June Checks inn...

Going into this summer I assumed I would do one project. You know… like a normal person.

Then after thinking about it slightly too much (which historically has never caused any problems for me whatsoever), I somehow decided to do two.

Considering I barely survived doing one project last summer, this may not be the world’s strongest strategic decision. But here we are.

The first project, June & The Juniors, is a continuation of the research I did last summer around AI and consulting. Last summer started with me sending handwritten letters to executives across Norway trying to understand how AI might change management consulting. Somehow that turned into 20+ interviews with executives from companies like Orkla, Storebrand, and Telia, before eventually presenting the findings to firms including McKinsey & Company and Boston Consulting Group.

One thing stayed with me afterward: If technology keeps making execution easier, faster, cheaper, and more automated… then understanding people probably becomes even more valuable.

Because if AI can increasingly: build presentations, write code, automate analysis,optimize operations and make companies more efficient …then what actually creates differentiation?

I think part of the answer is customer experience.

Not in the fake “customer-centricity” way every company suddenly adds somewhere around slide 47 of their strategy deck.

I mean genuinely understanding:

• how people move through experiences

• what creates friction

• what creates emotion

• what people remember

• and why certain companies feel completely different from others even when they technically offer almost the exact same thing

That became the starting point for my second project:

June checks inn:)

This summer I want to travel across Europe studying hotels that create memorable customer experiences.

And yes, I fully understand how insane it sounds to voluntarily spend my summer analyzing hotel lobby layouts and breakfast logistics.

But hotels are honestly one of the most interesting places to study customer experience because they are basically giant systems of touchpoints.

The booking process.The arrival.The smell when you walk in.The lighting.The breakfast flow.The room layout.The check-out interaction.

You can physically feel the difference between a well-designed and poorly-designed customer journey within minutes.

And what fascinates me most is that the best ideas are often surprisingly small.

Sometimes it is:

• a receptionist handling one interaction exceptionally well

• a tiny room detail that removes stress

• a welcome ritual people remember for months

• something guests photograph without even realizing why

• an experience improvement that costs €5 but completely changes perception

I think companies massively underestimate how much tiny details shape how people feel about a brand.

You can spend millions redesigning a space and still make it feel forgettable.Or you can improve one small interaction and suddenly people describe the entire company differently.

That imbalance is incredibly interesting to me.

Because I honestly think the companies that stand out going forward will not necessarily be the ones with the best technology.

They will be the ones that understand people the best.

That is also why I wanted this project to happen physically instead of just researching customer journeys online.

I want to observe things in real life:

• where people naturally stop

• what creates confusion

• what creates calm

• why some spaces feel stressful while others feel effortless

• which environments make people stay longer than intended

So over the next months I will probably spend a completely unreasonable amount of time analyzing hotel signage systems, lobby behavior, breakfast setups, lighting, check-in interactions, room layouts, and weirdly specific details most people walk past without thinking twice about.

Which honestly sounds slightly concerning when written out like this.

But I also think this may become one of the most useful things to learn for the future:

Understanding how businesses design experiences around people, not just processes.