An audit that recommends equipment sold by the auditor raises a legitimate question, and we prefer to ask it ourselves.

Why it matters

A hotel director often puts it this way: you are both judge and party. On the facts, they are right. IO8 audits venues, and IO8 sells equipment: a set of devices selected and tested at the Living Lab, under the IO8 brand or under the hotel's own brand, as well as brands we represent.

We are not trying to make this link disappear. We are trying to make it visible, so that the hotel can judge each recommendation on its merits.

What is established

Here, "established" refers to what we commit to doing, in writing, in every audit.

The conflict of interest is declared from the outset. We test equipment at the Living Lab, we choose what works best, and we become representatives of the brands selected. The report states it in full: each brand represented by IO8 is flagged as such.

The need comes before the brand. Each recommendation is first described by its function: darkness, air, sleep, strength, recovery, measurement. It rests on a measurement taken in the venue, not on a catalogue.

Prices are published. The audit costs 3,000 € excl. VAT per venue, the Longevity Mission 20,000 € excl. VAT. The IO8 stack is in the catalogue at 750 € per device, with discounts from 10 units. The hotel knows our prices before reading us.

Equipment is never compulsory. The report belongs to the hotel. It can be used without IO8. The hotel buys wherever it wants, or buys nothing.

The audit has its own price. It is not deducted from an equipment purchase, and it is not given away to sell something else. We do not cut its price so that it serves as bait: a free audit would be precisely an audit under influence.

What is emerging

The multi-brand comparison. For each function, the report compares several options on criteria published in advance: accuracy, real use, cost, footprint, service. The brand represented by IO8 appears in it with its limits. The method is set; its first application to a real venue is still to come.

The IO8 own brand. We are developing devices under our brand, which can be offered under the hotel's brand. This work is under way, with a timetable still to be defined. As long as a device has not been tested at the Living Lab, it appears in no report.

Perception. In our simulated interviews, transparency and the comparison were reassuring, without dispelling all suspicion. We record this as it is. Only the first real audits will tell whether the method is enough.

What is unsupported

We do not claim to be neutral. A player that sells equipment is not. We say that we are transparent, which can be verified.

We do not say that our equipment is the best for every venue. It is the equipment we have tested and selected. A hotel may have good reasons to choose another, and the report helps it do so.

We do not invoke an external review to cover ourselves. We have made a different choice: to publish our criteria, our prices and our links, and to let the hotel judge.

What a hotel can do

Read the report starting with the function. Before looking at a brand, check that the need is demonstrated by a measurement of the venue: a CO2 level at night, a noise level, stray light at pillow level.

Compare our prices with the market. They are public. The 50 € per night supplement we propose for a device matches the rates already charged by large hotels for this type of equipment. The hotel can do the same calculation with another supplier.

Apply the actions that need no equipment. Some recommendations require no purchase from us: blackout, seals, settings, organisation of housekeeping, vocabulary. They are often enough to bring the room closer to the target values.

Ask us why. Each recommendation must be justifiable by a measurement and by a criterion of the comparison. If it is not, it has no place in the report.

Cost of this vigilance: none. Target gain: an equipment decision made on facts, with or without IO8.

What the Living Lab measures

Measurement planned. The Living Lab, near Lisbon, is being equipped in waves; part of the equipment is being delivered.

This is where the tests that underpin our choices take place: real use, maintenance, reliability, lending procedure between two users. The test sheets by function will be published here, dated, with the limits observed, including for the brands we represent.

Sources

• IO8, Longevity audit for venues page, Method and independence section: declared interests, multi-brand comparison, report owned by the venue. io8.pt/venues
• Four Seasons Los Angeles, in-room wellness menu, published rates per device. fourseasons.com

The longevity audit for venues  ·  The Research Journal

IO8 Living Lab, near Lisbon. Measured, never promised.

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