NTT Data has opened a hotel at which it plans to watch people sleep, as part of a plan to watch ten million people slumber so it can sell data about their snoozing habits.
News of this “innovation” can be found on the Japanese services outfit’s Japanese website, where an anouncement details plans to work with capsule hotel operator Nine Hours and Google-owned Fitbit.
Machine translation of the announcement suggests the hotel chain will use a sensor developed by NTT Labs that visualizes internal body rhythms by estimating core body temperature. Infrared cameras, sound-collecting microphones, and body movement sensors will also be present. Guests will also be offered use of a Fitbit device.
NTT Data will use info produced by the sensor to analyze guests’ sleep – if they opt in.
Those who do will be offered a sleep analysis reports that offers customised advice on how to create a sleep environment that matches their personal needs.
If guests opt in, NTT will also sell their sleep data. The announcement states that food, beverage, and consumer goods manufacturers are considered possible customers, as are pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers.
Personal info will be excised from the data.
NTT Data thinks this can be big business: the announcement states that the company wants to it create a ¥30 billion ($203 million) business by 2030, fuelled by sleep data and other personal info it can use to provide personalised healthcare services. The company envisions offering “pre-symptomatic treatment” to customers, and even online medical consultations.
The NTT-owned hotel will open in July 2024 at 1-9-36 Konan, Minato-ku, Shinagawa, Tokyo. The company hopes to deploy its tech in 30,000 hotel rooms, enabling it to record the sleep of ten million people by 2027.
Tokyo has many charms and your correspondent can heartily recommend a visit. I can also attest that capsule hotels can be quite fun for a night or two.
Feel free to let us know if a Tokyo capsule that monitors your sleep is your idea of a holiday in the comments. ®
Source: The register