August 26, 2020 — New York — Partnership between Google and Volara is enabling hotels across the globe to deploy the best of Google, including a contactless guest engagement and touchless room controls solution that facilitates private, automated and live, conversational interactions between hotel guests and staff. Running on the Google Nest Hub, guests may ask the popular voice assistant to make calls, play music, watch shows, request amenities, book services, turn on/off TVs, increase the room temperature, adjust the lights, set alarms and more without ever lifting a finger. With new safety protocols reshaping the guest experience, this new solution from Google and Volara presents a uniquely relevant, digitally interactive means of connecting guests to their hotel.

Guests can access a range of entertainment, information, recommendations, and services just by speaking in their room: 

  • “Hey Google, tell me about the hotel’s health and safety policies.”
  • “Hey Google, can you recommend a place to take my kids?”
  • “Hey Google, bring me a toothbrush.”
  • “Hey Google, play Peppa Pig.”
  • “Hey Google, listen to Lady Gaga.”
  • “Hey Google, set an alarm for 7:00 a.m.”

“We are thrilled to partner with Google to bring this powerful consumer hardware to hotels,” said David Berger, Volara CEO. “With Google and Volara, hoteliers can reinvent their guest experience while actually reducing costs. The contactless guest engagement and touchless room controls solution replaces the bedside clock, printed guest directory, and Bluetooth speaker. Soon, I expect our solution to displace the telephone and linear television. This popular and easy-to-use voice assistant will give today’s trepidatious travelers the confidence they need to truly enjoy their stay experiences knowing their every request can be met just by speaking in their rooms.

“Together, Volara and Google are significantly raising the bar on hospitality by enabling hoteliers to deliver contactless experiences that support social distancing and enable more efficient operations,” he said. “With the guest journey constantly changing, hoteliers are becoming more reliant on technology to keep guests safe. Google is curating fun and memorable guest experiences while optimizing hotel operations, driving satisfaction and improving loyalty. But don’t just take my word for it.”

Here's what hoteliers are saying about the globally deployed and proven solution:

"As an early adopter to the Volara product suite, Viceroy Hotel & Resorts is a proud partner of Volara  — the leader in voice-activated technology,” said Viceroy Hotels & Resorts CEO Bill Walshe. “We are even more grateful now to have technology in place to provide contactless hospitality to ensure guests and staff are as safe and comfortable as possible. We are thrilled to introduce the recent iteration of the Google voice assistant powered by Volara at our newest additions to the brand, Viceroy Washington D.C., as well as the forthcoming Hotel Zena, also in D.C., to meet travelers' demands for touchless room controls and services. With Google undoubtedly a household fixture, we look forward to providing a safe, innovative solution that guests are familiar with when they choose to stay with us."

"At the Gansevoort Meatpacking we are constantly striving to bring our guests the latest in technology and the most seamless experience possible,” said Anton Moore, General Manager of Gansevoort Meatpacking. “We are thrilled to be working with Volara and Google to offer guests this experience. With this new technology guests can play music, order anything from a bottle of champagne to a set of fresh towels, and even learn more about the neighborhood just by chatting with their Google Nest Hub."

“We are overjoyed to be a pioneer property of Google’s hotel solution in Miami Beach,” said Kevin Waldstein, General Manager of The Gale South Beach, a Menin Hospitality hotel. “Travelers will be so appreciative that they can talk to staff remotely via the voice assistant without having to pick up the in-room phone or walk down to the front desk. Powered by Volara, this voice solution — with its many integrations to other technologies — makes it so much easier for me to manage tasks and ensure that everyone is following new standard operating procedures. Plus, it will enable our staff to remain socially distant from guests while ensuring their every wish is our command. When we reopen in October, we are confident that when guests check out, they won’t to stop talking about their experience at The Gale — and Google’s hotel solutions will be a big part of our success, as it will truly help us deliver extraordinary service in unprecedented times.”

“Google’s hotel solution provides travelers staying at Synergy corporate housing with an in-room, always available expert stay concierge,” said Rob Eisenberg, General Manager, Synergy New York. “From internal service support commands such as housekeeping and maintenance to tailored restaurant reviews and neighborhood amenities to the typical in-unit IOT between phone, music, T.V., lighting and central air—not to mention the reminders about weather, transit, and personal calendars — Google’s hotel solution benefitting from Volara’s voice-based engagement technology offers our guests the power of the world’s fastest search engine along with specific guest service amenities via the convenience of intuitive voice interface. Google and Volara’s partnership enable endless possibilities for how we deliver our hospitality philosophy.”

Google’s hotel solution benefits from Volara’s real-time conversation management software and secure integrations hub which seamlessly connects the solution to leading hotel technologies, including: Task Management Solutions (Alice, Knowcross, Amadeus / HotSOS, SynergyMMS, GXP, Hmobile, and Nuvola), Energy Management and Room Controls (Interel, Telkonet, Schneider Electric, VDA Group, and coming soon Legrande and Lutron), Interactive Television Solutions (Innspire, SONIFI, BeyondTV, and MCOMs), SMS Guest Engagement (Zingle / Medallia, Kipsu, GoMoment, TrustYou Messaging, and Whistle), Staff Alert Technologies (React Mobile), and more.

About Volara

Volara is THE provider of custom voice-based solutions for the hospitality industry. It's the anchor partner for the Google Assistant’s full-service interpreter mode translation solution and Google’s hotel solution. Volara's proprietary software creates a hotel business tool atop the leading smart speakers and natural language processing platforms. Volara’s hassle free implementation and support ensures seamless execution of voice assistant solutions. Volara's proven best practices ensure high utilization rates and an optimal guest experience that creates personal and remarkable engagement with guests. Volara is the largest manager of voice assistant solution in hotels today and more than 10 million people have used voiced-based solutions powered by Volara. To learn more about Volara’s launch of Google’s hotel solution, go to Volara.io.