Checkpoint 3... report

My idea centers around mass customisation of HOTELS and giving the user an integrated experience using the iPhone as the main tool to accomplish this.

This concept pairs up with the hotel chain - CitizenM - http://www.citizenm.com/. The idea being, that through the marriage of this already highly innovative perspective for the modern traveller, iPhone and "intergated experience" will be able to take user customisation to new heights.
Not only will the user be able to chose all of their preferences, such as, smoking or non-smoking room, and how many people will be travelling etc, but simply by registering their iPhone, they will be able to customise their room to more subtle details from things such as suggesting entertainment or restaurants during the user's stay to ambient music and visulisations that will be completely unique to each user - and will all developed using real-time data from their iPhones.
The experience of staying at this hotel will be highly interactive and a unique experience each time for the user - while allowing them to feel like they are well versed and regular users of the service, even though they may have only registered a day ago.

At the moment, CitzenM charges 50 euro per night stay at their hotel. This makes it highly affordable for the european market. And although with the current economic climate, this might take the this hotel chain outside of the "budget accommodation" bracket for Australians, it still falls quite comfortably within "affordable accommodation" for the average traveller. "citizenM approached Philips Applied Technologies with the objective of revolutionizing the hotel market by delivering 'affordable luxury'... In addition to the benefits to guests, Ambient Experience for Hospitality offers hotel staff and owners an integrated solution that can deliver cost savings of up to 50% due to a remote maintenance system. The RFID enabled self-check-in and check-out service means fewer staff are needed to operate the accommodation. Cleaning personnel can work more efficiently as the housekeeping status of a room is automatically communicated to a central office. Remote monitoring checks ensure all equipment in the room is working and confirms the availability of room accommodation." (Philips Press Centre)

At present only one CitizenM Hotel exists. It is next to Schipol Airport in Amsterdam. Integrated Experience, assumes that there are multiple hotels around the world in major cities. The construction of the hotels themselves will be somewhat to a "minimalist" style. Each room will be the same, and will only available for 1 or 2 guests. More specifically, there will only be one bed. And using the current design of the rooms at CitizenM at Schipol, the bed will be the main feature of the room. It will take up the most space since the hotel rooms will not be designed for long stays. And most of the furniture will be built in to the room as opposed to free standing. The colour scheme of the room will be white since the lighting can be chosen by the user themselves - thereby changing the colour of the rooms. By building this somewhat bland (but savvy) palette, this will allow the guest to feel as though they are responsible for the "giving their room some personality".

It might not sound that appealing in as far as "luxury" hotel rooms go - but yes - the integrated experience hotel will be like some sort of glorified hostel. I have seen from youth hostel guides that cleanliness is held to be more highly regarded than ambience. This being the case, the idea is that if the cleanliness of the hotel is maintained, the unique application will boost the amibience of the hotel to new levels. Keeping the guests happy and wanting to come back to visit again.

The user will select general preferences online on the application microsite. They will be able to register their iPhone from the site by typing in their mobile number. The site will send a password to their iPhone that will allow them to register and then they will be able to carry out the rest of the registration process online.
The user must also download the application from the iPhone Apps Store that there will be a link to from the website. In this way, all the technology will be linked and the data can move freely from the user's iPhone to the hotel room server.

One of the highlights of this application is the interactivity of the customisation. The user will feel as though they really "own" this personal space for the duration of their stay. Once they are there, the ambient music and visualisations will be fed directly from iTunes and other data streams on the iPhone.
As well as this, the user will be able to project any photos or any other images onto the digital picture frame inside their room.
On a side note, there could be a possibility to link up with other hotels in the chain - for example, some sort of digital photo album that is similar to the Picassa application that allows you to upload photos and tag them in google earth.
Although this would not contribute to the mass cutomisation of the concept, it would be very fun for clients and it seems as though this type of "you are not alone" or "the world is more connected than ever" type of application is à la mode at the moment.

Whether or not they register their iPhone, the user will be able to chose the ambient lighting and ambient temperature of the room once they arrive there.
Of course, the user is not obliged to opt for the ambient experience - immersive experience. They can chose the "standard stay" which will not include any of the real-time customisation options. If they chose this option, they will be able to customise their room to a limited extent in comparison to the fully immersive stay. After they select what type of visit they will be embarking on, the room will default to the pre-saved settings that correspond with the selections for romance, business etc.