Method for managing utilization capacity of multi-purpose property

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for managing the utilization capacity of a multi-purpose property, including a number of reservable places, the purpose of use of which can be changed between use as accommodation places, office workplaces or meeting rooms as needed. In order to manage the utilization capacity, a system is provided by means of which a subscription and subscription parameters for each of the venues associated therewith are determined for each time, the reservation parameters comprise customers, customer types, reservation types according to the assigned use, start and end times of the reservation, and recorded actual departure times, whereupon in the method, a forecast of the remaining auxiliary use period between the actual departure times of different customers and the start time of the reservation is calculated, it is released for subscriptions in addition to primary use. The invention also relates to furniture furnishings suitable for this purpose.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a method according to the preamble of claim 1. The present invention particularly relates to a method for managing the utilization capacity of a multi-purpose property, the multi-purpose property including a number of bookable spaces, the purpose of use of which can be changed between being used as an accommodation space, an office workplace or a meeting room as required, where each of the above uses includes a convertible furniture arrangement and / or layout of the space, and where the characteristics determining the main use of a piece of furniture can be folded out of the reach of the user inside a wall and / or other structure and / or by means of the mechanism of the piece of furniture or layout. The present invention also relates to a piece of convertible furniture, where the characteristics determining the main use of the piece of furniture can be folded out of the reach of the user inside a wall and / or other structure by means of the mechanism of the piece of furniture. Background Art

[0002] The use of business premises has undergone a major transformation for several years, and with the pandemic in recent years, the situation has changed further. The use of the premises is inefficient, and the costs are unnecessarily high relative to the actual use of the premises. Contracts related to the use of the premises are typically based on occupancy, such that the charges are not based on use, but on the occupancy of the premises, regardless of how much it costs to use the premises. According to studies of the subject, the actual utilization rate of rooms in office properties is approximately 5 - 10%. This utilization rate also has an environmental impact, as heating or cooling and ventilation must be maintained in the property 24 / 7, regardless of how much it costs to use the premises.

[0003] One solution is to provide multi-purpose spaces that serve different purposes. A two-use hotel can be cited as an example, where the space (in this case, the room) is a hotel room at night and an office during the day, and is booked one room at a time for that purpose. The capacity requirements and demands for the space typically differ between day and night.

[0004] Traditionally, spaces and offices can be rented using different types of contracts in the offices served. Any additional spaces must be agreed upon or provided separately. The capacity is managed per office based on the occupancy of the space rather than on use.

[0005] Similarly, accommodation capacity can be purchased from hotels using different types of contracts. Any additional spaces must be agreed upon or provided separately. The capacity can typically be managed only per room.

[0006] In business use, rapid change requirements can occur regarding the size of the office, the number of offices, or their use. Therefore, there is a need to cost-effectively create more capacity. Similarly, there is a need for users to efficiently and as much as possible utilize the available capacity themselves as self-service.

[0007] The need for more efficient capacity utilization mentioned above requires efficient and rapidly provided technical solutions that allow for multi-purpose use, as well as the following method: By means of this method, capacity management can be controlled such that the capacity is available in the required form and at the desired time. A required feature is a technical solution that enables different usage purposes. This means a venue with convertible furnishings and / or layout, so that the features determining the main use of a piece of furniture can be folded out of reach of the user inside a wall and / or other structure by means of the mechanism of the piece of furniture and / or layout. This refers to, for example, the type of solution where, by visual observation, the other uses of the piece of furniture are not obvious. For example, if another feature or form is a bed, it is not desirable for the bed sheets to be visible in an office venue. The bed can be folded into the wall, and the bottom of the bed forms a neat, uniform wall surface or a door-like structure, but the actual bed sheets, etc. are not visible. Among other things, US3088127 is known from the prior art, which discloses some dual-purpose furniture constructions. Summary of the Invention

[0008] The object of the present invention is to provide a solution - a method by means of which the utilization rate of the venue of a property can be improved. A further object is to flexibly change the capacity of the venue of a property equipped for multi-purpose use into different office or accommodation purposes easily and in real time according to demand. Another object is: to enable a user group in an office to operate in the venue as if they were in their own property. This successful multi-purpose use and efficient use of the venue require a system that can be controlled by a user interface that enables multi-functional use of the venue.

