What's New in Alexa Smart Properties

Sep 19, 2024

All subscriptions

A new topic, Handle API Throttling is now available. The ASP REST APIs limit the number of Transactions per Second (TPS) that they can handle. The new document provides recommendations on how to handle throttled responses, as well as the TPS limits for for many of the ASP API operations.

Aug 26, 2024

Hospitality

Two new hospitality skill samples are available on GitHub.

• skill-sample-for-nodejs-hospitality-hotelrating demonstrates a skill that solicits ratings from hotel guests. The experience is fully multimodal, with voice and touch capabilities. The skill includes integration with AWS pinpoint for SMS texting to staff mobile number, and sample proactive suggestion and persistent visual alert API calls you can deploy to start the hotel rating experience.
• skill-sample-for-nodejs-hospitality-multimodal demonstrates a skill that provides a fully multimodal (voice and touch) hospitality experience. The sample illustrates the different hotel functionalities and includes integration with hotel PBX, SMS texting (for checkout), as well as sample proactive suggestion and persistent visual alert API calls.

For the skill code and setup instructions, see Alexa Smart Properties for Hospitality Sample code repo.

Aug 02, 2024

All subscriptions

The ASP console has new bulk actions available in the US and CA locales. You can import CSV files to create multiple rooms and associate multiple devices in the ASP console. Additionally, you can now select all units to apply a template or address book using a new "Select All Button". With these improvements, you can create a property in less than 5 minutes end-to-end.

• For details about importing rooms, see Import multiple rooms from a CSV file.
• For details about assigning devices to rooms, see Assign multiple Alexa devices to rooms using a CSV file.
• For details about room templates, see Manage room templates.

Jul 28, 2024

All subscriptions

The ASP Command Line Interface (CLI) now supports ASP Events and the ASP Reminders V2 API. Download the latest version of the CLI on GitHub at ASP CLI for Node.js.

Jun 30, 2024

All subscriptions

The Alexa Reminders API v2 is available in the US and EU. With this API, you can create and manage reminders on managed devices in your property. You configure the text in the reminder, and Alexa speaks the text from the device at the specified time. Use reminders to build voice experiences that help users remember things like daily tasks, events, and schedules. For details, see Reminders API.

Jun 10, 2024

All subscriptions

When the user taps a proactive suggestion (sometimes called "rotating card"), the request sent to the skill includes the persistent unit ID. This ID is available in the System object in the request.

Jun 03, 2024

All subscriptions

A new Command Line Interface (CLI) tool is available for ASP property administrators, ASP property operators, and ASP developers. The CLI simplifies integrating with the ASP REST APIs. Use the CLI to perform several operations with a few lines of script instead of developing custom tools as required before. The CLI is available on GitHub at ASP CLI for Node.js. Learn more about the CLI in the blog post Announcing a new CLI for Alexa Smart Properties.

May 30, 2024

All subscriptions

A new sample skill that demonstrates how to build a Smart Home skill for ASP that uses delegated account linking is available on GitHub. The skill supports both authorization and delegation flows, but the emphasis is on learning how to extract the delegated scope/partition value from an Alexa request in order to properly segment device control to individual rooms while allowing the convenience of a single account link. To download the skill, see Alexa Smart Properties Smart Home Sample Skill.

Mar 22, 2024

All subscriptions

A new sample script that resets unit and device settings is available on GitHub. It is a best practice to reset settings when guests check out of a hotel room so the next guest has a clean experience. This script sample code simplifies the implementation of this process. For the sample code and setup instructions, see Room Reset Function.

Feb 05, 2024

All subscriptions

Three new templates are available for proactive suggestions (rotating cards). You can use the following new templates:

• For your day – You can configure multiple buttons that all map to a single action.
• On this day – The user can tap anywhere to launch the skill.
• Photo card – The user can tap anywhere to launch the skill.

For details about the templates, see Campaign templates.

Feb 05, 2024

All subscriptions

The Text wrapping template for proactive suggestions (rotating cards) can display a "Play" button and an action button with text. You can configure the button to run skill launch action. For details about the templates, see Campaign templates.

Dec 13, 2023

All subscriptions

Two new events are available:

• Role management event – This event is generated when roles have been assigned or revoked from a principal.
• Setup completion event – This event is generated when a device has completed the retail setup experience. The retail setup experience occurs when the device has connected to a Wi-Fi network, has been registered to the specified account, and is ready to associate to a unit. Use the Setup completion event to automatically associate devices to units with the associatedUnits API.

For details about the new events, see Receive Events for Alexa Smart Properties.

Defect Analytics are now available in US and CA in the Analytics tab in the Alexa Smart Properties Console. You can now learn about customer requests that Alexa can't handle or Alexa thinks it handled incorrectly. For details, see View Analytics in the Alexa Smart Properties Console.

