Wynn Resorts plans to equip all 4,748 of its Wynn Las Vegas and Encore rooms with artificial intelligence by next summer.
The Strip giant said it will install the Amazon Echo, a stand-alone cylindrical device that responds to voice commands and delivers information via a voice assistant called Alexa.
“If I have ever seen anything in my 49 years of developing resorts that has made our job of delivering a perfect experience to our guests easier and help us get to another level, it is Alexa,” Wynn Chairman and CEO Steve Wynn said in a statement.
“This was expected,” said Mehmet Erdem, associate professor of hotel operations and technology at UNLV’s Harrah’s College of Hotel Administration. “We have been talking about who is going to integrate artificial intelligence into the hotel room. Thinking about who has created and shaped Las Vegas, it’s not surprising that Mr. Wynn would take the lead in an effort like this.”
Erdem said voice commands have been entering guest-room technology in different forms, but Amazon Echo “changes the game.”
“It’s not just about controlling some items. It goes beyond that,” he said, adding that he expects Amazon Echo and technology like it to become an affordable, normalized household item.
Michael Weaver, a spokesman for Wynn Las Vegas, explained: “The device is constantly collecting information about our questions, our choices. Imagine in the future when you go to the Wynn and you open the door, and it says, ‘Hello, Mr. Erdem. Welcome back to Wynn. Would you like me to book your show tickets like you did last time?’”
Weaver did not comment on what the bigger tech-vision for hotel rooms at Wynn might look like, but he said Amazon Echo is just the “first step,” adding, “We are working on additional enhancements.”
