Don’t Call It An “iWatch”

I no longer think about my Apple Watch, and that’s the genius of its design.  But does it live up to the hype?

This June I went all-in with wearables and gave the Apple Watch a try.  Since then I’ve fielded as many questions from strangers about it than my iPhone, back in 2007.

Actually, if anyone from Apple is reading; I’m pretty sure I sold a few, little something for the effort?  In a year full of cool new devices, Apple Watch is my favorite.

THE GOOD

I like my Apple Watch, it’s the first wearable I feel compelled to… um, wear, and all the time.  It’s light, modern, and swappable bands keep it fresh and right for every occasion: work, working out, out on the town, a band, a style for it all.   

My Top 5 Uses

Aside from telling the time (duh!) here’s how Apple Watch is now integrated into my life:

1. On time, with a haptic little nudge of reminders and calendar alerts, Apple Watch keeps me ahead of my schedule.

2. Healthy, Apple Watch tracks footsteps, heart beats, calories as I move through my day.  It nudges me after too much sitting (the new smoking) and actively tracks my workouts, except in the pool, although some have taken the plunge

3. Politely Informed, I check text messages, game scores (go Stanford!) without being rude, sneaking a quick glance, avoiding a glare from my wife, across the dinner table.  

4. Calls, driving, cycling, whatever, I take calls without missing a beat, the speaker is clear and even better with a bluetooth headset.  Also with a bluetooth headset, my Apple Watch is a stand-alone music source for playlists, no iPhone required.  

5. Payments, I’ve tried many and this is the best; double-click the side button, quick, easy, more secure than plastic, done.  Apple Pay is accepted by most of my usual spots, here’s a list of major stores  with smaller shops covered by the new Square NFC/chip reader. 

"Siri, directions to Michael Mina."

Honorable Mentions

1. Uber, order a car from the Apple Watch, very James Bond.

2. Directions, follow guided turn-by-turn directions, without your nose in the phone like a tourist.

OPPORTUNITY FOR IMPROVEMENT

As I said, Apple Watch is a strong first version and these are just #firstworldproblems.  

1. Longer Battery life, for a typical day, it’s fine, using about 50% battery after 10 hrs.   For long hikes and heavy usage it lasts just 6 hours, while not great, is still longer than my Garmin.  Also, I can’t track sleep if it must be charged every evening.  Full disclosure, two or three times, the battery didn’t make it past 3PM, no warning, bu-bye.  

2. No GPS, for accurate GPS, you still need to take along your iPhone, which is redundant.  awk. ward.  

3. Not Guaranteed Waterproof,  I want to track distance swam and until I have a guarantee, this Apple Watch is not getting wet.  

Seriously, I feel like the guy on a plane next to Louis C.K., complaining about weak WiFi, really?! we’ve conquered flight and he’s complaining because he can’t check Facebook?!   And poor me, my super watch isn’t waterproof with GPS and a 5 day battery life - extraordinary is the new ordinary.

FUTURE

This first gen Apple Watch is just the beginning, Apple is committed to wearables and making technology more seamless, organic.  Future iterations should support more untethered use cases, like GPS for cycling and built in camera for facetime, while moving towards even integrated with the iPhone and other devices, like direct connection to my Mac/iPad.   Someday, in the future, the Apple Watch may simply contain the entire OS, something like Her, without the safety pin.

BOTTOM LINE

The Apple Watch is an awesome product.  If you’re on the fence, go for it!  You won’t regret it.  The first gen iPhone sold 5 million in the first year; compared to the iPhone 6/s which sold 232 million in the most recent four quarters.  Sure there are some things like battery life and GPS which could be better, but don’t be afraid to take the plunge; not literally, until Apple confirms it’s waterproof.  

Does AirBnB Need A Lobby Boy?

It’s no secret AirBnB wants to go from managing one part of travel, the room, to the entire experience, but can they deliver?

While AirBnB’s main growth driver is booking their more than 2 million worldwide listings; expanding into additional services will help them keep customers they grab - both Guests and Hosts.  

This year my wife and I became AirBnB Hosts, so far it’s been great; but we’re still newbies, learning as we go.  Case in point, this summer while in Sardinia we tried an advanced move: back-to-back bookings of our home in SF, having to coordinate:

• check-out/key drop-off,
• house cleaning, restocking,
• welcome gifts,
• check-in/key pickup

all from six thousand miles away, no sweat? yeah, no!  

With beginner's luck, a diving save by our neighbors, it all worked out.  But the experience brought to light opportunities for improvement around core Host Use Cases.

We're obviously stressed.

