Amazon has launched ‘Alexa for Residential’ — a service that makes it easy for property managers to set up and manage Alexa-powered smart home experiences throughout their buildings.
Amazon said on its Website that with Alexa for Residential, residents walk in to a ready-to-use, Alexa-powered smart apartments, with no account or device setup required. From the moment they move in, residents can control their apartment’s smart home features, set timers and alarms, get the weather, news and more from the Echo device in their unit — all using just their voice. If a resident has an Amazon account, they can easily link it to access the full range of Alexa features, including the ability to call friends and family, listen to their music playlists and more.
“Our vision was to create a service that makes having an Alexa-enabled home accessible for anyone, regardless of whether they rent or own their home,” said Liron Torres, Head of Smart Properties, Amazon Alexa in a written statement. “Alexa for Residential goes beyond the smart home—it also enables property managers to provide custom voice experiences for their residents, including information about property amenities and custom services. We’re excited to be teaming up with IOTAS, STRATIS IoT and Sentient Property Services to start, and look forward to expanding this experience to even more apartment residences across the US.”
From the moment they walk into their new apartment, claims Amazon, residents can ask Alexa to remind them when it’s recycling day, play the news and weather every morning, or control their apartment’s smart home features—just by asking. With a few extra steps, residents can also link their own Amazon account to use all Alexa features, and manage the device in the unit through their Alexa app alongside any other Alexa-enabled devices they already own.
Like all Alexa services, this experience is built from the ground up with privacy in mind, says Amazon. Property managers do not have access to any customer data, and voice recordings are automatically deleted daily. If a customer links their personal Amazon account, they will have full control of their privacy settings as if the device was their own, and their preferred privacy settings will be automatically applied. Residents can unlink their account at any time, and at move out, in-unit devices can be reset along with the rest of the smart home devices.
Image credit: Alexa