Instruct Airbnb guests with ping system created by Kristian knobloch

By Happy Jasta

August 23, 2016

4 min read

Kristian Knobloch, a graduate from the Royal college of Art, Kensington has created a ping system that can be used by hosts to instruct Airbnb guests. It is about providing important information about homes and other surroundings, when they are not at home. In this system, smartphone touch point initiates applications in the phone to provide the required information to the Airbnb guests. This design is inspired from the insight of rapid rise in the sharing economies.

Dubbed as Ping, this system boasts smart modules that can be placed anywhere in the house. When guests need some information about their surroundings, they simply have to touch their smart phones against a module and it opens a webpage on their phone to provide the essential information.

Whenever a host is not at home, it works as an instruction manual that helps in communicating with guests to help them in things such as how to open the door lock or operate the gas or seek for other needs. It can also be used as a guide for the guests or to recommend best things around town such as restaurants, theaters, malls, etc. You can record videos or voice notes to explain the necessary things to the guests in your absence. Separate modules in different rooms can be used to define them to the guests.

Kristian Knobloch says,

Ping provides guests with a touchpoint to refer to in each room.

Ping is a red round top that catches eye, and its wooden surrounding complements the interiors as a homeware product. Each Ping module comes integrated with a near field communication (NFC) that initiates the web browser for the further communication. If guests have any other questions, then its built-in messaging and voice call option can be used to directly connect with the hosts.

Currently, NFC chips are compatible with most of the Android phones and the Knobloch plans to include Bluetooth beacons to make the module iPhone compatible too. Ping was displayed at the ShowRCA exhibition held at the Royal College of Art, Kensington from 26 June to 3 July 2016. It is a futuristic device helping hosts to entertain their guests and additionally helping to develop the sharing economy through instructing your tenants.