If you are lucky enough to own one of Amazon’s fabulous and extremely popular Echo, Echo Dot or the Tap hardware, then you’re about to benefit from even more added functionality thanks to a new and improved Amazon Alexa experience.
Starting today, Amazon has upgraded its Alexa virtual assistant with some new abilities that will allow users to utilize the new found travel expertise of the assistant to be more efficient in the booking of all things related to travel. Alexa’s new functionality, which waterfalls down to a variety of Amazon hardware including the Fire TV, is all thanks to an integration partnership with travel search engine KAYAK.
With Alexa’s new ability to track flight times in real-time, there’s really no excuse now to be late for a flight again, or to pick up a loved one from the airport. That level of integration will allow owners of devices like the Amazon Echo or Tap to check if a specific flight has been delayed before running out of the door to the airport and wasting precious time.
The KAYAK integration isn’t just all about flights either. Users are now also able to use the new KAYAK integration to look for hotels in specific localities, as well as view other rental information such as that pertaining to vehicles in a holiday destination. For that matter, users will also be able to look up travel destinations within a certain price range, and customize the search by city, country, and even the month or a particular date. As an example of what is now possible, users will be able to ask things like “Alexa, ask KAYAK to search for hotels in San Francisco”, or “Alexa, ask KAYAK where I can travel to for a budget of $1000?”
Giorgos Zacharia, Chief Technical Officer of KAYAK, has high hopes for this type of integration, claiming that the current level of functionality is “just the beginning”:
We are helping to make Alexa a travel expert and in doing so, shaping the future of travel, which will seamlessly integrate voice, chat and new ways to plan and manage a trip. This is just the beginning.
Anyone with a compatible device will first of all need to open up the Amazon Alexa app to actually activate the KAYAK extension. Once activated, Alexa will be primed and ready for action with a new found ability to answer and advise on a whole host of travel-related questions.
If you don’t have one of Amazon’s Alexa-enabled devices, you can get one now:
Buy: Echo from Amazon: $179.99
Buy: Tap from Amazon: $129.99
Buy: Echo Dot from Amazon: $89.99
You may also like to check out:
- 50 Alexa Voice Commands To Use With Amazon Echo [Video]
- Want Amazon Alexa On Your iPhone? Download This iOS App
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