What serviced apartment providers should do
Do this to connect with people.
What you should do for us business people:
Let’s call him Steve Vincent, a young business man staying in London for three months. Could you tell him whom HE needs to meet in London? Considering his current business project, and also considering his long term goals and ambitions. These could be potential business partners but also inspiring, stimulating people. Could you even arrange and set up the meetings?
Help Steve get into for him relevant communities and business circles in London, help him grow his network. Furthermore, tell him who in his existing network is in London or passes London and whom he should meet and when.
What if you could help Steve prioritize his tasks, help him focus and help him know what task is most important right now?
All this could be in form of a mobile site or app using Steve’s data including his project, and data of London’s business people. It’s personalising the data of London business people for Steve with the help of AI.
Furthermore, help Steve live a full life in London. Know what he needs and provide that. That’s his kind of sport, social life, stimulation, relaxation, connection to people and places, being present, etc. Know his hobbies, know his rhythm, know his life at home.
This can be in form of a mobile site or app with AI personalising London’s data for Steve.
Ending a business trip is a hassle, Steve needs to hand in receipts, report to his organisation, follow up on contacts and commitments, live up to new commitments, etc. Help him have less hassle.
A solution is a mashup of existing digital services.
Steve would like to have the music, food, culture, habits, the connection with people, etc. he enjoyed in London at home as well. Help him taking home the good from his London stay.
This as well is a mashup solution of existing digital services.
All that requires data about Steve. You could get some of it through his social media profiles, posts and social media network. You could learn about his needs during his stay. And by offering a great service Steve most likely provides much data to make the service work for him (for example, people give digital services around sport and fitness much data because the benefit is great).
All the above mentioned services you provide for Steve you should not only provide for your serviced apartment guests but for business people on a long stay wherever on the planet. Scale it. This can be big business for you. These are new market spaces you can dominate and shape. This is an opportunity for you to get out of the highly competitive conventional hospitality market. If you don’t do it, someone will.
This is what you should do for us private people:
Let’s call him Frank Larsen, a tourist coming to London for a couple of days. Could you tell him what HE needs to experience in that city? Starting with Frank’s needs. And could you plan his entire stay accordingly?
It’s personalising the data from the city for Frank with the help of AI. This could be an extremely personalised London city guide as mobile site or app. And it could be part of the booking confirmation mail as well.
This sounds a bit way out there, but before Frank decides to come to your city, he is planning his vacation and doesn’t know where to go and needs help. Tell him what HE needs to experience. And tell him where to find that. For some you might recommend not your city but another place. For others though your city is right and now you connected with them early, earlier than any of your competitors, to guide them in the right way and build trust.
This could be integrated in a travel site, like tripadvisor or momondo, or it’s a separate mobile site or app. It’s making sense of Frank’s data. First step could be recommendations using accessible data on the web about him. Second step is working with additional data Frank provides.
Airbnb’s most popular place is a tree house. People don’t want catalogue luxury but a unique place. They want to experience something memorable, and something they can tell others about. That goes for the place to stay and for the entire city experience.
That means, get a unique, authentic real estate or collaborate with a designer to create it with the place you have. In giving personalised recommendations incorporate mystery, surprise, intimacy, the crazy, the magic, little pain, the odd, the ugly, the detour, the imperfection.
Frank wants to relax and wants to be present but the first days of his vacation his mind is still at his work. Studies show that people are with their mind still at home at their first day’s of vacation. Help him relax with a tool Frank uses before the trip.
The solution could be a mashup of existing digital services.
When Frank returns home he might need to adjust to another time zone and certainly to his upcoming working schedule. You could provide a tool, helping him to adjust easily. This could be in form of a mashup of existing digital services, using Frank’s body data and his current and upcoming schedule to give personalised recommendations.
Being home Frank wants to enjoy things and people he enjoyed at his stay in London. This too could be a mashup of existing digital services, an API mashup.
What Frank might need is a balanced life with frequent small vacations. A solution might be an API mashup that measures Frank’s life and visualises that data.
The above services need data and I mentioned beforehand how to get the data. And the same as the first mentioned services goes for these services: provide them for people beyond your serviced apartment guests as well — this can be your big business, your new market space.
Overall, what I did was look through people’s (consumer) perspective to identify their needs. I believe, modern marketing is to look what people really need and provide that as a brand. And todays technology enables you to serve these needs.
