One other weird but workable option…
There are a couple of air conditioner brands right now (July 2017) which have an Amazon echo integration, but don’t work with anything else, not even IFTTT. These include Frigidaire and Kenmore Smart.
Some people will set up an inexpensive android phone/tablet running LANnouncer sitting physically next to an Amazon Dot and then have the android device speak commands that the Dot will respond to. It’s a little MacGyver-ish, but it will work and for about the same money as the other controllers. So it might work for some people, particularly if those specific air-conditioner brands have features that you want.
You can also use any other text to speech device where you can set up a rule to make it say a specific phrase.
So a little goofy, but it is another option. 