MOST VOICE ASSISTANTS UNSKILLED FOR TRAVEL PLANNING AND BOOKING

The customers demand from the hotel has ultimately risen after the advancement of technology as compared to two years ago. The hospitality industry is reshaped globally and it is facing several changes due to the economic landscape and new developments in the hospitality sector. "Voice Assistant" is considered as one of the most impressive trends in the hospitality industry and with its wonderful features, the technology has become successful in a short time. Amazon's voice-controlled speaker Echo and the Alexa software that powers the device could be on the edge of opening up another tremendous business opportunity. According to Mizuho, the revenue generated by the two services could exceed $11 billion by 2020. The latest voice search technology has been termed as “the next billion” by the Wall Street Journal. It is never exactly clear how many skills does Amazon Alexa incorporates but according to a recent survey, it is said that Amazon Alexa Skill Count Surpasses 30,000 in the U.S. What if we say that most of the skills from this huge count are actually "unskilled" for the hotel booking and other traveling tasks? Well, in the modern time, where visualization is at its peak, and every information which is said through visual terms is absorbed more easily as compared to the composed info.

 

Every 60 seconds more than 300 hours of HD quality video are uploaded to YouTube to contribute to already massive collection of 1,300,000,000 videos. As of the second quarter of 2018, Facebook had 2.23 billion monthly active users, the number of monthly active Instagram users as of June 2018 reached 1 billion monthly active users, up from 800 million in September 2017. The count on social media increases every day because of its visual impressions and this gives a clear idea that users are more likely addicted to visual information rather than voice assistant. The voice recognition technology is great in terms of accuracy, and it is a greater replacement of human concierge in the hospitality and other industries but according to the requirements of the planning and booking tasks, the amazon echo and smart speakers failed. Travel requires visual feedback and specific answers which are inaccessible through voice technology. Before booking a room, a customer would love to see the room visually through pictures rather than listening to all the comforts that would be offered during the stay.

 

Alexa has recently launched Alexa for Hospitality, an in-room version of its voice-activated virtual assistant created mainly for the hotel industry. With these latest improvements the guests at your hotel will love and cherish the personalized experience they will have during their stay and it will be a catalyst to choose your hotel frequently. According to the B2B side, Amazon has made a great impact on the hospitality industry with the launch of "Alexa for Hospitality,” The guest at their stay will be able to control light, thermostats, blinds and more. Calling staff members for human assistance will also be made easier with this astounding technology. We cannot wait for the time when the visual appearance with these technologies will also be seen in the future.