With thousands of hotel rooms already equipped and over one million interactions expected by 2024, Italy is the second country after the United States to adopt Alexa Smart Properties Hospitality, the service for the hospitality sector that transforms the Amazon's voice assistant becomes a real concierge.
From the results of a recent survey presented today in Milan by Amazon, it emerges that 75% of tourists who stay in a hotel equipped with Alexa regularly use the service.
Furthermore, the impact on guests is particularly positive (+20% in satisfaction), as is the impact on staff productivity (+30% acceleration in room service) and on revenues (+12% in room services) .
In first place among the most popular interactions in accommodation facilities are those relating to tourist information - such as "Alexa, how far is the Verona Arena?"
– and hotel services to find out, for example, check-out times, how to access the spa, how to book room service or a transfer.
Second place is occupied by in-room entertainment, i.e. music, and third are interactions relating to requests from hotel staff.
Alexa, in fact, comes to the aid of guests to request, for example, the toothbrush forgotten at home, or an additional towel.
Using the voice assistant, it is always possible to enrich your stay experience by booking additional services such as restaurants, guided tours and transfers.
Among the new features of the service presented today, there is the collaboration with BWH Hotels Italia & Malta together with Aetherna - a Tiscali Group company specializing in technological consultancy for the hospitality sector -, which has chosen the service for its structures in Italy.
Specifically, Alexa's capabilities and artificial intelligence will come with the facilities already known and familiar in domestic environments combined with technological integration with the entire Customer Journey of BWH Hotels guests, for whom the stay experience will be enriched with exclusive benefits and advantages dedicated to customers registered with the loyalty program, in a simple and interactive way.
Thanks to the suite of services created by Navoo, a Qualified Solution Provider by Amazon, combined with the consultancy and content customization work carried out by Aetherna, the system was designed as integrated into the Hotel Group's Digital Customer Journey for the sale of products and services additional items including: access to the SPA, request for amenities or objects forgotten at home, room service and booking of additional services such as transfers, dinners, tailor-made packages.
The pilot hotel of the initiative in Italy is Best Western Plus Hotel de' Capuleti, a structure in Verona with 34 rooms which has already extensively tested the service with excellent feedback.
In the first 90 days of use, the facility recorded over 14,000 interactions from guests and staff.
“We are really proud of the results achieved in just one year since the launch in Italy and we look to the future with great optimism,” comments Pietro Catello, Head of Alexa Smart Properties Hospitality Italy.
“The start of the collaboration between the prestigious BWH Hotels Italia & Malta and Aetherna will give further impetus to digital innovation in the tourism sector, which is of vital importance for our country”