Research & Design
Redesigning the Luxury Hotel Service Experience
Project Type: Group Project
Role(s) Performed: Interviewing users to understand their experiences, preparing service blueprint diagrams, participating in brainstorming sessions, refining the selected idea for desirability, feasibility and viability
Project Timeline/Duration: 16 August 2024 to 18 October 2024
The Challenge: In a team of 4, redesign the end-to-end guest experience of staying at a luxury hotel to improve guest satisfaction, bring about service innovation, and deliver positive business results
Tools: Figma, Draw.io, Mural
The Thinking Process
Discovery & Research
Blueprint & Synthesis
Co-create & Prototype
Test
& Iterate
Discovery & Research
Desk Research
Each team member conducted desk research on the luxury hotel service experience, recalling personal experiences and compiling information from printed and electronic marketing materials sent by hotels
We decided to organize the hotel stay into three main phases:
Pre-Hotel Stay
The guest experience starts before they set foot in the hotel. It starts when an individual identifies the need to go on a holiday and conducts research to compare various hotels and room options available. He selects from various customization options and makes payment for the room. Pre-arrival communications are key to ensuring that guest preferences are known and catered to before they set foot on the property. Transportation arrangements to the hotel are made and this is expected to be seamless
During Hotel Stay
This starts from when the guest arrives in the hotel premises. Arrival and check-in should be as smooth and welcoming as possible. The hotel stay includes amenities, activities and interactions such as: Dining, Concierge Service, Fitness and Wellness Facilities, & Housekeeping.
Post-Hotel Stay
This phase begins with the guest departing from the hotel room. A smooth, hassle-free checkout is preferred, with express options available. The hotel would also arrange for transportation to the airport. Guests appreciate when hotels seek feedback through surveys or reviews, showing that their opinions are valued. Positive experiences may lead them to recommend the hotel within their networks, which is highly valuable for the hotel’s reputation. Guests appreciate personalized follow-up communication, such as tailored thank you notes or exclusive offers for future stays.
User Interviews
From our desk research, we prepared an interview protocol with the target user profile and the questions we want to ask our users over a Zoom session.
The interview was centred upon open-ended questions which provided the team with opportunities to ask more specific prompts to follow up on their responses.
Here are Sample Questions.
The Interview Protocol file may be found below.
Each of us reviewed our interview transcripts. Here are some of the key points:
Blueprint & Synthesis
We grouped findings from our participants which share similar themes. These were then used to extract insights and guiding statements for us to design solutions to improve the service experience
Safety
Personalization
Convenience
Efficiency
Consistency
Safety
We grouped findings from our participants which share similar themes. These were then used to extract insights and guiding statements for us to design solutions to improve the service experience
"My sense of peacefulness starts when I alight from my car at the carpark."
"If traveling with family, it has to be as comfortable and safe as possible. So the more reputable the better, more assurance."
"If the surrounding areas are not too safe, then it would be a turn-off for me."
"Having a safe is important. Sometimes you want to keep some stuff."
Personalization
To deliver true personalization, we need to move beyond basic customization and create experiences that resonate with each guest on a personal level.
"Marriott actually will ask for preferences -- they ask for what kind of pillows (soft, medium, hard) we want, and if there is anything else you want to request for."
"If they were to ask how are you after the trip, how was the journey, have a conversation with you like a person."
"I once stayed at a hotel that let me choose the scent for my room before I arrived. It was such a small detail, but it made the room feel incredibly personal."
"I also love that the staff give off the impression that they genuinely are there to help you."
Convenience
Convenience is about removing any obstacles that might hinder the guest experience
"We don't want to wake up early just to travel an hour to get to our first location."
"Usually I will try to find a place which is convenient, nearby to transportation services."
"I also did not respond to give review as the benefits are not enticing."
"Many restaurants & variety of food choices within walking distance."
Efficiency
The need to optimize our operations and empower our staff to provide seamless and timely service
"Responsiveness and efficient service from the staff is the biggest deciding factor if I return or not."
"I don't like when I ask a question and they have to ask others to help them get the answer."
"I never have to request for service, the housekeeping should be prompt."
"I'll tell you everything you need to know beforehand so you can just check me in on the day of."
Consistency
The need to maintain predictable quality and upholding the brand promise
"If the lobby isn't nice then how can I know that the rooms are nice?"
"Smart TV is expected nowadays."
"I'll still look at google reviews for luxury hotels."
"The bathrooms look untouched, as if we were the first guests."
As-Is Service Blueprint
We studied existing hotel services to draw up an as-is service blueprint. This connects the customer’s experience with the frontstage and backstage employee processes. Also included are the technological enhancements and support processes executed by the rest of the organization and external partners.
Co-Create & Prototype
The team started our co-creation exercise in class where each of us quickly sketched out 8 crazy ideas for brainstorming. This is to start with a large number of ideas without introducing any doubts such as worrying about feasibility or execution.
Out of these 8 ideas per person, each person picked two ideas which they thought were the best and described these in more detail. Each person presented the ideas selected to the rest of the team to pitch their benefits and advantages.
The team used silent dot voting to select the top 4 ideas which showed promise to work on. Each person had two votes.
The top 4 ideas overall were:
RFID/NFC tag linked to a central database
Welcome kit/Starter kit as a personalized gift on check-in
No Human Interaction personal butler app
Just For You itinerary planning helper
The team split into 2 groups and each pair took 2 ideas to work on and tried and think through their feasibility and execution for their concept posters
Who is it for?
What problem does it solve?
What's the big idea?
How does it work? What are the key features and benefits?
What can we prototype and test?
How might we measure success?
