Global smart speaker sales reached an all-time high of 150 million units in 2020, and it’s likely many of your guests use a smart speaker on a daily basis. However, these B2C devices are built for a home environment – not a hotel. Let’s check out the benefits of offering guests a B2B digital assistant like Angie over the many B2C options available.
The Benefits of B2B Voice Assistants
Language: Angie’s robust language processing doesn’t require learned phrasing or commands that are unknown and unnatural for guests. Built purposely for hospitality, our voice assistant is ready to answer the questions that guests frequently ask, and can be easily updated with hotel and local information to ensure guests get the most up-to-date responses. Plus, guests can speak directly to the device—there’s no account setup or “hotel skill” to request.
Integrations: Another perk of being built for the hospitality industry is that from the ground-up, Angie was designed to integrate with existing hotel systems and in-room features, including familiar PMS, Workflow Management, and Smart Room technologies. Guests can turn on lights or adjust the thermostat via voice and make housekeeping requests without calling the front desk. Implementation is cost-effective and frictionless for staff and allows personalization and efficiency for guests.
Advertising and Upsell: When using a consumer product, who knows what response your guests will hear. Our B2C digital assistant allows you to customize responses specifically for your guests. What if they ask for restaurant recommendations? Angie can be programmed to recommend your hotel’s restaurant or a partner pub in town. Or advertise with on-screen discounts for happy hour or spa packages.
Privacy Options: To feel at ease in a smart guest room, guests need to be provided with privacy options that allow them to interact in a way that they find most comfortable and secure. If guests don’t want a B2C device listening to them, they unplug it. Angie offers the option for touch to talk and mute. Guests have the option to deactivate the voice interface completely, if they so choose, and use an alternate means of interaction, such as a touch screen interface, to still access all of the solution’s capabilities.
Multitasking: Angie is more than just a voice assistant and even the base model replaces the alarm clock, phone, speaker, etc. Additional features including a high resolution touchscreen, high-fidelity bluetooth speakers, USB-A and C charging ports, nightlight, TV remote control and handset give guests everything they need in one aesthetically pleasing device.
Forget B2C smart speakers and give your guest a solution that is hotel-ready. Want to compare models or learn more? Check out all of our available in-room devices or contact us for more information.
Josh York brings over 15 years of experience in the hospitality industry to his role as Product Manager of Angie and PBX.