Marriott likely to decide on Apple Siri or Amazon Alexa for hotels later this year
Marriott is currently testing both Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa at an Aloft hotel in Boston to gauge which assistant, if either, might be best for letting guests control their rooms through voice commands, a report said on Wednesday.
A decision on which direction to go could happen "as early as mid-year," according to Bloomberg. If one of the platforms is successful, Marriott will also have to decide which chains will get the technology.
At the Boston hotel, Marriott is using Echo speakers to test Alexa, and a mix of iPhones and iPads for Siri.
Apple's assistant is currently an underdog in the hotel industry, since the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa already has Alexa installed in 10 of its 1,002 rooms, with 100 more set to go online as soon as April. A separate chain, Wynn, is aiming to equip all 4,748 rooms at its Las Vegas resort with an Echo in time for the summer, and could take the technology to other locations.
Alexa may have a few advantages, including easy skill add-ons and price. Before any bulk discounts, an Echo Dot is just $50, far cheaper than any Siri-equipped Apple product. Both the Dot and Apple devices have to be hooked up to external speakers for decent audio, but Amazon also sells the original, all-in-one Echo speaker for $180 -- still less than most Siri options.
The one area in which Apple has a definite advantage is languages. Whereas Alexa only works in English and German, Siri supports 21 languages, which could make it useful for accommodating international visitors and foreign hotel branches.
Marriott is hoping to add more options to assistants over time, such as setting automatic wake-up temperatures, or scheduling when drapes will open.
Apple's Siri-based HomeKit platform now supports a many kinds of smarthome accessories, from lights and ceiling fans through to locks, air conditioners, and thermostats. Alexa is also compatible with a wide range however, including some popular brands -- like Nest -- that don't work with HomeKit.
A decision on which direction to go could happen "as early as mid-year," according to Bloomberg. If one of the platforms is successful, Marriott will also have to decide which chains will get the technology.
At the Boston hotel, Marriott is using Echo speakers to test Alexa, and a mix of iPhones and iPads for Siri.
Apple's assistant is currently an underdog in the hotel industry, since the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa already has Alexa installed in 10 of its 1,002 rooms, with 100 more set to go online as soon as April. A separate chain, Wynn, is aiming to equip all 4,748 rooms at its Las Vegas resort with an Echo in time for the summer, and could take the technology to other locations.
Alexa may have a few advantages, including easy skill add-ons and price. Before any bulk discounts, an Echo Dot is just $50, far cheaper than any Siri-equipped Apple product. Both the Dot and Apple devices have to be hooked up to external speakers for decent audio, but Amazon also sells the original, all-in-one Echo speaker for $180 -- still less than most Siri options.
The one area in which Apple has a definite advantage is languages. Whereas Alexa only works in English and German, Siri supports 21 languages, which could make it useful for accommodating international visitors and foreign hotel branches.
Marriott is hoping to add more options to assistants over time, such as setting automatic wake-up temperatures, or scheduling when drapes will open.
Apple's Siri-based HomeKit platform now supports a many kinds of smarthome accessories, from lights and ceiling fans through to locks, air conditioners, and thermostats. Alexa is also compatible with a wide range however, including some popular brands -- like Nest -- that don't work with HomeKit.
Comments
Place your phone in Airplane Mode, then try to use Siri. It'll display, "Siri not available. You are not connected to the Internet."
On the day you check out of your room...
Alexa, set an alarm for 2am.
Alexa, set an alarm for 3am.
Alexa, set an alarm for 4am.
Alexa, set an alarm for 5am.
One advantage of using an iPad (as in the new, less expensive one) is that voice isn't the only interface option, you've also got that touch screen. Even if Alexa has advantages over Siri, a voice-only interface inherently has a big disadvantage relative to a system that combines voice and touch screen.
2) Being "done on-device" doesn't mean shit if the device is compromised and connected to a network. Keylogging apps are "done on-device" too.
However, I much prefer the Control Center HomeKit controls to avoid waking up my family.
I'd say wait until end of the year to see Apple and Amazon's latest announcements before deciding. What's the rush ?
I too would not accept this in a hotel room. This is a bad idea. Remember when the hotels got sued (and lost) for blocking wifi? Wait until guests report a security breach after staying there. Rightfully or wrongfully, these devices will be blamed and Marriott will have a yooge problem on their hands. For what advantage? I don't see anything justifying this risk.