From PYMNTS.com:
After a certain age, most consumers are no longer really in the market for a roommate — unless of course they happen to be married to them. While there are certain segments of the population that extoll the longterm benefits of co-living with other adults, generally at some point most people outgrow the thrill of sharing a bathroom with someone else.
But an apartment that came with a roommate who would never steal food, never invite guests and would under no circumstances leave dishes in the sink — but would manage the calendar, call an Uber, order groceries, turn lights on and off, play just the right song at just the right time and tell jokes on demand? That’s a pretty significant upgrade to the normal roommate arrangement — and one that complexes like Brandon Place in Oklahoma City are hoping will be attractive to residents.
It’s why the units are wired from the ground up to be Alexa-compatible, with smart locks and key-coded entry, smart thermostats and even a complimentary Echo device to serve as a hub for the whole system (if residents don’t already have one of their own that they prefer to use). For tenants like those at Brandon Place, the smart-home upgrades at move-in are intended as a starting place — they can add other Alexa-controlled speakers, smart plugs and lights, depending on just how voice-controlled they want their apartment units to be.....MUCH MORE
It is a perk that gives apartment dwellers access to technology that might otherwise be difficult to install in a rental, and comes to places like Brandon Place care of Amazon’s Alexa Smart Properties team. Smart Properties isn’t the most recognizable part of Team Alexa, but it has been very busy behind the scenes over the last year — quietly partnering with home builders, property managers and hoteliers to push millions of Alexa smart speakers into newly-built housing, apartments, condos and hotel rooms nationwide.
About six months ago, Amazon announced its biggest Smart Home expansion via a third party to date — a partnership with the TRI Pointe Group, a builder of single family homes nationwide, to put Amazon-provided smart home technology into its new home stock.
“This expanded smart home offering currently being implemented across TRI Pointe Group’s six homebuilder brands will enhance our Home Smart suite of state-of-the-art home tech and automation features to harness the power of internet-connected devices,” Doug Bauer, CEO of TRI Pointe Group told PYMNTS at the time.
With Amazon Smart Home products incorporated into 25 of its home models, the brand was expected to expand the rollout. Apart from access to the smart home tech built into the housing, Customers who purchase an Amazon Smart Home will be scheduled for a consultation with an Amazon expert to customize the smart home experience and provide activation support....