[0009] The object of the present invention is achieved as disclosed more specifically in the main independent claim and in the other claims. According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method for managing the utilization capacity of a multi-purpose property has been implemented. The multi-purpose property includes a number of bookable venues, the usage purposes of which can be changed between being used as an accommodation venue, an office workplace, or a meeting room as needed. Each of the usages includes convertible furnishings and / or layout of the venue, so that the features determining the main use of a piece of furniture can be folded out of reach of the user inside a wall and / or other structure by means of the mechanism of the piece of furniture and / or layout. To manage the utilization capacity, a system is provided by means of which, for each moment, the bookings and booking parameters for each of the venues associated with it are determined. The booking parameters include the customer, the customer type, the booking type according to the assigned usage, the start time and end time of the booking, and the recorded actual departure time. In the method, the remaining auxiliary usage forecast between the actual departure time and the start time of different customers is calculated, which is released for bookings other than the main use.

[0010] Therefore, by means of the method mentioned above, a prediction of the released capacity is made, which takes into account, by calculation, the actual use of the premises by the customer, the changes in the usage habits, and creates a model based on it, according to which the same physical premises can be sold to another customer for different uses. In practice, a beneficial embodiment is a hotel that provides accommodation, where the overnight guests leave the hotel in the morning and the next overnight guests arrive in the evening. There is often still a period equal to an entire office working day between these, which, if effectively realized, can be sold for other uses, for office work, for meeting rooms, or for other similar purposes. Of course, some of the overnight guests stay longer in the morning and other guests leave earlier, but by classifying according to customer types, a statistical estimate of the departure time can be calculated for each customer type, and thus, the capacity available for sale can be estimated more accurately. Any difference between the prediction and the realization can be resolved by the calculated error tolerance, thus avoiding double booking of the same premises.

[0011] Other additional features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments shown in the appended claims and the drawings.

[0012] According to an embodiment of the present invention, based on the actual departure time achieved, the system calculates a statistically estimated departure time for each customer according to the customer type, and then determines the overall capacity for auxiliary use based on statistical probability. This makes it possible to sell the capacity as accurately as possible, since the data included in the system can be efficiently used to predict the actions of the customers and thus to make the best use of the available capacity. This feature further reduces the possibility of double booking.

[0013] According to another embodiment of the present invention, the system calculates a prediction of the available free capacity until the start of each reservation, until the reservation is confirmed as being in use. Therefore, the accuracy of the system improves as the start of the new auxiliary reservation approaches. Thus, when the auxiliary customers arrive to check in, the system can direct them to the premises that are already prepared, so that cleaning the premises and changing the configuration of the premises between the customers do not result in waiting times. Changing the configuration of the premises refers to changing the purpose of use between being used as an accommodation premise, an office work premise, or a meeting room as needed, and thus each of the above-mentioned uses includes the convertible furniture furnishings and / or layout of the premises, and thus the feature of determining the main use of a piece of furniture can be folded out of the reach of the user inside the wall and / or other structures by means of the mechanism of the piece of furniture and / or the layout.

[0014] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the system includes: an access control function by virtue of which the locking of each of the premises is determined; and physical access control tags, such as key cards, mobile device NFC tags, etc., by virtue of whose programming, the reservations and the auxiliary usage periods between the reservations are separated from each other. Following from this, the configuration of the premises or other corresponding technical implementations can be easily set to correspond to each reservation.

[0015] According to an embodiment, the method is controlled by a user interface adaptable to a mobile device, so that the customer can independently make reservations related to the premises or their use or change the reservations. In addition, the customers in the multi-purpose property according to a broader embodiment can be organizational users who manage the reservations of several premises in the organization and their allocation to several users. The system can also include a feature by virtue of which future reservations of the premises are forecast based on the earlier or initially indicated needs of the organizational user. In this way, the method can be used efficiently even for the needs of a larger organization, since larger entities of the premises in the multi-purpose property can be managed. Similarly, the organizational user can release capacity, or if the internal utilization rate of the premises by the organization still appears low, the system can suggest that the capacity be released.

[0016] According to an embodiment, the system includes: an incentive related to the management of the reservations, which prompts the user to select a series of actions that allow the sale of the auxiliary usage periods, or to select the start time or the end time of the reservation based on the capacity calculated by the system and deviating from the user's main desire. In this way, the operator can be helped to manage the reservations of the property, since as large a proportion as possible of the premises can be sold for auxiliary use. The customer will want to act in a way that is expected from the perspective of the owner or operator of the property. Similarly, the incentive can also be linked to the recommendation of a service, so that the customer can act as a seller of the service and benefit from it if they wish.

[0017] According to yet another embodiment, when the system detects a change in the demand in a reservation for a premise, the system is able to change the incentive so that it is possible to make a reservation for the premise corresponding to the demand. This can be based on, for example, an incentive that guides the customer to select a later start time or an earlier end time for the reservation.

