• Amazon this morning announced what it is calling Alexa for Hospitality, offering hoteliers the ability to allow guests to “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.”
The announcement goes on: “With Alexa for Hospitality, hospitality providers can enable and customize a range of voice-first features based on their guests’ needs. Using an Amazon Echo in their room, guests can ask Alexa for information like pool hours or fitness center location, request hotel services like room service or housekeeping, call the concierge, and more. 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. Guests can also be given access to thousands of Alexa skills to check airport wait times, play games, get in a quick guided workout, play white noise to help them fall asleep, and more.”
According to the announcement, “Alexa for Hospitality is available to hospitality providers by invitation starting today, with Marriott International introducing the new Alexa experience at select properties in Marriott Hotels, Westin Hotels & Resorts, St. Regis Hotels & Resorts, Aloft Hotels, and Autograph Collection Hotels starting this summer.”
• Gizmodo reports that 20 groups of Amazon shareholders Are pressuring Amazon founder/CEO Jeff Bezos “to stop selling the company’s face recognition software to law enforcement … Called Rekognition, the software came under greater scrutiny last month when the ACLU published revealing internal documents related to its use by police. Numerous civil rights organizations co-signed a letter demanding Amazon stop assisting government surveillance, and several members of Congress have expressed concerns about the partnerships.”
The letter says, in part: “We are concerned the technology would be used to unfairly and disproportionately target and surveil people of color, immigrants, and civil society organizations. We are concerned sales may be expanded to foreign governments, including authoritarian regimes.”
• ZDNet reports that Amazon Prime has finally launched in Australia, “13 years after the United States got its hands on the service.” Though Australia is so big that “Prime members in more remote or rural locations will receive free expedited shipping in four or five days.”
The announcement goes on: “With Alexa for Hospitality, hospitality providers can enable and customize a range of voice-first features based on their guests’ needs. Using an Amazon Echo in their room, guests can ask Alexa for information like pool hours or fitness center location, request hotel services like room service or housekeeping, call the concierge, and more. 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. Guests can also be given access to thousands of Alexa skills to check airport wait times, play games, get in a quick guided workout, play white noise to help them fall asleep, and more.”
According to the announcement, “Alexa for Hospitality is available to hospitality providers by invitation starting today, with Marriott International introducing the new Alexa experience at select properties in Marriott Hotels, Westin Hotels & Resorts, St. Regis Hotels & Resorts, Aloft Hotels, and Autograph Collection Hotels starting this summer.”
• Gizmodo reports that 20 groups of Amazon shareholders Are pressuring Amazon founder/CEO Jeff Bezos “to stop selling the company’s face recognition software to law enforcement … Called Rekognition, the software came under greater scrutiny last month when the ACLU published revealing internal documents related to its use by police. Numerous civil rights organizations co-signed a letter demanding Amazon stop assisting government surveillance, and several members of Congress have expressed concerns about the partnerships.”
The letter says, in part: “We are concerned the technology would be used to unfairly and disproportionately target and surveil people of color, immigrants, and civil society organizations. We are concerned sales may be expanded to foreign governments, including authoritarian regimes.”
• ZDNet reports that Amazon Prime has finally launched in Australia, “13 years after the United States got its hands on the service.” Though Australia is so big that “Prime members in more remote or rural locations will receive free expedited shipping in four or five days.”
- KC's View:
