Volara: First Voice-Based Guest Engagement Solution for the Hospitality Industryby David Berger
Volara, the first voice-based hotel guest engagement solution that turns the Amazon Echo and Alexa into a powerful hotel business tool, announced today its deployment in 12 hotels nationwide. The firm's hotel-grade software connects guests to hotel staff and services by automated voice.
Volara, which leverages the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot devices, engages guests today in leading branded properties including JW Marriott San Antonio, Hotel EMC2 by Marriott Chicago, Alexis Hotel by Kimpton Seattle, and TheWit by Hilton DoubleTree Chicago, as well as boutique hotels including Acme Hotel Chicago, Marina Del Rey Hotel, The Wayfarer and Hotel Walloon, among others.
Volara provides an easy, fun way for guests to request services, get recommendations, and generally engage with hotel staff and services without the hassle of picking up the antiquated landline telephone still found in every hotel room. When Volara deploys its solution, hotel guests can ask questions typically asked of a hotel concierge, valet, housekeeper or bellman. The interactions are integrated with existing hotel software and immediately communicated to staff. Responses to guest inquiries are tailored to the hotel's unique voice and are easily updated in real-time by hotel staff.
Volara IntroductionWhile Volara creates memorable voice-based guest experiences and enables efficient guest service, the solution also reports insights from the aggregated interaction data that hotel staff can use to improve guest services. In an easy-to-use dashboard, the hotel staff can see all hotel service requests from guests and identify trends within those requests. Also within the dashboard, the staff can update responses to each question to reflect timely offers and upcoming activities.
"Volara's solution has already proven the tremendous power of voice in the hotel environment," said David Berger, CEO of Volara. "The properties can serve their guests in a personal yet automated manner that guests love. Relevant suggestions from the hotel concierge drive new revenues for the hotel, and every interaction is aligned to achieve well-recognized and measurable hotel KPIs."
"ACME is always looking for ways to stay ahead of the curve by bringing new technologies to our guests to enhance their stay," said Jim Harness, general manager at ACME Hotel Company in Chicago. "We knew Volara's customized voice-based guest engagement solution on the Amazon Echo would be a perfect fit for our guests, acting as a high-tech personal assistant for a number of hotel services and information on demand."
"Volara's voice-based guest engagement solution on the Amazon Echo Dot was simple to deploy and personalize for our hotel," noted Jenne Oxford, General Manager of Kimpton's Alexis Hotel in Seattle. "We're serving our guests more efficiently while creating unique experiences that our guests will always remember and associate with the Alexis."
Volara enables hotels to extend their respective brands to the voice-medium. Use cases are custom-tailored to each hotel's business objectives, but some popular use cases include:
- Room requests
- Concierge recommendations
- Voice-only promotions
- Personal greetings
- Compendium information
- Custom games
- Loyalty programs
- And many many more!
Volara provides hotels with a full service solution, including:
- Custom Amazon Alexa skill that is only accessible by guests and staff on the hotel property
- Proprietary dashboard that enables management of hotel content in real time, logging of all guest interactions with the custom skill in real time, and aggregated data and analytics that will improve guest services decision making
- Integrations into leading hotel software, including incident management systems, point of sale solutions (POS), and SMS based guest engagement solutions
- Proprietary hotel personality development which ensure the voice of the hotel is consistent with its brand
- Hotel Branded Amazon Echo or Echo Dot hardware and collateral
- Set-up, connectivity and installation of the solution across the property
- Staff training and implementation of best practices to drive utilization and improve guest experience
- Ongoing software customization, updates and supportAccording to a 2017 study by Hospitality Technology magazine, 52 percent of hoteliers are focused on improving digital customer engagement and 24 percent are focused on improving guest room technology. Volara is well-suited to improve the guest experience using the latest technology while also creating opportunities for added revenue and improved efficiency.
