Product design question

Design a vending machine for a hotel.

Practice this question out loud. An AI interviewer asks it, follows up like a real interviewer would, and scores your answer. Type or speak.

What this question tests

Whether the candidate can ground a generic design prompt in the specific context and constraints of a hotel setting.

Define the user: hotel guests, split into business travelers needing quick essentials and leisure travelers wanting snacks or local items late at night.
Name pain points: needing basic items (chargers, toiletries, medicine) outside front-desk hours, and limited or overpriced minibar selection today.
Prioritize contactless, fast purchase: tap-to-pay or room-key-linked checkout, since guests want speed over browsing.
Propose a curated, rotating selection based on guest profile and local context, such as local snacks or business essentials, rather than a generic snack machine.
Define success as purchase frequency per occupied room-night and guest satisfaction with item availability.

Grounds the design in hotel-specific context, late-night need and front-desk unavailability, not a generic vending machine brief.
Proposes room-key-linked checkout as a concrete speed improvement matching how hotel guests already move through the property.
Ties the item selection to guest segment and local context rather than a fixed generic snack assortment.

Designing a generic office vending machine without adapting to hotel guest behavior and timing.
Ignoring payment friction, which matters more for a one-off purchase than for a habitual one.

How would you decide what items to stock differently across hotel types (business versus resort)?
What would you measure to know the machine is worth the space it occupies?