The most recent conglomerate to jump on the Amazon bandwagon is not in the cloud computing space, no, it is hotel giant Marriott. The group partnered with Amazon to deliver an in-room assistant. The idea - hotel guests will now only have to simply shout out their every command to the empty space of their room. Alexa will be able to order room service, call housekeeping, set a wakeup, and more. The potential is virtually endless.
The Facts
A study conducted by NPR-Edison Research, found roughly 18% of adults in the U.S now own a smart speaker device. This translates to roughly 43 million people in the U.S. alone, and the number runs beyond 100 million globally.
These devices will now be the greatest threat to connectivity and services in the travel industry!
The travel industry has been in a constant era of change since the start of the Digital Age. The first victim was the traditional travel agent business, which was once a respectable and highly sought out career, built on connections and information. Knowledge was power! Now, travellers simply need to work their way through the masses of online metasearch websites, flight trackers, and booking sites to plan a trip.
The Impact
There are many theories on how these devices and the technology will impact the industry. For starters, let’s talk about the hotels. There are many areas in the hotel business these devices with change. Could they end the check-in process? Absolutely! Can you picture it, arrive at your hotel, duck into a small booth, tell the box your name, and poof, voila, sign the screen, and Alexa tells you how to find your room. Who’s next? How about the concierge. A beloved tradition at hotels (primarily in the luxury sector) is the concierge service. This occupation has been so in demand in the past, there is an association called Les Clefs d’Or (The Golden Keys), which is a distinction to set you apart from the pack. The job of a concierge is important and requires not only a keen eye for social cues, but also a strong grasp on languages. A concierge will listen to your interests, requests, and provide your with carefully selected tourism, restaurant, recommendations, and much more. How will these “Smart Speakers” handle this? My opinion on the greatest loser here is us, the traveler! If we slowly start to rely more heavily on these cookie cutter recommendations, we will miss on some of the best things the world has to offer.
The Winners
We sympathize with the losers in this situation, however, their will be some winners from this technological change. Firstly, and quite obviously, it will be a home run for he tech companies! This transition gives them access to a mass of information from travellers, and often data which would have taken months to procure. You can believe the data they will be gaining will compliment the rest of their product suite perfectly. Another champion in this shift could be the airline and booking companies. Less and less need for personal will significantly reduce their overhead. Smart speakers as ticket agents and reduced investment in online business could be a perfect formula moving forward. If the technology behind these systems continues to improve, this could be an asset for the travellers booking process. We can’t deny the ease in simply booking a flight through a short conversation with the box in your living room. The process could also be a big time saver for the business traveller or busy family who doesn’t have time to analyze, compare, and book.
Though it is not fully clear what the changes will be in the travel industry, it is very clear there will be some big winners and some even BIGGER losers!
Only time will tell…
We at BeenThere believe the single best way to experience a new city is to speak with the people who have ‘BeenThere” in the past. We enable you to hear directly from the real experiences and lessons learned by travellers just like you. Join the community now and give it a try!
Cheers!
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