Avis Teams Up With Amazon Echo on Car Rental Reservations

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Avis Budget Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CAR) is now allowing customers to place car rental reservations through Amazon.com, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Echo devices.

Avis Teams Up With Amazon Echo on Car Rental Reservations

The new feature makes it so that Amazon Echo owners can place reservations for Avis rental cars just by speaking with an Alexa device. This can included phrases such as “I need a car at La Guardia Airport at 9:00 a.m. this Friday.”

Avis’ new feature makes it the first car rental company to allow customers to place orders through an Amazon Echo device. It also lets them check in on current and past reservations, as well as request e-receipts.

When placing a reservation for a rental car through Amazon Echo, Avis customers’ preferences will be taken into consideration. This includes if the person wants GPS, satellite radio, or other features in the rental car.

Avis says that it made the decision to incorporate car rental reservations on Amazon Echo devices to adapt to customers. It notes research that claims 30% of consumer interactions with technology will be through voice assistance platforms. Allowing customers to rent cars this way will hopefully help it tap the growing interaction between users and virtual assistants.

“We have our mobile app, which allows renters to manage their entire experience from their smartphone at approximately 175 locations globally, and now with Alexa integration, we will provide them with yet another way to engage with us seamlessly thanks to transformative digital technology,” Arthur Orduña, Chief Innovation Officer at Avis, said in a statement.

CAR stock was down slightly and AMZN stock was up slightly as of Monday morning.

As of this writing, William White did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2017/07/avis-amazon-echo-car-amzn/.

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