Let’s take a closer look at how adding basic hospitality services can help AirBnB go beyond the room and enhance their offering, creating an unfair competitive advantage over hotels.       

HELP THE HOSTS

At the heart of the AirBnB experience are Hosts; without them, there are no rooms, no guests, no stays.  Airbnb will never be as consistent as hotels, but that’s the point, right?  there’s charm in a unique experience, not the same monotonous room in every city; all powered by their robust Host community.  While this works, there’s still room for improvement.  I’m not suggesting turndown service, yet, but let’s start with a few thoughtful and much needed tools to help Hosts, well, be better hosts.   

1. Check-in/Key Pickup

2. Cleaning/Restocking

3. Local Insights  

Check-in/Key Pickup

In the time between starting and posting this blog (it was a busy month) August Smart Locks announced integration with AirBnB, so now guests can receive an August Smart Lock code for dates of their stay.  If you don’t know, August adds a cover plate to your door’s deadbolt lock to control remote access and with AirBnB access the code guests receive is active for Check-in and expires upon Check-out.  This, is progress!  

AirBnB Message Center With Pillow and August Alerts

Clean & Restock

As my wife and I soon discovered, when it comes to AirBnB related stress, Cleaning & Restocking is top of mind.  This includes cleaning, fluffing pillows, replacing fresh towels and linens, restocking shampoos, welcome gifts.  It’s great AirBnB gives an option to add in a cleaning fee (ours is $100) but it would be even better to completely take this off our hands.  

AirBnB should offer tight integration with vacation rental services like Pillow (www.pillowhomes.com) so I can schedule cleaning & restocking services through the AirBnB app and then receive reminders and notifications related to these services.

Locals Rule!

Beyond the room, there’s the setting, the sense of place.  

Locals Map To Guide Guests

AirBnB offers guests to feel like a local; it’s touring without being a tourist.  

Along with our House Guidelines (my wife’s handy work) including our favorite local spots from restaurants to grocery stores, a list of “must” things to do in our neighborhood.    

The AirBnB app should allow Hosts to curate their Locals Map for guests to get acquainted with the area; local spots not in tourist maps or guidebooks.  The Locals Map should be situationally aware and two taps away for say an espresso macchiato emergency.

BOTTOM LINE

As AirBnB continues to disrupt the travel industry; hotel incumbents are not going down without a fight; AirBnB will have to answer by expanding further into the travel experience.  A great place to start, their core asset, Hosts and tools to empower them while being situationally aware and not getting in the way of the core experience.  Integration with August Locks is a great start, it’ll be interesting to see what’s next, as they try to go beyond the room.   

AirBnB: Host With The Most

With nearly 17 million guest stays this summer, AirBnB is creating an industry out of thin air but can it overcome political and social hurdles to continue disrupting the travel industry?  

Are you an AirBnB host?  I am.  There’s nothing like your first time, the trepidation: which valuables to lock up? will they trash our place? or even worse: will they not love our home? give us low ratings?  

AirBnB, there’s so much to discuss, let’s unpack the product over a few blogs, starting with how AirBnB should address the backlash while refreshing their mobile app for hosts.  

My wife and I decided to give it a try: set up profile; arrange professional photographer; book first stay; check, check, check.  So, remind me again why we’re letting complete strangers have our home for a weekend?  sleep in our beds, wash their naked bodies in our showers, co-habitate our space with our precious little beta fish!  why?  We want to be part of the sharing economy.  We put great care in making our home a stylish, comfortable space and love opening it up to others; oh yeah, and they’re paying us.  

While my AirBnB experience, so far has been good; the mobile app missed my expectations and there’s room for improving it for hosts, like me.

Also, if AirBnB is going to extend their stay atop the industry, they must address political and social concerns: Trust, Safety, and Regulations and it makes sense to do this while sprucing up their mobile app.  For now, let’s focus on Trust and Safety, we’ll get to Regulations later. 

THE GOOD

I like the aesthetic of AirBnb’s mobile app.  It offers a clean design: crisp, intuitive iconography; snappy pics; without excessive lines or superfluous UI elements.  Other standouts:

• Help Center is well organized and full of useful information
• Host/Guest toggle for context switching between hosting and traveling, great!
• Edit Listing is clearly presented with obvious anchors and a handy preview  
• Groups are easy to find and follow  

OPPORTUNITY FOR IMPROVEMENT

Quick Rant: The AirBnB app should be situationally aware.  What do I mean? 

AirBnB Landing Page, Meh.

Without reservation requests, the landing page, the entryway into the app is a bland, colorless, dull message screen: “No Reservation Requests.”  This from a team that prides itself on design?  it’s the oatmeal of landing pages.  

