Hospitality startup Loge raises $15M to weather ‘uncertain times’ and expand to more locations

(Loge Photo)

Hospitality startup Loge, which promotes a love of the outdoors and adventure sports through its hip, motel-style locations, has raised $15 million in new funding.

The company, pronounced “Lodge,” which launched in 2017 and is backed by big names in outdoor recreation, said it received support from longtime investors including Round House, Brighton Jones Investment Partners, Colfam, and numerous individuals. Loge, which raised $4.5 million in 2018, said there were also also a small number of new strategic investors and funds.

Loge plans to use the new cash to ensure long term operational stability through what it calls “uncertain market times.” It is also looking at continued operational innovations and future expansion to more locations.

Loge currently has locations in Westport, Wash., Leavenworth, Wash., Bend, Ore., Mt. Shasta, Calif., and Breckenride, Colo., and caters to surfers, mountain bikers, climbers and more with rooms and camp spaces as well as rental equipment.

The travel industry has been hit especially hard by the coronavirus pandemic as more people stay home and avoid far-flung escapes. Loge reopened in July and promotes the road-trip accessibility of its locations in the Northwest and beyond.

“As we open back up we are more excited than ever to double down on our purpose of ‘helping people find their place by making it easy to connect, get out, and explore,’” Loge CEO Johannes Ariens said in a website post. “In light of the recent pandemic, how this happens is going to look and feel a little different. And that’s OK. We’ve figured out new ways to enable connection, because connection is essential to our survival and the need has never been higher.”

Loge has put together a code of conduct outlining how staff and guests can staff say during the pandemic. All sites have been to shifted to remote check in, with keyless room entry. Guests receive their room entry code via text and gear can be rented online, too.

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Amazon rolls out new Alexa development features to expand capabilities of voice tech interactions

(GeekWire File Photo)

Amazon announced 31 new features for its Alexa voice platform, aiming to help developers increase usage and engagement of their voice-enabled apps and experiences.

The new capabilities, unveiled Wednesday at Amazon’s Alexa Live event, come as Alexa usage has spiked during the pandemic with people spending more time at home. Engagement with Alexa skills has nearly doubled over the last year.

“With these new features, you can create natural and conversational experiences that allow customers to interact with your skill in an unconstrained way, while freeing you to focus on the highest value parts of your experience,” Amazon wrote in a blog post.

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the Alexa Skills Kit features:

Amazon says it is adopting deep neural networks to improve Alexa’s natural language understanding of individual words and sentences. It is applying deep learning for Alexa Conversations, a new dialogue manager that aims to make it easier for developers to design voice apps without worrying about specific command phrases or the order.APL for Audio offers a faster way to mix speech, sound effects, music, and other audio.Web API for Games helps developers build voice-controlled gaming experiences for the Echo Show and some Fire TV devices.Skill Resumption lets customers return to a skill after doing another task or a long pause. It enables Uber’s voice app, for example, to let a user know their car has arrived after booking a ride.Alexa for Apps makes it easier for developers to “deep link” mobile customers via an app or website. For example, customers can soon ask, “Alexa, ask TikTok to start my recording,” or, “Alexa, ask Twitter to search for #AlexaLive,” and the content will show up on their phone.Discoverability can be a roadblock for voice developers, so Amazon is rolling out Quick Links for Alexa, which adds a link from a mobile app, website, or online ad that launches a voice skill. Amazon also added the name-free interactions toolkit, which lets developers add five suggested launch phrases or “signals” that can surface a given skill.

Amazon still leads the voice industry but Google and Sonos are cutting into its market share, according to January data from Voicebot.

Amazon earlier this month added hands-free activation to its Alexa apps for iOS and Android, giving users the option to say “Alexa” aloud rather than pressing the button inside the app before giving the voice assistant a command or asking a question.

Check out more info on Amazon’s developer site.

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