[0018] According to yet another embodiment, the system includes the following features: a physical change in the purpose of using the guiding place and a cleaning to be carried out in a time window associated with the change of the customer. This can be achieved, for example, by a team providing a cleaning service with mobile devices for operation control, so that they will be able to see the reservation status in real time and be able to prioritize their work according to the reservation status, or the system can instruct the cleaning to occur in a specific order, which can, for example, minimize walking back and forth in the corridors of the property or similar measures to enhance the efficiency of the maintenance service.

[0019] According to one embodiment, a computer program is provided which, when run on a computer, is configured to implement one of the methods according to the previous embodiments. According to a further embodiment, a user interface is provided to control the method described above. This is preferably a user interface adaptable to a mobile device.

[0020] According to one embodiment, a convertible piece of furniture is provided, so that the features of the main use of the piece of furniture can be folded out of reach of the user inside the wall and / or other structures by means of the mechanism of the piece of furniture. The piece of furniture includes: an electrically controlled locking mechanism having at least one sensor and / or switch for identifying the main use position and the secondary use position; and one or more locking devices for opening / locking the use positions, so that the piece of furniture can be programmatically controlled by means of the method according to the embodiments described above. Depending on the purpose, the sensor and / or switch can be, for example, optical, capacitive or resistive; there are many alternative solutions for implementing the identification of this type of use position. The piece of furniture can be, for example, a bed, a table, a chair, a sofa, a screen or a combination of any of the above.

[0021] The advantages of the present invention are especially its efficiency and simplicity in managing the capacity of multi-purpose properties and improving their utilization rate. With this method, almost all capacity can be sold without customers noticing that they have to wait for a venue to become available or experiencing inconvenience when, once they have left, the venue they have booked is converted for another use. In addition, the method described above and its different embodiments efficiently utilize the available capacity as a self-service performed by the users themselves as much as possible, so that traditional functions such as a hotel reception are not necessarily required. The end-users (i.e., customers) get the correct type of venue at the desired time and sufficiently automatically. In this way, the "wasted capacity" associated with traditional methods is sold and operating with this "wasted capacity" does not cost so much that the benefits from the sale of additional capacity will be offset by the increased work it causes. Therefore, the end-customers themselves do not have to take any measures regarding multi-purpose use or convert the venue, and the system will provide access to the correct type of venue at the correct time without the personal service provided by a traditional hotel reception. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] The present invention and its operation will be described hereinafter with reference to the schematic drawings, in which: Figure 1 An example of the capacity of a multi-purpose property during a 24-hour inspection period is schematically shown, Figure 2 An example of the free capacity of a multi-purpose property during a two-week inspection period is schematically shown, Figure 3 The operation logic of an embodiment of the method is shown as a flowchart, Figure 3 a, 3b, 4a, 4b, 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b schematically show some embodiments of the venues of a multi-purpose property that can be converted according to use. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0023] Figure 1 An example of the total capacity forecast of all bookable multi-purpose venues in a multi-purpose property during a 24-hour inspection period is schematically shown. This example describes a hotel where the main use PU is overnight and the secondary use SU is an office / team workplace. In Figure 1 it, the horizontal axis shows a 24-hour period starting from 0 (which means time 00:00) and progressing to 24 (which means time 24:00), and the vertical axis shows the capacity in use divided into different purposes up to a total of 100%, which means the entire capacity is in use. In this example, the main part of the capacity is for the main use PU, which is shown by the lowest curve in the figure between 0% - PU. From Figure 1It can be seen that during the period from 1 am to 7 am, almost the entire capacity is reserved for primary use, that is, for hotel premises for overnight stays. After 7 am, the overnight guests gradually start to leave, and the capacity reserved for this purpose is at its lowest at 1 pm. After that, the number of overnight guests starts to increase again, especially from 3 pm. When the premises cleaned after the primary users become available again, the proportion of secondary users and the area between the curves PU and SU start to increase correspondingly from 7 am. In Figure 1 , the capacity of the premises to be cleaned is described by the third area, where the capacity reserved for cleaning is the section between the curves SU and CC. The remaining part (that is, the capacity above the curve CC) is the unused capacity. In a traditional hotel, the capacity in productive use is 0% - PU. The method according to the present invention now enables the additional sale of the capacity between the curves PU and SU.

