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Amazon's Alexa now at Marriott hotels

53 points| Bhilai | 7 years ago |uk.reuters.com | reply

84 comments

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[+] metajack|7 years ago|reply
A few hotels already have tablets pointing cameras at the room (including a recent Marriott I stayed at). This just adds more crap I have to unplug or disable. Lovely.

I can't wait until we all find out these things have all been systematically rooted and collecting blackmail on folks.

It's one thing to trust Amazon or Google, but now you also have to trust the hotel and its staff, the physical security of the device, and all the previous guests of the room.

[+] mseebach|7 years ago|reply
> It's one thing to trust Amazon or Google, but now you also have to trust the hotel and its staff, the physical security of the device, and all the previous guests of the room.

You already had to do the physical trust thing. These devices are a new challenge because they could be remotely compromised.

[+] dsfyu404ed|7 years ago|reply
>I can't wait until we all find out these things have all been systematically rooted and collecting blackmail on folks.

Back in the day you had to be important to get that kind of treatment and usually only the FBI would do it.

[+] dual_basis|7 years ago|reply
I mean, you already do have to trust the hotel staff and all previous occupants of the room. Do you sweep every hotel room for bugs?
[+] jonknee|7 years ago|reply
> It's one thing to trust Amazon or Google, but now you also have to trust the hotel and its staff, the physical security of the device, and all the previous guests of the room.

With miniature cameras being widely available for years now what exactly is new?

[+] kerng|7 years ago|reply
What could possibly ever go wrong putting a third party corporate spying machine in each room? It's unbelievable how much blind and naive trust there is.
[+] Azeolus|7 years ago|reply
> It's unbelievable how much blind and naive trust there is

Do you sweep every hotel room you use for listening devices?

[+] voidwtf|7 years ago|reply
Yea, I can’t believe all these people walking around with these spying machines in their pockets. Subjecting the rest of us to their second hand spying. Oh wait, were we talking about Alexa or cellphones/smartphones?
[+] e1ven|7 years ago|reply
Is there any way to opt-out of having these in the room?

I'm not comfortable sleeping in a room with one of these devices.

[+] jedberg|7 years ago|reply
Other's have said you could unplug it, but you may also find it to be the easiest way to do certain things, so you could also mute it so it's available in case you want it.

Of course you'd have to trust the mute function, but Amazon is actually pretty strict about honoring their explicit privacy guarantees (like when you push the mute button it's actually muted).

[+] kodablah|7 years ago|reply
> Is there any way to opt-out of having these in the room?

The ideal way, if it is an option for you, is to opt-out of that hotel altogether. Telling them why may be even better.

[+] rdiddly|7 years ago|reply
I'd say rather than just unplugging it, don't stay at Marriott. Don't encourage them with your money.
[+] test6554|7 years ago|reply
You can call ahead or tell them during check in that you don't want it in your room or just unplug it. There is no charge for any of these options. They're very sensitive to customer perceptions and don't want to force anything on anybody.
[+] mholt|7 years ago|reply
I imagine you could just unplug it.
[+] th0ma5|7 years ago|reply
Ultrasonics exist to overload microphones but I always thought of then as acoustical coupling of interference which I would think the FCC would frown upon but maybe that's a stretch.
[+] dreamcompiler|7 years ago|reply
BTW the last few times I've checked in to a Marriott, the TV has been on, playing some kind of ad trying to sell me a temporary Netflix subscription or something. I find this incredibly annoying. I never use the TV in a hotel room, and I'd like to find a hotel chain that has no TVs in the rooms period.
[+] corobo|7 years ago|reply
Friendly reminder about the time Marriott fired customer support employee to get back in China's good books

https://work.qz.com/1220881/marriott-hotels-fired-an-hourly-...

[+] JTon|7 years ago|reply
> ... Jones, who worked on social media accounts for the company, had “liked” the tweet, on behalf of Marriott International... The problem? It had been posted by a Tibetan separatist group...

This reads to me like the employee went rogue and took politically sensitive stance on behalf of the company. I'd label that brand damaging negligence and it seems like fair grounds for dismissal. Maybe there's more to it.

[+] forkLding|7 years ago|reply
Is there a reason for why major tech companies are heavily pushing their smart speakers? Their seems to be a lot more marketing push going on than when they were pushing out new phones/tablets/hardware etc in the past (Amazon fire, Google Pixelbook, Google Chromecast, Amazon Roku etc.)
[+] untog|7 years ago|reply
A few reasons come to mind:

- landgrab. You're very unlikely to have more than one smart speaker system in your phone, so once you've got an Alexa, you'll probably pick up some Alexa Dots rather than get a Google Home. This applies to an entire household in the way that even cellphone choices don't.

