Twelve months after the introduction of Alexa Smart Properties Hospitality in Italy, Amazon revealed the progress and latest news of the service that transforms Amazon’s voice assistant into a personal assistant for guests.
Amazon also announced a partnership with BWH Hotels Italy & Malta – hotel chain with 170 affiliated structures in Italy and Malta – e eternalthe group’s technological partner for the modernization of hotel structures.
“The innovation that Alexa brings to hotel properties is appreciated by both customers and hotel managers; the feedback we receive, in fact, is very positive and encouraging,” he said Pietro Catello, Head of Alexa Smart Properties Hospitality Italia. “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. 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 – of vital importance for our country. Our technology allows properties to tailor content, offer guests a more engaging experience and simplify staff tasks. All thanks to the simple use of voice commands.”
I numeri di Alexa Smart Properties Hospitality
Italy has stood out as the country with fastest growing adoption of Alexa Smart Properties Hospitality, just behind the United States. Just a year after launch, thousands of hotel rooms have been equipped with Alexa, with the trend steadily increasing across the nation. Amazon estimates it will surpass one million interactions by the end of 2024.
The data collected highlights Italy’s enthusiasm towards this innovative service, considered a pillar of digital transformation in the hospitality sector. 75% of tourists staying in hotels equipped with Alexa make regular use of the service. Additionally, recent surveys indicate that Alexa significantly improves the guest experience, increasing satisfaction by 20%, staff productivity by 30% in room service, and revenue by 12%.
The most frequent requests made to Alexa in hotels concern tourist information (such as the distance to certain places of interest) and details on hotel services (such as check-out times, access to the SPA and room service reservations). Next come requests to have music played in the room (such as playing jazz music after a busy day). Not least are the requests directed to hotel staff, where Alexa proves to be a valid support for guests, making it easier to request forgotten items or extra services such as catering, guided tours and transfers.
Le partnership con BWH Hotels e Aetherna
As announced, Amazon has also formalized the collaboration with BWH Hotels Italy & Malta e eternal. This led to the adoption of Alexa Smart Properties Hospitality in the group’s Italian facilities. This integration allows guests to enjoy advanced Alexa features, designed to enhance the stay experience.
In fact the system can be integrated into guests’ digital Customer Journey, offering exclusive benefits to loyalty program members. The suite of services developed by Navooin collaboration with Aetherna, aims to provide a seamless experience, from booking additional services to managing personal requests.
Il Best Western Plus Hotel de’ Capuleti in Verona, with its 34 rooms, was the pioneer in the implementation of this technology in Italy, registering orover 14,000 interactions in the first 90 days. The adoption of the service by the other hotels in the group is already underway, with structures such as the Best Western Hotel Cristallo of Rovigo and the Best Western Plus Hotel Soave of San Bonifacio among the first to activate the service.
Below we report the words of Sara Digiesi, CEO BWH Hotels Italy & Malta:
“This agreement confirms our search for solutions that are always capable of considering the new habits and needs of our guests, in a process of constant evolution. Comfort is also usability, immediacy, ease: all attributes that Alexa embodies. Service today also means personalization, relevance of the proposals and messages conveyed, other drivers of the solutions that we are developing thanks to the integrations of Alexa, Aetherna and Customer Journey systems. Also essential in the ongoing integrations is the impact on the management of communication processes with the staff and between the staff themselves, with efficiency and optimization of operations in order to remain focused on hospitality and valuable activities. The development front on this project, with the scenarios possible today thanks to the smart room, is closely linked to the first installations which also represent a test and will guide the future: we want to proceed by learning from experience in a collaborative process that engages different teams. Collaborating with Amazon, with the precious support of Aetherna which has been our point of reference for technological innovation for years, is for us a guarantee of safety and success throughout the entire process”
These instead are the declarations of Mariangela Colasanti, Head of Sales and Marketing at Aetherna:
“We welcomed the collaboration with Amazon and Navoo with immediate enthusiasm, and immediately brought this opportunity to the table of BWH Hotels in order to integrate it into the Aetherna Smart Rooms, continuing a path aimed at the digital transformation of the structures that we have been carrying out for years. The integration work with the latest generation Wi-Fi systems and with the home automation product of our partner STS Hotel has led to immediate positive results on the guest customer experience and on the work of the staff in the first prestigious Group structures that have joined. Every step towards integrating artificial intelligence into hotel operations is not simply a technical improvement, but a qualitative leap in the guest experience, with attention to the smallest details. We are improving the hotel experience through technology, but above all by redefining the way hotels interact with their guests”
