The Problem
Understanding the User & Friction Free Booking
Project Overview
Addressing usability begins by gaining a better understanding of Marriott patrons and travelers who need overnight accommodations.
- Determine the best IA organizational scheme for Marriott.com based on information collected from in person interviews, usability studies and best practices.
- Inform the development of UI content and design solutions that support the more marketing based problems.
- Increase reservations for their Luxury and Lifestyle Collection hotel categories &
- Gain 10,000 incremental members of the Marriott Rewards loyalty program in the first quarter after the redesign
- Increase by 5% the number of people choosing a hotel and flight package (vs. just booking their hotel alone)
My Role: UX Researcher
Methods
Contextual Interviews & Task Scenarios,
Metux
Peak end rule
Skills
Generative Research
User Research
Project Planning
In person Interviewing
Information architecture analysis
Brief writing
Deliverables
User Research Project Plan
Marriott identified five business goals
Marriott digital experiences are primarily serving a user who is searching for a room. To inform the wider redesign of interfaces for web and mobile we have identified the following goals.
- Increase hotel bookings via digital properties by 10%
- Increase reservations for their Luxury and Lifestyle Collection hotel categories
- Gain 10,000 incremental members of the Marriott Rewards loyalty program in the first quarter after the redesign
- Decrease by 20% the number of people starting and then abandoning a Reservation.
- Increase by 5% the number of people choosing a hotel and flight package (vs. just booking their hotel alone)
Solution
The primary task involved in e-commerce of this scale is finding by browsing or searching. Our initial usability testing demonstrated that users are struggling with search results and the selecting and booking of accommodations with Marriott.com and the Marriott App. What changes should be made to information architecture and User interface design to improve the user experience for both browsing and searching for accommodations and reviews.
Research Goals
Identify the negative (marked by hardship, pain or anxiety) and positive defining moments Marriott target users have, when preparing for and engaging in travel and overnight hotel stays.
Defining Moments Methodology
Fundamental principle of analysis
- The best or worst moment, known as the “peak”
- And the ending
Based on a phenomenon psychologists have identified as the “peak-end rule”. When people assess an experience, they tend to forget or ignore its length—a phenomenon called “duration neglect.” Instead, they seem to rate the experience based on two key moments
Some moments are vastly more meaningful than others
- Moments of Elevation
- Moments Of Insight
- Moments Of Connection
Peak positive moments are often associated with
- Identify opportunities to boost patron sensory appeal; turning up the volume on reality, making things look better, taste better, sound better or feel better than they usually do.
- Identify opportunities to raise the stakes; to add an element of productive pressure such as a competition, a game, a performance, a deadline, or a public commitment.
- Identify opportunities to break the script; “to violate (in a positive way) Marriott patreon expectations.
Strategies for creating and or supporting these moments include