Amazon and Marriott trial digital room service

Amazon’s digital assistant, Alexa, will be waiting for guests when they check into their hotel rooms, under a partnership between the tech giant and global hotel chain Marriott.

Alexa for Hospitality will allow guests to order room service, ask for their rooms to be cleaned, book spa appointments, play music and adjust lighting – by speaking their requests aloud.

The deal gives Amazon “an opportunity to expand beyond Alexa’s stronghold in the home into enterprise services, while further entrenching it as the default voice platform in consumers’ minds”, says the Financial Times.

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Thousands of hotel guests will also have the chance to try the service for the first time.

Amazon’s aggressive expansion relies on a business model which ploughs profits from one division into often loss-making enterprises in another – and it has never revealed how many of the Echo devices, which house Alexa, have been sold.

However, says Reuters, Amazon Echo owners spend an average of $1,700 (£1,291) a year with Amazon, more than the estimated $1,300 spent by Amazon Prime members.

Marriott, the world’s biggest hotel chain, has previously trialled Apple’s voice-activated products, but denied it was picking one over the other.

“This was not a direct comparison with Siri,” the hotel chain said. “We work with a number of partners in order to test emerging technology so we can learn and leverage what we believe will enhance the guest experience.”

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