”

Where is Alexa Smart Properties for Hospitality available?

Alexa Smart Properties for Hospitality is currently available in the United States, United Kingdom, and is coming soon in France.

Get Started with Alexa Smart Properties for Hospitality

Hoteliers and property managers can visit https://www.amazon.com/alexahospitality to learn more. Contact us to onboard to Alexa Smart Properties for Hospitality. We can’t wait to see what you build.

Shannon Adelman

Shannon Adelman

Shannon leads global operations for the Travel & Hospitality industry at Amazon Web Services (AWS), supporting strategy and execution of go-to-market strategies that help customers accelerate cloud adoption. Prior to joining AWS, Shannon held various leadership roles serving the travel and hospitality industry, including in consulting and tech, and is passionate about using data and insights to help travel industry companies drive strategic decision making. Originally from Los Angeles, she is now based in Washington, DC, and enjoys exploring through food, drink, and nature both while home and in faraway places.

Pankaj Goenka

Pankaj Goenka

Pankaj Goenka leads Solution Architecture for Alexa Smart Properties Solution Providers in Europe. His charter is to onboard hospitality solution providers for the Alexa for Hospitality solution to help improve the customer experience and deepen guest engagement through seamless voice-first experiences. Prior to this role, Pankaj was a Senior Solutions Architect in Alexa Voice Services, UK where he partnered with some of the biggest Telcos and Consumer Electronic companies to integrate Alexa into their devices such as Set-top boxes, TV’s, Speakers and Headphones. Prior to Amazon, his experience includes working on different embedded technologies across India and Japan.

Deep Ghosh

Deep Ghosh

Deep Ghosh leads Business Development for Alexa Smart Properties Solution Providers in Europe. He works with companies to bring the simplicity and convenience of Alexa to hotels, holiday rentals, and hospitality locations through the Alexa for Hospitality solution. Deep also leads the Alexa Consulting and Professional Services Solution provider program in Europe where he works with some of the most innovative companies to create delightful voice experiences and solutions. Prior to joining Alexa, Deep spent more than 2 years in AWS leading the Business Applications partner segment in EMEA and previously spent 15+ years in management consulting advising CXOs on strategic business and technology issues. Deep holds an MBA from Oxford University’s Said Business School and a Bachelor of Electronics Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, India.