Alexa, turn on the lights. And while you’re at it, open the curtains, flip on the TV, set the thermostat to 72 degrees, and order me a cheeseburger from room service.

Not long ago, these hotel-room commands would’ve fallen on deaf ears — unless you were traveling with an extremely accommodating partner who happened to be named Alexa.

However, since artificial intelligence (AI) began infiltrating all aspects of our lives, hotel industry leaders have been tasked with figuring out how to incorporate this modern technology — both in front of and behind the scenes.

That includes addressing the invisible elephant in the hotel room: Where does voice AI technology fit in?

Specifically, do most hotel guests want voice assistant (VA) smart speakers — think Amazon Echo and Google Nest — added to the in-room amenity list? And do the benefits outweigh the risks for hotel operators?

The consensus answer to both questions, for the moment: It’s complicated.

At least that was the general takeaway from a pair of recent AI-related research projects overseen by two UNLV Hospitality College faculty members.

Alexa, are you still listening?

During the last half decade, smart speakers have become as ubiquitous in our homes as toasters — both here in the U.S. and abroad.

We use them to play music, relay the latest news headlines, place and track online orders, and of course, tell us the weather after rolling out of bed each morning.

But what if these devices were offered in hotel rooms and able to accomplish all kinds of functions — from controlling the room’s environment to requesting an extra set of towels to reserving tickets for a show — through simple vocal commands?

Would we take advantage of such an in-room perk? And more to the point, would we view it as a perk or rather an intrusive, big-brother-is-listening nuisance?

These questions were at the forefront of a couple of recent studies co-authored by UNLV Hospitality College professor Mehmet Erdem and associate professor Jungsun (Sunny) Kim.

Erdem and Kim conducted a survey of more than 1,350 travelers from separate cultures — half residing in the U.S., the other half residing in Singapore. The primary objective of the survey: determine which in-room VA functions customers would be inclined to use, as well as the factors that would increase (and decrease) guest acceptance of in-room VA devices.

“There are a lot of potential benefits to using AI-powered voice assistants in terms of money saving, data collection, guest experience, and employee productivity,” says Kim, who has been teaching in the Hospitality College since 2012. “But as with any new technology, there are positives and negatives.”

The study’s significant findings: In-room VAs would be welcomed by guests for many useful conveniences — respondents from both countries, for instance, said they would be most likely to use the device to inquire about hotel facilities, control the TV, make housekeeping requests, and adjust the thermostat. 

But respondents also expressed serious concerns about privacy – concerns that can negatively influence a guest’s intention to use in-room VAs.

“A hotel room is a very private place — you don’t want the hotel recording something without you knowing exactly what is being recorded,” Kim says. “Our findings suggest that it’s important for operators to clearly inform their customers about what data will be collected via in-room VAs, how such data will be used, and how long it will be saved.”

Kim notes that it seems most hotel guests have become comfortable with one AI component that most operators have offered for some time now: chatbots. It’s possible customers have accepted this type of AI because it involves a simple exchange of text messages. Not only can guests view these text conversations on their smartphone, but they know when chats start and end.

There are no such assurances when it comes to communications conducted through an in-room VA device. But Kim suggests there’s a simple solution to this particular obstacle: Offer guests the option to receive transcribed notes based on their conversations with in-room VAs (e.g., text messages or emails depending on guest preferences).

“It’s all about balancing customer data privacy against improving customer experience by learning about their preferences,” Kim says. “If hotels can successfully execute this balancing act, voice AI will eventually benefit both guests and operators. But right now, it’s a challenge to find the risk-reward sweet spot.”

This could be one of the reasons why most hotel operators have chosen to dip their toes into the shallow end of the voice AI pool rather than dive headfirst into the deep end.

Alexa, we have a conflict

Free parking or paid parking. Room service fees. Coffee makers. Quality of bathroom products.

Every amenity offered in every hotel room is at the discretion of the operator. A guest may desire — or even demand — a particular service or perk. But ultimately, it’s not their choice.

Which leads us to a second voice AI-related study, this one co-authored by Erdem and Robert Firpo-Cappiello, editor-in-chief of Hospitality Technology magazine.

The duo polled hotel executives responsible for making IT-related purchase decisions for more than 10,000 hotels. Their overarching objective: Figure out where these executives stand on various forms of AI, and if they currently offer or intend to offer this technology in their properties.

The results, in a nutshell, were incongruous.

More than 78% of those surveyed acknowledged there was transformative potential tied to generative AI (think chatbots, including those that are voice-prompted). Also, 70% of respondents agreed that their guests would view guest-facing technologies like smart speakers as empowering (with the remaining 30% expressing a neutral opinion on the topic).

However, when specifically queried about “voice-enabled devices, such as Amazon Echo,” 33% of respondents said they saw little to no upside. What’s more, 73% acknowledged that they currently don’t offer such devices at their properties and have no immediate plans to do so.

“We know coming out of COVID that people prefer more contactless services. And they have shown that they’re willing to pay for it,” Erdem says. “Yet, one-third of the stakeholders surveyed said they see little to no potential in this technology, and three-fourths say they have no plans to invest in producing it.

“Basically, hotel operators are saying, ‘We know guests want more autonomy, and we want to serve them more effectively and efficiently.’ But they don’t intend to provide the tools to do so. So this is a very interesting dilemma.”

Erdem says that a follow-up study will tackle the “why” part of the dilemma. For now, though, he posits a theory that the trepidation on the part of hotel operators is tied to the same concern that respondents expressed in the Erdem-Kim study: guest privacy and guest data security.

Who should address and resolve these concerns? Erdem suggests that hotel operators might put the onus on the vendors that produce the technology.

Another plausible reason why the majority of hoteliers are reluctant to embrace in-room VA technology: money. Retrofitting hotel rooms isn’t cheap, and taking blocks of rooms out of commission to complete said retrofitting also impacts the bottom line.

Then there’s the matter of safeguarding the devices from theft — and the ensuing headache when the hotel has to hound departed guests for remuneration when a device “goes missing”.

Says Erdem: “The hotelier’s position on this just might be, ‘Why do I want to create another friction point between employees and guests?’”

All this said, it’s important to point out that while 73% of survey respondents either don’t have in-room smart speakers or aren’t inclined to add them in the foreseeable future, 27% either currently do or are leaning in that direction.

And those numbers almost certainly will flip in due time. As Erdem points out, it wasn’t that long ago when only a handful of hotel operators pulled the plug on bulky, old-fashioned TVs and replaced them with high-definition flat screens.

Now? Guests walk into their hotel room expecting a quality TV in the same way they expect clean towels.

“More and more households and more and more vehicles have this [voice AI] technology,” Erdem says. “And as we’ve seen with every other piece of new technology, once something becomes the norm and people get used to it, they expect to see it in their travels.

“So there will come a point when guests will say, ‘Hey, how come there’s no smart speaker in this room?’ Or, ‘I said turn the lights on and nothing happened; what’s going on?’ So while there’s clearly a conflict among hotel operators about the perceived potential and intention to offer [in-room voice AI], that conflict will need to be resolved soon.”