Subscription-based property management & concierge service suite that a host could use to maintain their properties for short-term rentals remotely.
Takes care of everything on its own-seamlessly and securely!
Team
Kulbir Singh - Lead design
Tarang Gupta - UX designer
Ravi Teja - UX deisgner
Duration
~16 weeks
Scope of work
Primary Research, Interviews
Business modeling, value proposition,
ideating, and pitching to stakeholders
Tools Used
Personas, High-level SWAT,
Value proposition canvas, Business model Canvas,
Photoshop, User flow
Quick overview of the problem/context:
Allegion’s product team at their HQ in Carmel, IN partnered with INFO H567’s students & posed a challenge - to find an innovative UX solution with a business model that would enable them to expand their businesses into the short-term rental (STR) domain (such as Airbnb). We spent the next 4 weeks researching, ideating, and drafting our business pitch. They are very impressed with our pitch of Mastr, and found its use promising and profitable.
Market Overview and research
Some Key insights and trends we found:
Guests’ average length of stay in STR is longer during post-COVID compared to pre-COVID, hosts could bank on that.
We could leverage existing tools/partners to communicate efficiently with housekeeping services and grocery delivery services.
The rise of ‘quarantine pads’ and work-from-culture gives us the opportunity to convert short term rentals to long term
Facts about the market size:
40,000+
Multi-unit hosts in the US
$1.8 billion
Generated in revenue in 2016
By Hosts renting out two or more entire-home units
400,000 senior hosts
The fastest-growing demographic is adults over 55 yrs
Hosts with 10 or more properties generate a quarter of all multi-host revenue!
Basis on our study, we formed our problem statement that was:
How might we leverage the existing technology to provide a better way for the hosts to seamlessly and effortlessly maintain & manage multiple properties and improve the host-guest relationship for better ratings and reviews?
With further analysis and interviews we created a Guest-Host interaction lifecycle in a STR environment:
We created our target customer profile:
The major pains and requirements reported were:
Language barrier
Managing Access transfer
Lack of Information of neighborhood
We identified the following opportunities that fit in our customer profile:
Voice commands in multiple languages
Manage property and access control transfer remotely
Automation according to guest preferences
Provide concierge services (such as deliveries etc.)
Our Solution
Subscription-based property management & concierge service suite that host could use to maintain their property(ies) remotely.
Mastr takes care of everything on its own - seamlessly and securely!
We use our network of local service provides & industry partners
Our goal is to impress guests with housekeeping & other concierge services to ensure better ratings & reviews!
Features and Functionalities:
“Hey Mastr”
Alexa & Google-Home skills crafted & developed specifically for the short-term rental domain.
Touchless experience
Control access, faucets, HVAC, and lighting without the need to touch (in wake of COVID-19)
Multilingual support
Improves the host-guest relation. Request for services instantly, in customer preferred language
Voice Interaction
Schedule restocking of supplies and groceries, using simple interaction like voice-commands
2. Mastr Mind
A suite of hardware and dashboard to manage properties by triggering service requests and bookings on its own.
3rd party service integration
Service integrates the local service provides for grocery delivery housekeeping, and maintenance.
Remote management
Manage properties remotely from anywhere. Analyze property’s usage with the smart analytics.
Service automation(optional)
Smartly senses needs, and triggers automated calls to housekeeping and maintenance suppliers.
3. Mastr Key
Works seamlessly with Schlage Encode to provide a digital access key to multiple users as required!
Scheduled access management
Allocate multiple access codes and access rules for specific user profiles for a specific time-period.
Remote control
Control the locks from anywhere either through voice command or through an app.
Value Proposition
Value for the users:
Improved experience for guests
“Touch-less’ voice commands to use services
Keyless access control
Groceries delivered as per dietary preferences
Pain Relievers for Hosts
Automated concierge services
Voice commands in any language
Remote property access management
Upsell & cross-sell opportunities:
Business Model
Analysis & Results
SWAT Analysis:
Finally, why Mastr? (what does it unlock for Allegion’s Schlage?)
Entry into an upcoming lucrative business domain, which actually solves a problem (or two) for Schlage customers!
An opportunity to showcase Schlage’s brand values for their customer’s security and overall user experience
A new channel to market and cross-sell Schlage products