- lock-in. The web is all pesky and open, whereas these voice interface platforms are perfectly locked in for ultimate profit. And you can't get the web on them! Ideal.

[+] ertemplin|7 years ago|reply
I think it's because it helps the big tech companies sell more stuff later on.

If you have a smart speaker, you are probably more likely to be a Prime member, Spotify subscriber, and make purchases with Amazon or Google Express via the speaker.

[+] nautilus12|7 years ago|reply
Passive data collection on a massive scale
[+] insulanus|7 years ago|reply
Probably for a similar reason that they push their own app stores. You get used to using something, depend on it. After the lock-in period, they are in a much better position to offer you new services that you simply can't refuse.
[+] reaperducer|7 years ago|reply
Machine learning.

More data = more learning. Even bad data is valuable.

It's how Google keeps Google Voice and Gmail free.

[+] 40acres|7 years ago|reply
Voice interfaces have huge potential. I think the potential for a truly amazing voice interface / AI (think JARVIS from Iron Man) outweighs the potential of hardware.
[+] ErikAugust|7 years ago|reply
Remember the old joke, "In Soviet Russia, TV watches you"?

Now, in the West, people actually pay for devices that surveil them.

[+] ghaff|7 years ago|reply
On the one hand, I could see this being incredibly useful. Program it to answer all sorts of typical guest questions including those specific to the property/location. On the other hand, I can't really argue with those who don't feel comfortable with the idea--which is probably why this has taken so long.
[+] walshemj|7 years ago|reply
Also could mean Marriott being black listed by any company working with CNI and the civil service.
[+] dreamcompiler|7 years ago|reply
I like Marriott hotels in general. This just means I'm going to unplug the device, remove its batteries, and wrap it in foil as soon as I check in.

[Note to self: Pack foil on next trip.]

[+] VBprogrammer|7 years ago|reply
I stayed at a hotel which had Amazon echo in the room a few weeks ago. It was awesome to ask it to play various kinds of music while we lounged by the pool. Or to check the weather forecast for the next day.

I enjoyed it enough that we bought an echo dot the day after we arrived home.

Personally I think you all need to lighten up. It would be 100x easier for government, previous guests or the hotel to install hidden microphones or video than to hack into the Echo. Amazon have sufficient commercial interests that personally I'd be sure enough that they'll behave properly. I'm not planning a military coop or anything though.

[+] mc32|7 years ago|reply
So basically all Marriott hotels will be bugged for whatever host country they are in. I can’t see conducting sent I’ve business in them. Now they don’t have to bother doing targeted spying becuase now it’ll be everywhere.
[+] untog|7 years ago|reply
There's something a little sad about this. Unlike at home, hotels are a place where you already have a voice assistant - the concierge, that'll give you restaurant recommendations, pick up your laundry and call a cab for you. And do a much better job than any automated voice assistant will do. But I don't doubt for a second that this will eventually be paired with a strong rollback of real humans manning phone lines.

Sigh.

[+] jonknee|7 years ago|reply
"Alexa, get my car" to alert the valet would be awesome.
[+] reaperducer|7 years ago|reply
Or you could pick up the phone in the room and push the one button for that function.

I stayed in a hotel recently (Hilton, I think) where the valet function was done via text message.

[+] Dirlewanger|7 years ago|reply
"Alexa, remind me next vacation never to stay at Marriott hotels ever again."
[+] boardguy|7 years ago|reply
Ah man, this is terrible. I go to hotels to get away from tech!
[+] Simulacra|7 years ago|reply
Ok... That's one more thing I need to be sure I unplug or cover when I'm in the room. Although all of this compounds the reasons I don't stay in hotel rooms, and opt for Airbnb whenever possible. That, again, is another place for concern, but at least I can get to the circuit breaker and flip it off to disrupt things, and run a network sniffer to look for hidden cameras. Hell hath no fury as a paranoid woman traveling alone.
[+] nautilus12|7 years ago|reply
Amazon now collecting your personal conversations at Marriott hotels
[+] galkk|7 years ago|reply
Me and my wife both agreed (on separate occasions) that "Alexa, turn the living room/bedroom on" feel so missing at hotels.

disc: Amazon employee

[+] irishloop|7 years ago|reply
I know it's of little solace to many, but the truth is, I mostly feel safe in knowing that whoever is collecting data on me, I'm not really worth spying on.