Nov 14, 2023

All subscriptions

The Analytics API is available in US and CA. You can now make an API request to obtain analytics data for your properties in a CSV format to obtain even more insights and to make reporting easy. For details, see Analytics API.

Nov 09, 2023

All subscriptions

An open source Postman collection that contains REST API calls for all ASP APIs is available on GitHub. Use this collection to test and experiment with the APIs for all ASP subscriptions and regions. You can also use the collection to troubleshoot API calls to ensure format and payload are correct, and as a standalone tool for getting and setting values on properties, units and settings. To download the collection and see setup instructions, see Postman Collection for Alexa Smart Properties APIs.

Nov 06, 2023

All subscriptions

The following new features are available:

• Name-Free Interaction self-service tooling is available in US, CA, and EU. For details, see Add Name-Free Interaction to Alexa Smart Properties Skills.
• You can now manage all skills for a Room or Room Template from one section in the Room detail page. Select "Enable property skill" from the Enabled Skills tab and enable in development skills, configure Account Linking, or enable name-free interaction for the room. See Manage Skills in the Management Console.

Oct 23, 2023

All subscriptions

Three new property skill samples are available on GitHub. These samples demonstrate the development of ASP experiences for hospitality properties (hotels), senior living properties (senior living communities), and healthcare properties (hospitals). To download the samples, see Alexa Smart Properties on GitHub.

Oct 18, 2023

All subscriptions

The WebRTC add-on subscription is available for all Alexa Smart Properties subscriptions in the EU. For details, see Onboard and Implement Skill-Based WebRTC Calling for Alexa Smart Properties.

Oct 03, 2023

All subscriptions

Alexa Smart Properties now enables you to connect your Alexa-enabled devices to WPA2 EAP TLS networks with the WPA2 Enterprise Wi-Fi add-on. You can safely and securely connect these devices to Wi-Fi more seamlessly without having to create another public network. For details, see WPA2 Enterprise Wi-Fi.

Sep 11, 2023

• Healthcare
• Hospitality
• Senior living

The ASP management console has new features for managing content. You can now create and manage content such as resident announcements and community alerts. For details, see Manage content.

Jul 25, 2023

• Hospitality
• Senior living

The following subscriptions are now available in ES locales:

• Alexa Smart Properties in senior living.
• Alexa Smart Properties for hospitality.

Jul 23, 2023

All subscriptions

Sample code that demonstrates how to build the middleware solution for the ASP WebRTC base calling solution is available on GitHub. To get the code and setup instructions, see Build A Video Calling Skill with Alexa Smart Properties.

Jul 05, 2023

All subscriptions

Alexa Smart Properties now supports the Echo Show 15, Echo Show 5 (3^rd Generation), and Echo Pop devices. You can now associate these devices with units across all subscriptions. For the full list of supported devices, see Alexa Smart Properties Device Purchase and Setup.

Jun 30, 2023

Healthcare

Alexa Smart Properties for healthcare now supports the reminders functionality for users, including the Delete all reminders for a unit API to clear data between users. For the policy requirements, see Requirements for integrating with ASP in Healthcare REST APIs.

Jun 29, 2023

All subscriptions

The WebRTC add-on subscription is available for all Alexa Smart Properties subscriptions. For details, see Implement Skill-Based WebRTC Calling for Alexa Smart Properties.

Jun 09, 2023

All subscriptions

The Alexa Smart Property analytics dashboard has a new tab for display engagement for individual units. The Unit Activity tab informs you about the number of devices that were active and the number of dialogs for units at the lowest level of your organization. You can use this information to merge with your own data to gain new insights on how Alexa impacts your properties. For details, see the analytics dashboard or the developer documentation for viewing analytics.

Jun 08, 2023

All subscriptions

The Alexa Smart Properties console has the following enhancements:

• On the Property and Devices pages, the devices information now loads 20 times faster
• On the Unit Detail page, you can now clear reminders, timers, and alarms
• You can copy IDs for units, properties, rooms, devices, templates, address books, and contacts with the new Copy button to aid in debugging.

To use the new features, visit the Alexa Smart Properties console. For details about the console, see Use the Alexa Smart Properties Management Console.

Jun 06, 2023

All subscriptions

The Communications API provides blocking rules to control calls between property units. You can disable calling and messaging between two property units. With this feature, you can control who can make calls or drop in to a specific room. For details, see create blocking rules.

Jun 01, 2023

Hospitality

A new skill template for an Alexa Smart Properties for hospitality skill is available. Use this template to create a property-specific, fully-functional skill in the developer console. For details, see Create an Alexa Smart Properties for Hospitality Skill by Using a Smart Properties Template.