Also, my wife and I share Google Calendar, Google Drive,  iTunes Library, bank accounts, Amex Cards, but I have to log into her AirBnB account to help manage our listing.  Be situationally aware.  
Rant over.  

The AirBnB app was pitched as the “Host Home” for managing listings; and since launch the world has changed, hosts need more tools to feel at home. 

Tools to help them address concerns related to: Trust, Safety, Regulations.  

TRUST

Trust is built on verification of reputation; and the AirBnB App must support use cases which build Trust. 

Guest Star Ratings
AirBnB guests should be rated, just like Uber and Lyft passengers.  Guest reviews are good, but a Guest Star Rating is more concise: 

Guest Start Ratings In Profile

Host Screenings
Verified ID links your AirBnB profile to your online identities, like Facebook.  It’s great, but AirBnB should take the next step and perform background checks on participating hosts.  Background checks of hosts would help alleviate Trust issues and even prevent those with a spotty past from becoming hosts. 

Matchmaking
Matching goes beyond the room; AirBnB should be matching hosts and guests, creating harmony by pairing lifestyles.  Familiarity builds Trust.  And, yes, there’s even a host out there for the 22 year olds in town for Outside Lands, Coachella, whatever festival (that host most likely doesn’t have light colored rugs).   

The matching algorithm should include attributes for both hosts and guests: 

• Star rating 
• Number of identity verifications
• Background checks
• Amenities 
• Safety features
• Lifestyle details  

Host/guest matchmaking would further differentiate AirBnB from hotels; and enhance their unique experience. 

Conditional Approvals
Hosts have 24 hours to respond to guest queries and make a booking decision, or approval ratings will suffer.  Even if waiting for guests to... ah, let’s say prove they’re not a serial killer!  This is stressful and would be streamlined with conditional approvals.  If the only thing preventing me approving a booking is the guest missing reviews or Verified IDs, let me add these as conditionals for approval, turn it back on them, 24 hours to book.   

Hosts have 24 hours to respond…. Even if waiting for guests to... um, let’s say prove they’re not a serial killer!  

Conditional Instabook  
Instabook is removing approvals from your listing, so anyone can book it.  Yeah, right!  “No, we ain’t do’in that.”  While we’re not about to let just anyone stay in our home, I would entertain the idea under certain conditions, like: 

• Limit four guests
• Five star guest
• Background check

• No smoking
• No children
• No parties

Otherwise, Instabook is a nonstarter. 

SAFETY

Safety is assured with adequate precautions and a plan, in case of emergency.  

Message Center
The landing page would be better suited as a Message Center to help communications between hosts and guest and timely, safety reminders.  The app should know when, say I have active guests, their messages go to the Message Center, the rest can still go to the email Inbox.  Be situationally aware.

If I were the manager of a hotel this would keep me dialed into my VIP guests.  Some examples:

• Messages from active guest
• Reminder safety checklist before guests arrive
• Important alerts on local regulations where I have listings
• Breaking news near listings with my active guests 

Host Tips are great, but they’re buried in a one-and-done wizard.  To address Safety concerns the app needs to be more dynamic and, situationally aware. 

Safety Net
Life is uncertain, and when things go wrong in a hotel the staff has your back; at an AirBnB, not so much.  

AirBnB has an emergency contact, listed in the account profile, quite simply they should use it.  My emergency contact should be able to find out from AirBnB where I’m staying.  

Also, the AirBnB app should have location based Police and Fire contacts to contact local authorities.  Do you know how to call the fire department in, say, Beijing? 

FUTURE

The future is now, well at least we have a glimpse.  Between writing and posting this blog, AirBnB announced their Apple Watch App which could act like the Message Center I defined above.  Good to see we’re on the same page.   This could be a good start, but if it’s not situationally aware and focused on core use cases, it’ll be a miss.

BOTTOM LINE

The AirBnB app is clean, snappy, and well designed.  But if AirBnB is is going to overcome recent backlash it should address Trust, Safety, and Regulations and be a link between hosts and their guests.   With well appointed additions, the app could be a Message Center for specific alerts and timely checklist reminders while supporting features to address Trust and Safety.  Otherwise, the PR nightmares will continue to mount, which would burst their bubble.            

NEXT TIME

It’s no secret AirBnB wants to go from managing one part of travel, the room, to the entire experience.  Next time, we’ll take a closer look at how adding basic hospitality services can help AirBnB go beyond the room and hold the customers they grab.  As well as digging into app features which can help with Regulations.  Oh, and maybe take a closer look at the Apple Watch App.