Traveler Lists
The Problem
Marriott needs to create a unique environment for its reward members unlike any other hospitality company. They want to be able to stand out and create a social networking space to enhance their members travel experience while allowing them to interact with other members. They realize that a lot of their members look at Marriott and its employees for advice on travel.
The Solution
With Marriott’s need in mind, we aimed to create a memorable all-encompassing environment. In this environment members will be able to meet travelers similar to themselves, get personalized places for them to go, and create and discover lists of activities and locations. Members would be able to save their own attractions and create lists of places, activities, and restaurants they would want to see near their Marriott location. In one location, they would also be able to view other people’s lists and see reviews. It would be an interactive and collaborative environment that would aid a traveler during their journey.
My Role
UI/UX Designer
Tools
Sketch (Wireframes,Visual Design & Prototyping), Jira (Creating user stories, planning sprints)
Persona
The users of this new environment would be Marriott’s reward members. They are primarily travelers. They travel both for work and pleasure and are always looking for new places to eat, visit, and experience. They love connecting with other like-minded people and learning about their recommendations.
Meet Aanya, she’s a Design Consultant. As a consultant she travels a lot for work. Whenever she travels she ensures she stays at the Marriott or its other brands. After work she and her coworkers love to try out different restaurants in the area. Many of her coworkers are also Marriott reward members! During her holidays, she loves to go on vacations and stay at different Marriott’s around the country and even the world! She takes recommendations and advice from her coworkers and other travelers online, on places to visit and see.
Storyboarding
Keeping Aanya in mind, we were able to list out the features we felt would enhance her travel experience. We created a To-Be Journey Map of her travel experience and then were able to pinpoint the main features to include within the app.
Sitemap
After narrowing down the essential features, we created a sitemap to organize the navigation of the experience.
Wireframes / Mockups
Wireframes were then created. After several iterations based on the client’s needs and user testing, we were able to come with these mockups in the end.
User Acceptance Testing
We used high fidelity wireframes to test out with potential users. We had various types of users test out our new experience. Some users were Marriott reward members and frequent travelers and explorers who grasped the experience pretty quickly and enjoyed it. Some were Marriott reward members who weren’t open to the idea of getting advice from other people. Many weren’t even Marriott members, but surprisingly loved the idea of being able to view other people’s lists of recommendations, and wanted to become members so that they could use the app!
What We Learned
We learned that users who were accustomed to using other social media sites, felt comfortable navigating through our app.
Many people found certain icons and actions to be very confusing.
People really appreciated connecting with a familiar app like Facebook first, and then entering our new experience. The familiarization, thrilled the users and allowed them to connect with many of their friends.
Features We Changed
After the UAT we had an assessment of what needed to be changed.
