Marriott is holding tryouts for Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa digital assistants to see which would be best to provide voice controls for their rooms, Bloomberg reports. Marriott is testing devices from both companies at its Aloft hotel in Boston, putting them through their paces with tasks like turning the lights on, changing room temperature, closing the curtains and changing TV channels.
The Wynn resort in Las Vegas added Alexa-equipped Echo devices to its rooms last December, and Apple is trying to get its own foothold in what could be a valuable showcase for customers in the emerging smarthome business. Apple has also partnered with home builders to begin including HomeKit-enabled devices in new upscale houses in a bid to boost the visibility of its platform.
Toni Stoeckl, who oversees Marriott’s lifestyle brands, said the digital assistant they choose will eventually be required to provide more “concierge-like services,” including syncing with a user’s device to provide functions like setting an “automatic wake-up temperature or have the drapes open at a certain time.” Marriott expects to make a decision by this summer.
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