5 ms·
Even if the pod is somewhat automated (e.g. linens are somehow changed without human intervention), you're not going to be able to get around the fact that you'
by jawns 14y ago
Even if the pod is somewhat automated (e.g. linens are somehow changed without human intervention), you're not going to be able to get around the fact that you'll need someone to collect the dirty linens once in a while and replenish.
And really, the tired business executive is the ideal customer ... but you're probably more likely to get a bunch of less-than-ideal customers whose actions inside the pod are going to require a more extensive cleanup.
I have a feeling that even if the company has come up with some innovative ways to address these problems, I'm pretty sure the public perception of the pods will be negative, because you're naturally going to assume that the pods have been occupied by people doing unsavory things. It's going to be perceived as the generally gross Porta-Potty of the accommodations industry.
One of the nice things about hotels and hostels and other places that are staffed 24/7 is that if someone lights up a cigarette in a nonsmoking room, or starts trashing the hotel room, there's someone on hand to address the problem. Here, I can only assume, the pods would only be sporadically monitored.
I think a better solution to problem of tired executives with minimal needs for amenities is in the pod hotels that you can find in the biggest metro areas. They're somewhat similar to these pods in design, but because they're located in hotel structures, they are staffed and the linens are changed, rooms cleaned, etc. by humans:
http://www.thepodhotel.com/ http://www.thepodhotel.com/
- arturadib 14y agoOh c'mon, this is brilliant, and solves a huge pain problem for lots of people (myself included). You don't have to have perfect solutions to edge customer cases in order to be successful (e.g. Zipcar, AirBnB, eBay, etc), and you can always iterate on the solutions. The airport/station staff can do the daily cleaning and replenishing. Also, they can give you a grace period of 5 mins to reject the pod if there's a problem with it (smoking, unsanitary, etc).
- skue 14y ago> You don't have to have perfect solutions to edge customer cases and you can always iterate on the solutions. This isn't a high tech startup. These units would be placed in very public places, so initial impressions would have an enormous impact on their subsequent success (or failure). Imagine the worst things someone could do within one of these units and then ask yourself how you would discretely clean that within a public space. The previous poster is right: Given their semi-public/semi-private nature and the fact that they include beds, there's no way in the world these units wouldn't be used by mischievous travelers. The media would have a field day with this - and not just the news: TV sitcoms and certain nighttime dramas would be racing to be the first to be the first to include a pod episode. It's hard to see the units not turn into a running joke that no concourse operator would want to be associated with.
- DanBC 14y agoYou start by having them only in First class lounges. Then you filter them down through to business class lounges. The cattle will never see them.
- Qwertious 14y agoYou think that just because someone can buy first class, they aren't the very embodiment of Loki?
- wpietri 14y agoWhat makes you think non-tech startups don't iterate? If anything, I think they're much better at it. With software, we have to work really hard to see people use our products and talk with them. But for most businesses it's pretty easy, and it's that feedback that really drives innovation. This seems like an easy one to iterate on. You put one box in one airport. You catch every customer as they're coming out (which should be easy as departure will be indicated on booking, and you'll want to go by to clean it anyhow). You ask them what they think. If initial impressions are somehow terrible, then you solve the problems and set your next one up with different branding in a different airport. Then keep iterating.
- DennisP 14y agoMake them a little smaller, and transparent. Like sleeping on a bench, but you're shielded from noise and people bumping into you or taking your stuff.
- damian2000 14y agoYeah but usually people like to sleep in the dark. Good point though.
- corporalagumbo 14y agoand they don't like people peering in on them
- nileshtrivedi 14y agoOne-way mirrors!
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- netcan 14y agoThis is such a software forum! Why is everyone assuming this is a fully automatic coin operated system? I read "miniature, ready to go hotel rooms that you can buy, put anywhere you want (inside a building) and figure out how to manage yourself." Seems to me like it'd be a good way of doing exactly what you have mentioned: a podhotel.
- Qwertious 14y agoBecause that would require people to be PAID to go around, cleaning up the sleepboxes, which may or may not actually be profitable, when you consider the cost of the sleepbox on top of it. The entire POINT of it is that it's automated enough that you don't have to deal with that crap.
- netcan 14y agoAgain, where do you read that automated is the point? I read "space saving" & maybe an implied cheap and/or low maintenance. There is no mention, hint or implication of automated.
- corporalagumbo 14y agoman, the lack of trust in modern (esp. american) society is just... awful.
- slurgfest 14y agoalternatively, the lack of communal feeling and shame, that leads people to do things like trashing hotel rooms, is just awful.
- malsme 14y agoA side effect of an increasingly individualistic society, some countries more so than others. I could only really see this working in a highly corporate and controlled environment, like a light rail station in a business district, maybe an airport but only after the security gates.
- mistercow 14y agoI'm not sure that's so much a side effect as it is a primary effect.
- nodata 14y ago1. Take a photo (or photos) before. 2. Take a photo afterwards. 3. Use a reputation system.
- veb 14y agoThis could probably go a long way. You're talking about the pod taking a before picture, and then an after picture then using some computer-vision library to decide on positive/negative points for that stay? That could work quite well. Even have a cap to put over the camera lens when you're staying in it (for those tinfoil hat people). I suppose positive points would mean you get a cheaper stay in another pod, and so on.
- nodata 14y agoI was going even simpler. When the person is finished with the pod, and the door closes and locks, the pod takes a photo. When the next person pays and the just before the door unlocks, it takes another photo. No computer analysis, no nothing. If there is a complaint or a need to check the photos, someone can. Automation can come later. Add a reputation system to catch repeat offenders (with proof) and you're done. Cheap and simple.
- rsheridan6 14y agoA pod would actually be much easier to clean than a regular hotel room, because it's smaller. Suppose you had the bedding removed and cleaned in a high temp machine after every use, so all that's left is hard, smooth, easily cleanable surfaces, which you had cleaned with bleach, rinsed, and dried with compressed air. It would be cleaner than a typical hotel room even if the previous occupant did nasty stuff - which they could very well have done in any hotel room.
- mistercow 14y agoSmaller doesn't actually imply easier to clean. It's a cramped space with lots of nooks and crannies, and from the looks of it, you couldn't even get a normal sized broom under the bed without hitting the opposite wall.