Disney has partnered with Amazon to develop a voice assistant that the company will use in its theme park hotels so guests can ask for anything from fresh towels to directions to Epcot Center.
From next year, hotel guests will be able to Amazon Echo Device with the phrase “Hey Disney.” The hardware reacts with the voice of a Disney character like Mickey Mouse or the little mermaid. Amazon and Disney announced the partnership last week.
In contrast to its competitors in the voice assistant market Apple and Google, Amazon offers its voice assistant as a white label item.
“That means Disney can put the Disney brand first when consumers interact with its platform rather than having consumers talk to Alexa all the time,” said IDC analyst Adam Wright. “This is important to build brand loyalty.”
Disney hotel guests can order room service and inquire about basic hotel needs, as well as questions about park hours and upcoming events. The assistant means that hotel staff spend less time answering general questions.
Disney has experimented with technology in its parks before and with one Wrist device in 2014 that allow visitors to access hotel rooms and pay for items without pulling out a card.
And “Hey Disney” won’t just be a hotel feature. It will be available to Echo customers for an additional fee and will tell things like jokes and stories using the voices of popular Disney characters. Amazon has not yet announced how much the function will cost.
Voice assistants have become increasingly popular in recent years. Corresponding Insider Intelligence data, approximately 128 million people in the US used an assistant at least once a month in 2020, an 11.1% increase from 2019.
Gartner predicted that 50% of knowledge workers will use a virtual assistant every day through 2025, up from 2% in 2019.
R “Ray” Wang, CEO of Constellation Research, said the Amazon-Disney deal won’t be the last of its kind. Google has refused to white-label its Google Assistant, which is used in its Google Nest smart speakers, and Apple has refused to white-label Siri. However, that could change if the Amazon-Disney partnership is successful.
“Since Amazon and Disney have partnered, you may see Universal and Google choose to partner,” said Wang.
The deal is an example of the coming together of content, network and technology platforms, said Wang. Disney provides the content while Amazon provides the technology, and the two are pooling their customer networks.
Maxim Tamarov is a news writer specializing in mobile and end-user computing. He previously wrote for The Daily News in Jacksonville, NC and the Sun Transcript in Winthrop, Massachusetts. He has a degree in journalism from Northeastern University. He can be found on Twitter at @MaximTamarov.
