Aloft Hotels, a modern brand for the new business traveler by Starwood, has unveiled voice-activated rooms this week in the USA—Aloft Boston Seaport and Aloft Santa Clara in California—under the “Project: Jetson” initiative.
The voice-activated technology is integrated with Apple’s Siri; it runs a custom Aloft app on iPads placed in the rooms. With this, guests can control the temperature, lighting, television and music with a simple voice command, Business Traveler reported.
“Today’s early adopter, hyper-connected global traveler wants a level of personalization unlike ever before and that means being able to control their hotel experience with the sound of their voice,” says Brian McGuinness, global brand leader of Aloft Hotels.
When guests launch the app on their in-room iPads, they are greeted with a personalized welcome screen and a tutorial that walks them through the technology. Any request made thenceforth must begin with “Hey Siri”, followed by the command.
For example, if the room temperature is warmer than desired, they must say: “Hey Siri, cool the room,” or to switch from nigh-mode lighting to day-mode, “Hey Siri, good morning.”
Siri also acts as a personal concierge when asked to list sightseeing attractions and restaurant options in the city. Further, by logging on to the app with personal Apple account details, Siri can play songs from the synchronized iTunes account.
The new Aloft voice-activated hotel rooms also allow guests to browse the Internet, check the weather and more. At the end of each stay, all iPads are reset and all personal preferences are removed from the device. Aloft Hotels is positive about the success of the new technology and hopes to introduce it to its other facilities worldwide.
