Marriott is right now testing out both Alexa and Siri in the an Aloft hotel in Boston. The test are using Echo speakers for Alexa, and a mix of iPhones and iPads for Siri. The hotel firm is seeing if either assistant will be their standards for letting guests control their rooms through voice commands. A decision on which way to go may come “as early as mid-year,” according to Bloomberg.
.Now 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 does have advantages for the Hotel use – easy skill add-ons and price. An Echo Dot is just $50 at full reatil, far cheaper than any Siri-equipped Apple product. While the Dot and Apple devices need external speakers for decent audio, Amazon has the all-in-one Echo speaker for $180 — still less than most Siri options.
Apple has a large advantage in languages. Alexa only works in English and German – Siri supports 21 languages, which is very useful foreign visitors.
