Mark Harpin, a San Diego-based Google executive, visits the company’s Silicon Valley headquarters a dozen times a year. He always stays at the nearby Shashi Hotel, where he preprograms his guest room to feel more at home.

From the hotel’s app, he books the same third-floor room that gets just the right amount of morning sunlight. When he arrives, a goofy photo of his wife and seven-year old daughter making faces is displayed on the flat screen TV. Harpin presets the room temperature for a cool 65 degrees. He selects calming new age music to greet him.