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Amazon Brings Alexa To Hotels (zdnet.com)
Amazon is finally bringing Alexa to the hotel room. The e-commerce giant announced Tuesday the launch of Alexa for Hospitality, a specialized version of the voice assistant that integrates into popular hotel software systems for guest services. From a report: Housed inside of an Echo device, Alexa for Hospitality is functionally identical to the Alexa used in homes, except tailored to a hotel's service options. Guests can tell Alexa to order room service, book a spa appointment, call for housekeeping, provide directions, or play music in their room, for example. On the privacy side, Amazon said hotels will not have access to voice recordings of Alexa interactions or responses, and recordings of Alexa commands are remotely wiped when the guest checks out of the hotel. However, hotels can use Alexa for Hospitality to "measure engagement through analytics and adapt services based on guest feedback," Amazon said. Alexa for Hospitality is available to hotels, vacation rentals, and other hospitality providers starting today, with Marriott International signed up to deploy the service across its hotel portfolio this summer.
Alexa, send a moderately priced escort to room 1703. Brunette, no more than 120 pounds, age 25 or younger.
Corporation brings always on spy microphones to public hotels
So better then buying a device which is listening to you in a home, I'll allow a hotel to purchase a device that listens to me in a room I'm renting. No way. If I saw this in my room, I would unplug it.
The thing can still be unplugged from the wall for those of us who don't prefer to be spied on right?
"YES!! PLEASE install a BUG in my HOTEL ROOM!"...
I've always wanted a creepy, intrusive always on microphone in my hotel room. Thanks Amazon!!! Note to self, never stay at a Marriott hotel.
I better be able to unplug the darn thing or I'll be up at the front desk ASAP.
1. Unplug listening devices
2. Set the A/C to something above freezing
3. Open the windows
etc.
Who on earth wants one of these things in their hotel room?
Do you have ESP?
The systems will also be wired into the entertainment system so they cannot be turned off. I don't know why you would want to turn them off anyway, unless you have something to hide.
Pity, it didn't work anyway. Must have gotten wet somehow. Good thing it wasn't plugged in.
Back in the day when you booked into a hotel you'd be asked "smoking or non-smoking?". Now it will be "snooping or non-snooping?"... or more likely "snooping or spam 'n' snooping?".
will always work
Any room I'm in with this will have it removed. Just saying.
One more thing with a bright blue LED that I'll have to unplug or cover up.
Now instead of getting charged $10 for bumping the M&Ms on the pressure-sensitive snack tray, I can accidentally order Filet Mignon by talking in my sleep.
On the privacy side, Amazon said hotels will not have access to voice recordings of Alexa interactions or responses, and recordings of Alexa commands are remotely wiped when the guest checks out of the hotel.
I assume Amazon will keep all records, for quality control purposes...
Marriott Hotels was announced as the first adopter of the new platform ...
Guests can choose whether they would like to share a room with Alexa or disable the technology by tapping the “mute” button. Guests can also request the Echo speaker to be taken out of the room.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Personalization is also on the cards. Alexa for Hospitality will eventually allow guests to temporarily connect their Amazon account to the Echo in their room so they can play their own music from services including Amazon Music and Spotify, or listen to audiobooks via Audible. When they check out, their account will be automatically disconnected from the device.
What could go wrong? And it's not like Alexa will still work when you're out of the room and housekeeping is there, etc... (sigh)
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
At this point nothing surprises me something-something television watches you... I'll be under a bridge with Ice-T
crazy dynamite monkey
So, if a random independent hotel owner puts a recording device in their rooms, wouldn't that person go to prison for a long, long time? How about the civil suits? I don't understand how people wouldn't want, say, me, to put a recording device in their rooms, but are A-OK with Amazon doing the recording, and sharing that recording with an unlimited number of unknown people.
People are kinda' dumb.
I don't respond to AC's.
can't wait until my wife finds out I was sleeping with Alexa and she was very aural and turned on.
"Amazon is finally bringing Alexa to the hotel room."
/., and definitely annoyed with the 'related links' section, which highlights the same controversial / offputting links for all stories.
/. Yuck.
