InStay Smart TV
InStay is a smart hospitality ecosystem integrating IoT devices, Smart TV, and a remote-control system to enhance the guest experience and streamline property management. Designed for both tenants and owners, it offers intuitive control, energy efficiency, and secure device management within short-term rentals.
Guests face difficulty adjusting lighting and climate, finding essential information, and adapting to unfamiliar systems. Owners deal with wasted energy, device misuse, and limited control over property resources. InStay needed a cohesive, user-friendly solution that works seamlessly across devices while maintaining security and brand identity.
We designed a connected ecosystem combining Smart TV, IoT devices, and a dedicated remote, all integrated into a unified interface. The Smart TV provides a central, intuitive hub for tenants, while owners access advanced controls and monitoring via an app. The UI was validated through low-, mid-, and high-fidelity prototypes, with emphasis on reducing clicks, ensuring clarity, and preserving a sense of hospitality. The design uses a minimal aesthetic, clear iconography, and a soft color palette to convey trust, innovation, and ease of use.
UX/UI Design – IoT, Hospitality Tech
2024–2025
The InStay Smart TV UI turns the television into the guest’s central hub, unifying entertainment, property information, and smart‑home controls in a familiar environment. Guests can access streaming, local TV, Wi‑Fi details, tourist information, and house rules, and control lighting, climate, locks, and more—directly from the TV. The information architecture.
The ecosystem
The InStay App is the owner’s central hub for connected hospitality spaces: monitor in real time, control devices remotely, and tailor the Smart TV experience — all from a phone or tablet.
The InStay Remote is a dedicated, ergonomically designed controller that unifies access to all smart devices in a hospitality space. Built for guests, it keeps interactions simple and familiar while enabling advanced control: adjust lighting and temperature even when the TV is off, trigger contextual overlays without interrupting entertainment, and dock on a decorative charging base. A subtle five‑color finish lets properties match their interior style. Developed through low‑, mid‑, and high‑fidelity prototypes, its handheld form and button layout were validated through user testing, resulting in a minimal, elegant controller that encourages confident use of the property’s smart features.
The research
InStay Research – From Insights to Interaction
The design of InStay was grounded in a thorough research phase to ensure both guests and owners could interact with the system intuitively and efficiently.
Methods & Process:
- User Interviews: Collected qualitative insights from both tenants and property owners to identify real pain points—such as difficulty adjusting lighting/temperature and wasted energy due to devices left on.
- Information Architecture Testing: Conducted tree tests with 47 participants across 4 language versions, achieving an 87.25% success rate in validating feature hierarchy.
- Prototype Testing: Iterated through low-, mid-, and high-fidelity prototypes, observing user behavior to refine navigation, button placement, and visual hierarchy.
Usability Findings:
- Reduced clicks by consolidating key functions on the home screen.
- Added clear “Log Out” and “Standby” functions based on tester feedback.
- Confirmed ergonomic and layout preferences for the remote through hands-on trials.
Outcome:
Research ensured the final InStay ecosystem delivered high usability, strong emotional response, and a balance between functional control and a welcoming hospitality feel.
Project conceived and realized with Mert Güven, Luciano Lettieri Michele, Simona Invitti and Sabrina Maida at Politecnico di Milano.