Marriott Website
Overview
With 30 active brands and more than 8,000 properties across 139 countries, Marriott continues to grow in its reputation as one of the first companies people think of for where they might stay for their next trip.*
In the project, stakeholders presented the business needs to me and three other UX team members to resolve through user research insights.
Role
I was one of the UX Researchers on the team. The three other UX team members and I all played a role in conducting the necessary research and reporting for the project, but I particularly owned the communication, project timeline, and digital asset creation needs for the team.
The Challenge
Our team needed to uncover the best recommendations to bring back to the stakeholder to address Marriott’s key business goals on their website:
Increase loyalty program enrollment
Increase business traveler reservations
Improve the quality of leisure traveler booking experiences.
Disclaimer: I do not work for Marriott. This project was self-directed alongside other UX Designers through a prompt given by Kent State. None of the information shared here is proprietary or confidential.
Responsibilities
User Research
Usability Testing
Project Timeline Management
Team Communication and Collaboration
Visual Design
Stakeholder Walkthrough and Presentation
Tools
Miro
Slack
Loom
Figma & FigJam
Process
Processes always need to be adaptive to the situation. Since everything in the working world is always changing, there is no perfect mold of what to do in every scenario.
Although I’m always ready to quickly take things in another direction, I try to follow my own process of design whenever I need to implement my own structure for taking action on a project. This helps me work independently yet always have something prepared for the team. Below communicates how I generally like to frame my process.
Prioritize & Empathize
Define
Ideate & Iterate
Prototype & Test
Deliver & Measure
Phase 1: Prioritize and Empathize
Project Timeline
At the start of the project, it was very important to all parties involved that we maintain clarity in communication with one another. I create a Gantt chart for the team as a visual aid to help everyone stay on track and know what to expect for the duration of our research.
User Research
Method
The user research sessions were conducted in a mixture of settings, some in-person and others remote. The sessions lasted between 10-20 minutes each, during which we provided a standard set of questions that stemmed from the key business goals.
On certain occasions, we also asked to observe the user demonstrating their experience with booking resources from over their shoulder (if in-person) or by screen share (if remote).
Participants
Eight interview participants were selected based on their ability to offer diverse perspectives. Each participant represented either a different age group, different work industry, or different cultural background.
Questions
The same set of open-ended questions was provided to the participants, with follow-up questions supplied based on their responses to better understand their experiences with Marriott’s website. Most of the questions fell under one of three major question categories:
Why (and why don’t) people sign up for loyalty programs?
What do business travelers look for, want, and need when evaluating properties and choosing a room to book, and why?
What do leisure travelers look for, want, and need when evaluating properties and choosing a room to book, and why?
Phase 2: Define
Affinity Diagramming
The research team extracted discrete data points from the sessions by rotating relevant participant responses in the form of singular, bulleted statements and logging them into one detailed spreadsheet of all participant responses for reference.
Once all sessions were completed and logged, the team performed a brainstorming method called affinity diagramming to collate and identify the major themes of the data.
Findings and Insights
The candidates repeatedly showed interest in a rewards program under the listed conditions below:
Saving more money than if they went through an Airbnb or other means - five mentions
Incentives and perks of monetary value (such as complimentary breakfast, rooms, and discounts) - six mentions
A quick, simple, and straightforward sign-up process. - seven mentions
The candidates repeatedly valued the following when booking a business trip:
The amenities provided for the stay - ten mentions
Hotel rooms are clean and up to date - ten mentions
A means to book completely online - eleven mentions
The candidates repeatedly valued the following when booking a leisure trip:
Proximity to important locations - twelve mentions
Amenities (especially kitchen) - sixteen mentions
Clean and up-to-date rooms - eighteen mentions
Solution Metrics
Having clearly understood, empathized with, collected, and sorted the input from the users, our team developed the following recommendations to the stakeholders as the necessary design tenets for the site’s updates.
Promotion of loyalty programs that communicate savings, perks, and simplicity
Booking option results that feature location information for business travelers
Booking options feature clean, up-to-date room images and feature kitchen photos for leisure travelers
Personal Challenge
It was at this point in the process that my school’s requirements were satisfied, and the project came to an end for the team. However, I wanted to go above and beyond by giving myself a personal challenge to take these insights beyond the research phase and create designs. All work beyond this point, I did on my own time.
I began to map out some experiences consistent with the research insights, sketched out the layouts for the displays, and turned them into polished designs for multiple device breakpoints. I also sought to match the style guide of the live site as much as possible, since companies need to uphold consistent branding standards.
Phase 3: Ideate
Journey Map
To generate some workflow options compatible with the user needs, a journey map was made to outline the steps in their process as well as come up with way to enhance their experience with Marriott website.
Sketch and Iterate
Once the customer experience was mapped out, it was time to start sketching some frames. The intent of this process is to be able to generate ideas quickly and not get too attached to any one design so that all possible solutions can be explored. Below showcases some of the key solutions that came from the sessions.
Working with Developers
I have been fortunate to be able to attain the professional opportunity of working with various departments in tech. One of the biggest relationships to understand as a UX designer is the one you share with your dev team.
You want to be careful not to redesign in a way that puts too much unnecessary strain on them on the back end. These sketches, therefore, try to keep many of the existing elements of the site wherever appropriate.
User Flow
With the key destination page layouts created, I created a user flow to establish how the pages would relate to one another.
Moving Forward
High-Fidelity Mockups
Currently, I am continuing to work on creating these files. I am always looking for new work and challenges to put my skills to work. Stay tuned to see these designs get included in the case study very soon! Even better, if you would like to see my work in progress, feel free to reach out to me. I’m always happy to share anything I can.
Outcomes
This project was challenging. We had to deal with hiccups and changes in plans according to stakeholder needs, but it was still a very positive experience overall due to having an amazing team that communicated well and took personal ownership of the process. Here are some of the things I gained from having worked on this project.
Being an ambitious worker yet having tempered expectations made all the difference in this project. The ups and downs of working with people different from me in profession, experience, and personality forced me to focus my energy on putting out my best work while, at the same time, being adaptable to when things go differently than planned.
Users are most helpful when they feel safe. I always thought of myself as a kind, warm person. However, people’s comfort levels often change instantly in professional interview settings, regardless of their personality. I learned quickly that it was objectively important that I learn how to be effective in drawing out the best, most honest responses from users I interviewed.
Never stop learning. Even though the project took us only as far as the research phase, I knew that there was so much more that could be explored in building on the insights gained from the user feedback. That is why I made it a personal challenge to take the insights and transform them into visual assets.
References
* Marriott International. (n.d.). Marriott International, inc.. About Marriott. Retrieved October 5, 2022, from https://www.marriott.com/marriott/aboutmarriott.mi