If a ‘Silent Night’ is not what you want during your hotel stay, guests can just ask Alexa to play ‘iHeartChristmas’ or ‘North Pole Radio’ to make their stays merrier
New York — Dec. 17, 2019 — It’s predicted that 115.6 million Americans will be traveling from Saturday, Dec. 21, through Wednesday, Jan. 1, for the 2019 holiday season. Whether they arrive at your hotel by car (104 million are expected to drive) or plane, Volara will be ready to entertain these travelers with holiday music on voice command via its integration with iHeartRadio. If the hotel features Amazon Alexa devices powered by Volara, holiday travelers can ask “Alexa, play iHeartChristmas” or “Alexa, play North Pole Radio” and the spirit of Christmas will fill the room.
iHeartRadio is a free all-in-one digital music, podcasting and live streaming radio service, offering users thousands of Live Radio stations from across the country, personalized custom Artist Radio stations, and the top podcasts and on-air personalities available everywhere listeners are. The app is available across more than 250 platforms and 2,000 devices including smart speakers, digital auto dashes, tablets, wearables, smartphones, virtual assistants, TVs, gaming consoles and more.
“We are thrilled to be working with Volara to spread holiday cheer to hotel guests across the country during the most bustling travel season of the year,” said Jessica Jerrick, executive vice president of business development and partnerships at iHeartMedia. “From North Pole Radio hosted by Santa Claus himself to iHeartChristmas Classics, iHeartRadio has the perfect station to bring the spirit of the season to travelers near and far.”
Viceroy Hotel Group is all in with Volara and iHeartRadio. The lifestyle hotel brand began enabling voice-based conversations with its guests in 2018. Today, the Viceroy L’Ermitage Beverly Hills and the Hotel Zetta in San Francisco, among other Viceroy properties, are bringing holiday music to guests via the Volara-powered Amazon Alexa solution seamlessly integrated with iHeartRadio.
“Music is very important to our guests,” said Darren Clark, vice president of technology for Viceroy Hotels and Resorts. “We give the option for the guest to stream their own music content to the in-room smart speaker, ask Alexa to play from a multitude of music stations we have built into Volara through iHeartRadio, or listen to our own property curated playlists. Reports show the iHeartRadio holiday playlists are in high demand in our hotels this season.”
The most popular iHeartRadio holiday stations include:
- North Pole Radio
iHeartChristmas- iHeartChristmas Classics
- iHeartChristmas Country
- iHeartChristmas Rock
- iHeartChristmas R&B
- iHeartChristmas Jazz
As of 2019, Statista reports an estimated 3.25 billion digital voice assistants being used in devices around the world. Forecasts suggest that by 2023 the number of digital voice assistants will reach around eight billion units – a number higher than the world’s population.
“Volara is providing conversation management and secure integrations for 98 percent of the hotels using automated voice technology in the United States today,” said Dave Berger, Volara CEO. “With the holiday season upon us, we’re thrilled to learn that guests are asking their in-room voice assistant to play their favorite holiday music. There’s something everyone will enjoy to make the season a little brighter with iHeartRadio.”
As the voice hub for the hotel industry, Volara is turning the leading consumer voice assistant solutions into hotel business tools by providing cloud-based, real-time, multi-property conversation management tools. No matter what guests are asking Alexa for – whether it’s to play music, ask housekeeping to bring more towels, request to turn the lights on/off, or make reservations in the hotel restaurant – Volara’s patent-pending accuracy engine that ensures guest requests are properly handled the first time, every time. More importantly, Volara’s software enables additional layers of security to ensure that guests’ privacy is protected, and proprietary hotel data is secure. Volara is the only provider of voice-based solutions to the hospitality industry that has the Alexa for Business Service Delivery Designation from Amazon and is a launch partner of Alexa for Hospitality.
“On behalf of Volara, iHeartRadio and the 40+ hotel technology companies that have joined our voice hub, we’d like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday and a prosperous new year,” Berger said.