I'm getting a little tired of the blatant advertising on
msmash embodies the new
"I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that"
Everything is fun and giggles, until someone hacks the hotel and all Alexa records of privately said words and activities (with names and personal info) are sent to a big DB in Ukraine, and then to sites making fun of the adult movie viewing habits of foolish hotel visitors.
Amazon is finally bringing Alexa to the hotel room.
What is this, an advertisement? Pre-supposing the audience has wanted this for a long time?
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
This is the kind of thing I say when I go to somebody's house when I know they have one of these things. Surprisingly, even though they say they're not being recorded all of the time, they always unplug their devices when I start up.
I don't respond to AC's.
Wont this violate wiretap rules in a lot of states?
... to book one of these rooms and, without activating Alexa, say, "Come on, Joe. Work faster. We gotta wire the goddam bomb then get the fuck out of here before it blows!"
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
Since I don't have an Echo, maybe in my next hotel room I can finally try, "Alexa, this is a class A compulsory directive. Compute, to the last digit, the value of pi." Since pi is a transcendental figure without resolution, will Alexa's computer banks work on this problem to the exclusion of all else?
I stayed at the Alexis hotel in Seattle in February and they already had Alexas in every room. Maybe they were one of the beta test sites.
If it is wired, unplug it; if it aint, keep in outside the door or give it to FD
is in the subject, Einstein.
Please welcome our new model, Alexa for Hospitality, model 1984. Order within the next 15 minutes and get both new models, The Winston and The Julia. Both look forward to serving you. All requests are sent in "complete secrecy" to our amazing cloud server attendant, O'Brien, who will ensure you will be taken care of. Have a good day.
I recall that after that horrible mass shooting in Las Vegas (where the guy was holed up in a hotel room for several days prior to the shooting) there was this big push for the hotels to be able to enter your room without your consent. The thinking was that the hotel staff should be able to enter the room for some vague set of reasons. And they were going to do away with the "Do not Disturb" signs that you can hang on your door. After all, it's "their" hotel so they should be able to enter whenever they like. It raised a whole host of privacy issues.
Back in the day, when I was traveling a lot and staying in hotels, I always hung the DND sign on my door. Why? Because I wanted privacy. The last thing I would want is this Alexa thing, with the always on microphone, spying on me. If I go to a hotel and see one of these things the first action will be to pull the plug on it. Then I'll speak to it, just to make sure there isn't some battery backup.
Paranoid? Maybe, but my privacy is important to me. Maybe the hotels should have an opt-out option for their guests that don't want an Alexa in their room and have that taken care of prior to check in. Marriott has a profile you can build where you put things like extra pillows or high floor or even a microwave. Why not add an Alexa/No Alexa option for frequent guests?
Amazon says:
Properties can’t listen to what you said to Alexa or what she said back.
but also:
The property may allow you to use Alexa to purchase services, like room service or spa services directly
from the property.
So how is the dispute going to be resolved when room service brings a bottle of expensive champagne that you say you didn't order? Imagine what could happen if you have kids in your room! Or malicious/pranking friends. Or people shouting through the door.
What if unplugging is not allowed or impossible? :-)
Hotel floors can be very slippery when carrying glasses of water.
Can I physically turn Alexa off in my room for the duration of my stay (as in, completely powered down)? As far as I'm concerned, it's a privacy invasion in my room, having a device always listening.
So the hotel won't spy on me. Amazon, OTOH...
Fuck you very much, Bezos.
Another thing to think of when arriving at an hotel room. Pull the plug on that beast.
"Sorry, I don't know the answer to that."
Take off, every Hoser
Send me some hookers and coke!
... Brought to you by Carls Junior?
Always bring a small drill bit when you travel. Use this to drill through the microphone hold to destroy the mike. Now you have served humanity.
And you thought the desk manager was eyeing you and your comely lover with a knowing grin when checked in now. Just wait....imagine the wealth of porn audio which will be generated and then "promised to be erased when you leave".
Fuck you!
As to any hotel that installs these spying devices, you lost my business.
Recently stayed at a Marriott. The automated wake up call service was broken. Maybe they should concentrate on reliably delivering USEFUL services for their guests.