[0024] Figure 2 A 14 - day inspection period of the utilization rate of the hotel under inspection is shown to show how much more room capacity might have been sold during the inspection period. In Figure 2 , it has been divided into two categories: the full - day capacity available for sale, which corresponds to the Figure 1 primary use PU shown in Figure 1 ; and the part - day capacity, which corresponds to the Figure 2 secondary use SU shown in Figure 2 . In

[0025] Figure 3 , it can be seen that on weekdays 1 - 5 and 8 - 12, both full - day and part - day capacities will be available for sale. On weekends, there will be very little (if any) full - day capacity available for sale, but a significant amount of part - day capacity will be available. This type of inspection helps to understand the changes in the capacity in the example hotel under discussion at the weekly level and where additional sales might be available with respect to the method under discussion. However, the method is partly based on a statistical inspection of historical data and the implementation of simulations in order to be able to calculate in the method a forecast of the remaining secondary use period between the actual departure time of different guests and the start time of the reservation, which is released for reservations other than the primary use.

[0026] In Figure 3 , the main block "Main Usage" collects information related to the capacity sold for the said purpose in the block "Main Usage Sales on Booking". Historical data on how sales have occurred previously is obtained from the "Main Usage Sales History" block. The information from these two mentioned above is combined, and this information gives a forecast of the daily departure / arrival times in the block "Main Usage Forecast: Daily Arrival / Departure". As a second data line, the guest behavior history in the block "Main Usage Guest Behavior History: Check-in / Check-out Times" is used. Among other things, it has been noted that business travelers typically leave the hotel much earlier than leisure travelers. This typical behavioral characteristic is taken into account in this block. Based on the previous information, the following block is formed: "Daily Check-in / Check-out Forecast", which provides a daily forecast of the check-in and check-out of guests. The above information is composed and processed in the "Main Usage Hourly Forecast" block, which gives an hourly forecast of the capacity (available capacity and / or capacity in use and changes therein) based on the main usage.

[0027] In Figure 3 , the main block "Secondary Usage" is divided in a corresponding manner into different blocks for processing different information. Historical data related to earlier occurrences of secondary usage and their sales is stored and processed in the "Secondary Usage Sales History" block. The "Secondary Usage Guest Behavior History" block contains historical data of existing customers, based on which the behavior of each individual customer regarding the use of the premises can be forecast, and based on which a statistical analysis of what occurs can be made. In addition, sales information related to the bookings that have been made is recorded and processed in the "Secondary Usage Sales on Booking" block. The data in these three mentioned above is combined in the "Secondary Usage Forecast" block, which generates a forecast of the secondary usage of the premises.

[0028] In addition, the data processed by the main blocks described above in Figure 3 is combined, and the data generated by the blocks "Main Usage Hourly Forecast" and "Secondary Usage Forecast" is processed in the "Hourly Capacity Forecast" block, whereby a capacity forecast for the entire property is obtained as a function of time (such as by the hour). Data related to cleaning from the "Cleaning Capacity" block and any functional overrides for other reasons from the "Manual Override" block are combined with this. These can include, for example, more extensive change work required in certain premises, permanent bookings, the need for repairs, or other similar bookings of the premises. Finally, the data presented above is processed together, and the availability of the premises or free capacity and guidance for pricing are obtained as the final result in the "Availability and Pricing" block.

[0029] In Figure 4a , 4b, some potential configurations of the premises of the multi-purpose property are shown in 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, the purpose of which can be changed between being used as accommodation premises, office workplaces or meeting rooms as required. Thus, each of the said uses includes convertible furniture furnishings and / or layout of the premises. Thus, the features determining the main use of a piece of furniture can be folded out of reach of the user inside the wall and / or other structures by means of the mechanism of the piece of furniture and / or layout. Herein, the a diagrams in each of the figures show the configuration for the main use, and the b diagrams show the version according to the secondary use.

[0030] Figure pair 4a - 4b shows the basic configuration of the premises, the purpose of which can be changed between being used as accommodation premises, office workplaces or meeting rooms as required. For the uses mentioned above, the premises include convertible furniture furnishings and / or layout. In Figure 4a , the features determining the main use of the piece of furniture (i.e., the bed 2) can be folded out of reach of the user inside the wall. Figure 4b shows how the table 3 has been arranged to replace the Figure 4a bed 2 in Figure 4a and how the two chairs 4 in

[0031] have been placed at the table 3. Figure 5b Figure pair 5a - 5b corresponds to what is shown in figure pair 4a - 4b, but the secondary use in

