Course: Designing Human-Centered Software
Goal: Create a scalable mobile application for the hotel industry to modernize the customer experience.
My group and I found prominent leaders in the mobile space for all service-based industries but saw that the hotel industry lacked a definitive leader and standard set of features for both customers and staff alike (at the time in early 2015, ha!).
Our work first started with defining the range of features to include in our app that would both support and improve the experience of customers and staff members at any hotel – from local boutiques to big chains. We created personas and user scenarios to summarize our findings.
After a few rounds of talking with nearby hotels, varying from local boutiques ones to chains like The Wyndham, we also gained valuable sights into the “backend” processes of a hotel’s management and staff. With the new perspective, we wireframed/prototyped a management-side interface to view analytics, schedules, and manage incoming requests from customers. The embedded Powerpoint wireframe below mimics the hotspot functionality that we commonly see today.
Ultimately, we created a strong proof of concept that worked across multiple platforms (iOS, Android, Web) that brought a front desk’s services and functionality to your mobile device. It allowed users to save time checking in and out to expedite their experience and it gave customers a way to quickly fill out requests without any call waiting times and less miscommunication.
Lessons Learned:
- The most reliable feedback comes from out in the field talking to all levels of hierarchy among users.