Siri Vs. Alexa: Marriott Testing Apple, Amazon Voice Assistants In Hotel

Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa are currently in a showdown over which will be the AI assistant of choice for travelers, according to a Bloomberg report.

Marriott International Inc. is testing the voice assistants at its Aloft hotel in Boston’s Seaport district and will choose which it will launch more broadly across its locations.

Read: Siri vs Alexa: Amazon AI Assistant Penetrates Apple iOS Through Official App

The hotel group is testing the digital assistants to see which is better for guest services, such as turning on lights, closing drapes, controlling room temperature and changing TV channels through voice commands.

Marriott’s Toni Stoeckl told Bloomberg the company is “looking for the ideal solution to make this a global platform.” He added that Aloft hotels act as a “tech incubator” for new concepts and a positive trial may determine whether digital assistants, and which one, will be integrated at other Marriott chains.

Marriott is expected to make a decision by the middle of the year. Whether the company picks Siri or Amazon, the decision could potentially boosts sales for either Apple or Amazon.

Read: Cortana vs. Siri: Microsoft Revamps AI Assistant In An Attempt To One-Up Apple’s iOS Assistant

However, Alexa seems to have a head start. Wynn Resorts Ltd. installed Echo devices powered by Alexa in suites at its Wynn Las Vegas hotel last December. The company plans to equip all of its 4,748 rooms at the hotel with the Amazon device by the summer, and is considering installing the Amazon Echo at other resorts.

Meanwhile, the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa in Texas has been testing Amazon’s assistant since October 2016 and has installed Alexa devices in 10 of its most popular rooms. The hotel, which has 1,002 rooms, plans to add the digital assistant to 100 more rooms next month. In that location, Alexa can be used to control lights in five of the rooms, but the company is focusing on using the voice assistant as a personal concierge for tasks such as, ordering room service and requesting towels, toothpaste or housekeeping.

Apple has been reportedly working to boost Siri’s capabilities to compete with Alexa, according to a January report. Apple is not only competing with Alexa, but also with Google Assistant, Samsung’s Bixby and Microsoft’s Cortana.

In a move to revamp Siri, Apple acquired Australian start-up Turi last August for $200 million. Turi lets developers create apps with machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities.

Rumors suggest Apple’s 2017 iPhone generation will feature an improved version of Siri to compete against Samsung and Huawei.