May 26, 2023

Healthcare

A new skill template for an Alexa Smart Properties for healthcare skill is available. Use this template to create a property-specific, fully-functional skill in the Alexa Skills Kit developer console. For details, see Create an Alexa Smart Properties for Healthcare Skill by Using a Smart Properties Template.

Mar 21, 2023

All subscriptions

Alexa Smart Properties supports connecting your subscription to a Private Branch Exchange (PBX) for calling. To configure your PBX to handle all calls to and from Alexa-enabled endpoints in your property, use the Alexa Smart Properties PBX API to create a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunk and map extensions. For details, see Configure PBX.

Mar 15, 2023

All subscriptions

The Notifications and Endpoint APIs support the following new features:

• Notifications API – You can delete notifications in batch. For details, see the Delete all notifications operation.
• Endpoint API –You can use more advanced queries to search for endpoints. You can query by unit, manufacturer, and model, and combine queries by using AND or OR conditions. This API makes it more efficient to get endpoints across multiple units. For details, see the Query endpoints (advanced search) operation.

Feb 24, 2023

Hospitality

Alexa Smart Properties for hospitality now supports the timers functionality for users, including the Delete all timers for a unit and the Delete all timers for an endpoint operations to clear data between users.

Nov 22, 2022

Hospitality

Alexa Smart Properties for hospitality is now available in DE and IT locales.

Nov 22, 2022

Senior living

Alexa Smart Properties in senior living is now available in DE, FR, IT, and UK locales.

Nov 17, 2022

Healthcare

The Alexa Smart Properties console can now manage drop-in preferences in rooms. This is available for Alexa Smart Properties for healthcare subscriptions. For details, see Manage drop-in preferences.

Nov 17, 2022

• Core
• Healthcare
• Senior living

The Alexa Event Messenger API is now available in the US. Use this API to subscribe to events that are triggered when automations complete, subscriptions are applied to units after creation, and skills time out or return an invalid response. Notifications are delivered to Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS) topics in near real time. For details, see Receive Events for Alexa Smart Properties in Senior Living.

Nov 10, 2022

• Hospitality
• Senior living

The following subscriptions are now available in Canada:

• Alexa Smart Properties in senior living.
• Alexa Smart Properties for hospitality.

Oct 20, 2022

All subscriptions

The Alexa Smart Properties analytics dashboard has a new tab for proactive campaign metrics. Proactive campaign metrics provide details on the number of active campaigns, the number of times a campaign was displayed, and tap-through rates for tappable proactive campaigns. For details, see the analytics dashboard or the developer documentation for viewing analytics.

Aug 16, 2022

All subscriptions

The ASP analytics dashboard in the US has a new tab for communication metrics. Communication metrics provide details about the number of calls, drop-ins, calling minutes, and drop-in minutes for properties with these features enabled. For details, see the analytics dashboard or the developer documentation for viewing analytics.

Jul 18, 2022

Senior living

The Alexa Smart Properties console now manages inbound calling for rooms in properties with senior living subscriptions. For details, see Manage inbound calling.

Jul 11, 2022

All subscriptions

The following API updates are available:

• Bluetooth operations – New operations in the Endpoint Features API let you pair and unpair Bluetooth devices. For details, see the operations in the Endpoint Features API reference.
• Endpoints API – You can now get endpoints by using only device serial numbers. You aren't required to filter by associatedUnit or owner. For details, see the Get endpoint by serial number operation.

Jul 07, 2022

All subscriptions

Active device counts per domain in the Domain Data tab are now accurate for all scenarios, including corner cases. In addition, the Other category data now represents engagement for only that particular domain. Previously, data for the Other category also contained engagement for domains with fewer than 10 active devices. Data for domains with fewer than 10 active devices are now part of the Aggregated domain instead. For details, see the analytics dashboard.

Jun 09, 2022

• Core
• Hospitality
• Senior living

The Automation API is now available in the US for properties with hospitality, senior living, and core subscriptions. The Automation API lets you to specify triggers and actions to automatically set up intended outcomes for users with Alexa. For details, see the Automation API reference.

Jun 03, 2022

Core

The Alexa Smart Properties core subscription is now available. Properties that don't categorize themselves as hospitality, senior living, or healthcare can onboard to this new subscription. This subscription enables smart property solution integrators to deploy and manage Alexa devices in their properties at scale. For details, see About Managing Subscriptions in Alexa Smart Properties Core.

May 27, 2022

All subscriptions

Self-service onboarding is now available for developers in the US. Gain access to Alexa Management APIs and enable persistent unit IDs by following a consolidated process in the Alexa Smart Properties console. For details, see Manage API Access.