[0032] is a team workplace or a living room-like room furnished with a sofa 5, two smaller tables 3 and the same two separate chairs 4. As a functional pair, the bed - table or bed - sofa is a rather practical pair, because several pieces of furniture of relatively similar size are concerned, and the features of the purpose of using one of them can be arranged to be hidden relatively easily in combination with other structures. Figure 8a the bed 2 in Figure 8b is replaced by a table in

[0033] It should be noted that only some of the most preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above. Thus, it is obvious that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but can be applied in many ways within the scope defined in the appended claims. It should be particularly noted that although the example describes an overnight stay in a hotel as the main use, it is not necessarily the only main use of the corresponding places to which the methods described herein can be applied. Within the basic idea of the present invention, in combination with other embodiments, the features described in combination with different embodiments can also be used, and / or different entities can be combined from the described features, if so desired and if its technical possibilities exist.

[0034] List of reference numerals used PU Main use SU Auxiliary use CC Cleaning capacity 1 Room (or place) 2 Beds 3 Tables 4 Chairs 5 Sofas

Claims

1. A method for managing the utilization capacity of a multi-purpose property, said multi-purpose property comprising a number of bookable premises, the purpose of use of which can be changed between use as an accommodation premise, an office workplace or a meeting room as required, where each of the above uses includes convertible furniture furnishings and / or layout of the premise, and where the features determining the main use of a piece of furniture can be folded out of reach of the user inside a wall and / or other structure by means of the mechanism of that piece of furniture and / or layout, characterized in that, To manage the utilization capacity, a system is provided by which, for each moment, reservations and reservation parameters are determined for each of the premises associated with it, the reservation parameters including the customer, the customer type, the type of reservation according to the allocated usage, the start time and end time of the reservation, and the recorded actual departure time, and then in the method, a forecast of the remaining auxiliary usage period of the usage between the actual departure time of different customers and the start time of the reservation is calculated, which is released for reservations other than the primary usage.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein Based on the actual departure time achieved, the system calculates a statistically estimated departure time for each customer according to the customer type, and then determines the overall capacity for auxiliary usage based on statistical probability.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein The system calculates a forecast of the available free capacity until the start of each reservation and until the reservation is confirmed as being in use.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein The system includes: an access control function by which the locking of each of the premises is determined; and physical access control tags, such as key cards, mobile device NFC tags, etc., by the programming of which, the reservations and the auxiliary usage periods between the reservations are separated from each other.

5. The method according to claim 1 or any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, The method is controlled by a user interface adaptable to a mobile device, so that the customer can independently make reservations or change reservations related to the premises or their usage.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein The customers of the multi-purpose property can be organizational users who manage the reservations of several premises in the organization and allocate them to several separate users.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that, The system includes the following feature: based on the earlier or preliminary indication of the needs of the organizational user, the future reservations of the premises are forecasted.

8. The method according to claim 1 or any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, The system includes: an incentive related to the management of the reservation, which encourages the user to select a series of actions that allow the sale of the auxiliary usage period, or to select the start time or the end time of the reservation based on the capacity calculated by the system and deviating from the user's main wish.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein When the system detects a change in the demand in the reservation of a premise, the system can change the incentive so as to make it possible to reserve the premise corresponding to the demand.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that The incentive can guide the customer to select a later start time or an earlier end time of the reservation.

11. The method according to claim 1 or 8, characterized in that The system includes a referral program as an incentive by which a user registered for a payment transaction can also recommend the services of the property in question or the services of the same operator to their own contracts and is compensated when a new user for whose payment transaction is created is obtained.

12. The method according to claim 1 or any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, The system includes the following feature: it leads to a physical change in the purpose of use of the premise and a cleaning to be carried out in a time window associated with the change of the customer.

13. A computer program which, when running on a computer, is configured to implement one of the methods according to any one of the preceding claims.

14. A user interface for controlling the method according to any one of the preceding claims.

15. A user interface adaptable to a mobile device for controlling the method according to any one of the preceding claims.

16. A convertible piece of furniture, characterized in that the features determining the main use of the piece of furniture can be folded, by means of the mechanism of the piece of furniture, out of the reach of the user inside a wall and / or other structure, The piece of furniture comprises: an electrically controlled locking mechanism having at least one sensor and / or switch for identifying a main use position and an auxiliary use position; and one or more locking devices for opening / locking said operating positions, whereby the piece of furniture can be programmed and controlled by the method according to claim 1.

17. The piece of furniture according to claim 16, characterized in that, The piece of furniture is a bed (2), a table (3), a chair (4), a sofa (5), a screen or a combination of any of the foregoing.

Images