Alexa for Hospitality Lets Amazon Follow You on Vacation

For those averse to talking on the phone, hotel stays can resemble a war of attrition, testing your mettle to see how long you’ll go without calling the front desk and admitting you forgot to pack your toothbrush. But Amazon’s new Alexa for Hospitality service, which puts an Echo device in your hotel room, might let you avoid the conversation altogether, and let you bring a bit of your always-on, always-listening, always-spying smart home with you. So don’t do anything stupid.

Amazon is rolling out Alexa for Hospitality starting with Marriott International properties—including Marriott Hotels, Westin Hotels & Resorts, St. Regis Hotels & Resorts, Aloft Hotels, and Autograph Collection Hotels—this summer. The hotel chain loves using the tech du jour to show off how cool and with the times it is, but the addition of Amazon’s Echo could mean a more permanent shift in how it approaches integrating technology into rooms.

Privacy in a hotel room is expected, but placing an always-listening voice assistant with a history of eavesdropping in a hotel room could make guests wary when it comes to doing what people do in hotel rooms (closing deals). Alexa has a history of selective hearing, interpreting other words as wake words and listening in on conversations—even sending a recording to a contact in at least one case.

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