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Sleepbox

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11–20 of 149 posts

Re: Sleepbox

#11
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/

Re: Sleepbox

#13
post #6

As an architect by training I find it really exciting to see something like this. The business of architecture is an incredible mess. Although I see a lot of big challenges in getting this to work well it's a great way to make a positive intervention in spaces that are often quite negative. Architects think about this kind of stuff all the time, but they rarely implement it. All that being said these things look real…

Yeah, that's so architecture 2.0. We've moved on.

Re: Sleepbox

#14
The biggest issue with this is, how do you keep it clean? I wouldn't want to sleep somewhere that wasn't kept clean. Sure you sleep on train seats that are publicly shared with hundreds of different people daily. But here we're talking about actual beds, with pillows and sheets - I wouldn't want to put my face on a pillow that I knew was used previously by someone else without being properly cleaned.

Re: Sleepbox

#15

But who's going to change and wash the sheets? Especially if it's being rented out by the hour. Will there be a full laundry after each and every user?

They could work towards automating it by dispensing fresh sheets for each guest and somehow improving the ease of changing them. (I'm sure there's better ways than changing sheets and covers tediously by hands. I mean a simple thing for example would be to automatically raise the mattress from the base.)

Re: Sleepbox

#17
Keeping these things clean would be very hard. Perhaps a better target market than single-night-guests is medium-term-guests.

I could see myself renting one of these things for a month in a city I visit on holiday.

Re: Sleepbox

#18
post #11

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…

Oh 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).

Re: Sleepbox

#20
post #6

As an architect by training I find it really exciting to see something like this. The business of architecture is an incredible mess. Although I see a lot of big challenges in getting this to work well it's a great way to make a positive intervention in spaces that are often quite negative. Architects think about this kind of stuff all the time, but they rarely implement it. All that being said these things look real…

/How interesting... a fellow Cooper architect (and one who appreciates circuits) on HN!
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