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where the industry is going,” says Jones. “Every decision we certain the vehicle has adequate gas to checking to see if the
make is based on analyzing our customer base, historical driver’s schedule is on track to meet the day’s obligations.
trends, and weather to predict where people will be skiing, Spirit Mountain in Minnesota is using Alexa to closely
what lifts should be running, and which areas will get the monitor online sales in real time. This winter Spirit moved to
most food sales.” the online ecommerce store Shopify, which integrates with an
When asked whether AI might someday take over ski Alexa skill to pull information on orders, inventory, and per-
area jobs such as a lift operator, Jones says there will always formance summaries. With a quick voice command, a Spirit
be a human component. “Many of our guests like the Mountain manager can ask for weekly or monthly store
authenticity of having people that recognize you. AI can’t summaries, orders and sales reporting data, specific order
replace that,” she says. information, fulfillment information, average-over-value
Both resorts are able to blend the data they collect from over specified time periods, and a summary of best-selling
machine learning—such as skier visits and pattern recog- products. Here are examples of some of the commands the
nition of favorite chairlifts or restaurants—with human resort is using:
decision-making to make real-time decisions on staffing, • “Alexa, ask Shopify what my sales were this week.”
ordering, electricity, housekeeping and more. This leads to • “Alexa, ask Shopify which products need to be fulfilled
a variety of cost savings and helps mitigate the factors that this week.”
come with weather uncertainty. • “Alexa, ask Shopify what my best-selling products are
this month.”
Marketing & Customer Service • “Alexa, ask Shopify to find the average order value
in December.”
Smart Virtual e-Assistants & Voice-Enabled Devices
The use of smart e-assistants is accelerating, offering “Reporting is fabulous! No more waiting for reports or
what is rapidly becoming a mobile electronic concierge figuring out where to go to find the information I need,” says
available on any smart device, including phones, tablets, Brandy Ream, the resort’s executive director. “This new level
televisions, and cars. Stand-alone audio assistants such as of instant access has enabled us to be very responsive with
Amazon Echo and Google Home are expanding rapidly new products and services. The integration to social media
into business and personal use. Soon retailers will have a and personalized experience in the cart, which includes
Siri-like sales assistant, and soon many of us will be using custom emails for an abandoned cart, has also increased our
an e-personal health assistant that taps into the real-time sales. Most importantly our customers are super happy with
health data from a smart watch to predict potential prob- the experience.”
lems and offer suggestions. Vail Resorts is one of the first in the ski industry to build
We’ve only scratched the surface of what voice-activated a custom AI for marketing and customer service. In March
intelligence can do and, thanks to the Alexa Skills Kit, VR announced the launch of “Emma” for the 2018-19 ski
anyone can create a skill for Amazon’s versatile digital season—the first-ever digital mountain assistant and AI Siri-
assistant. Organizations like SnoCountry have already built a like chatbot. In a press release on the launch, VR says Emma
hands-free experience that integrates seamlessly into our cus- “has the passion and first-hand experience guests would
tomers’ routine. Snocountry has developed snow reporting expect from someone who’s lived and worked in the moun-
for the commercially available Alexa voice assistant and smart tains her entire life. She knows the resorts like the back of her
speaker. Snocountry can deliver fresh content via a Flash glove—and can’t wait to put every adventure in the hands of
Briefing update of the latest news headlines, snow report our guests.”
updates, and more, whenever Amazon Alexa users ask. Guests will use this new sophisticated bot by texting her,
Amazon’s strategy has begun to migrate its technology and she’s designed to answer virtually all the questions they
into all sorts of other products and services. This includes may have before, during, and after a trip—about changing
some rather obvious suspects, such as smart TVs, smart snow conditions, parking availability, lift tickets and equip-
appliances, and even garage door openers. Samsung now ment rental options, ski school, on- and off-mountain dining
offers a refrigerator with a built-in version of Alexa. And Ford and activities recommendations, and more.
and Volkswagen have announced plans to integrate Alexa for Rob Katz, chairman and chief executive officer of Vail
weather updates and navigation. Particularly intriguing is Resorts, said in a recent Fast Company interview, “She’ll
Alexa’s potential application for tasks beyond keeping the car be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to give our
on a safe route to its destination—everything from making guests instant access to real-time information, so they can

30 | NSAA JOURNAL | CONVENTION 2018