One of the less covered parts of CES last week was The LINQ, smart hotel rooms that were developed by Ceasars Entertainment and WeChat. These connected rooms are just a taste of what Ceasars will be bringing to the Chinese market and will be controllable through the WeChat app, which is the Chinese equivalent of WhatsApp.
On the sidelines of CES in Las Vegas, Ceasars Entertainment partnered up with WeChat to give tours of new smart hotel rooms at The LINQ, a local hotel and casino. Visitors could use an app inside WeChat to control lighting, thermostats, and curtains. The connected suites will be the first of many such hotel rooms from Ceasars catering to overseas Chinese. After arriving at the room, they just need to scan a QR code to get the app. The app, which operates as a WeChat official account, was developed by Silicon Valley-based Ayla Networks. “For the LINQ suite the devices are controlled through WeChat exclusively, but Ayla-powered devices can basically be controlled by any app via any home hub that runs on Zigbee, Z-wave or Wi-Fi,” says Sharon Chan, a public relations representative speaking on behalf of the project.