Each pair then presented the concept posters to the rest of the team. We then used a round robin method where each person provided one point on how the idea might fail and passed the current idea to the next person so that we had 4 different perspectives on how it might fail.
Here are our completed concept posters:
RFID/NFC tag linked to a central database
Welcome kit/Starter kit as a personalized gift on check-in
No Human Interaction personal butler app
Just For You itinerary planning helper
Refined poster for our selected concept
After reviewing the 4 concept posters, we picked the No Human Interaction personal butler app via a quick poll. One of the reasons is that this idea has the potential to incorporate the best elements of the other three ideas. For example, it has a centralized backend to orchestrate the customer experience similar to the RFID/NFC tag, the personalized experience of the starter kit, and the planning functionality of the itinerary helper.
Desirability, Feasibility, Viability
We used the Desirability, Feasibility, Viability framework to refine our idea and think about its implementation and execution
Desirability
We want to make sure that our solution prioritizes genuine needs instead of good-to-haves, and that it solves the right user pain points.
Some of our interviewees mentioned that it would save time if they did not have to converse with the staff and it would be more accurate if they used technology. They also said it would be easier if information was made transparent and they could view status updates on their enquiries at any time. I illustrated and summarized this benefit in a diagram:
Previously, the guest would have to spend time explaining to the operator and the department staff what their situation was and what they needed. The staff would then have to access internal hotel systems via their workstation and key in this information, and this information is not directly available or visible to the guest. Using our in-room tablet solution, guests can send their requests directly to the hotel and get instantaneous updates, saving them time and effort.
Feasibility
We want to ensure that our solution is technically possible and we are leveraging technology and systems which we already have.
Based on the needs of our solution, I suggested implementing a service-oriented architecture to integrate existing hotel systems so that they can exchange data and collate information into a presentation layer manifested as the personal butler tablet app. The system can send requests from the user to multiple hotel systems, and receive information and alerts from multiple hotel systems and present it to the user. This facilitates composite services which span across multiple departments in one interface.
Service oriented architecture makes it feasible to work with existing hotel systems
Checkout is a process which spans multiple departments:
“I think I left behind an item. Did the manager receive any information from housekeeping on this?” (Guest Services and Housekeeping)
“Can I request for additional accessibility assistance or cargo storage for my transport to the airport?” (Guest Services and Front Desk)
“Can I reactivate my card to extend my stay for another night?” (Billing and Front Desk)
I suggested a modular design, where each module consists of a group of related functionalities such as in-room dining, housekeeping, laundry, concierge or checkout. There are also administrative modules for staff. The functional modules available for access depend on who is logged on to the system. For example:
Guests
VIPs
Staff
Managers
Repackaging functionalities from different departments into modules makes it possible for managers to keep track of everything from one interface even when the process involves different departments. Previously, managers had to monitor many WhatsApp chats to have an idea of what is going on.
Viability
Does this make sense with the budget we have? Are we contributing to our ROI in a sustainable way? One of the key contributions to the ROI of this project is fewer calls to the front desk, leading to less time needed for operators to answer phone calls and attend to guest enquiries.
4
minutes per call
15
calls per person per hour
14
Staff
8
hour shifts
$14
per hour
$8,584,800
savings per year
for a chain of 10 hotels
if we reduce calls by 50% (target)
This calculation was verified by ChatGPT’s reasoning model o1
Potential Increased Revenue:
According to Altexsoft (2023), Burger (2024) and GonnaOrder (2024), personalization can increase hotel revenue by up to 15% as guests are willing to pay more for tailored experiences
Low Fidelity Prototype
We designed an initial prototype with just the sufficient functionality for us to begin testing. The first iteration consisted of default screens for the main menu, in-room dining, planner, and checkout features. We prioritized designing the experience for guests and not staff or managers because we wanted to focus on features which are more directly applicable to the guest experience.
Test & Iterate
The team prepared 15 questions to evaluate how well our solution improves the service experience at the hotel. For example:
Do you feel that these categories serve the functionality of this app? Are they relevant to the app’s purpose? Why do you think so?
Show me how you will get someone to repair the sink or air con. Please think aloud as you do this.
Are there any tasks or concerns which you think only a human operator would be able to help with or resolve?
In this interview, we evaluate how our solution meets the expectations of hotel guests. In order for the personal butler tablet to deliver on its value proposition, it has to be intuitive, usable and useful. We tested its navigability, how easy it is to understand, and how likely they will use it, as well as potential barriers to adoption.
Here is a selection of some of the points gathered from the interview:
We compiled all our interview findings and decided to work on the ideas which had high impact but needed low effort needed to execute:
More detailing was done once we were confident of the task flows and screen flows.
Home
“A persistent navigation bar or "Home" button would improve intuitiveness and accessibility.” - C02
“The ‘Your Plan’ category is cool but i prefer it to appear as a widget without the need to always click into it to see what i have upcoming” - C01
“I will also need to know what i can do if i cannot find the services i need in the app” - C01
In-Room Dining
"Maybe adding a back arrow would make things clearer" -C03
“In-Room Dining: Add an ‘edit’ button for meal customization (eg no chilli), enhancing the dining experience.” -C02
“A persistent navigation bar or ‘Home’ button would improve intuitiveness and accessibility.” - C02
Your Plans
“Add an ‘edit’ or ‘reschedule’ button to improve the functionality of the ‘Your Plans’ page.” - C02
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Home and back buttons are added here for easier navigation as requested by users
Check Out
“Check Out: Final confirmation screen could prevent accidental clicks on ‘Pay Bill.’” -C02
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Home and back buttons are added here for easier navigation as requested by users.
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We provided a button to contact hotel staff as we identified that users might need help with their bill and need assistance
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Added additional detailing such as a dialog and fields to enter payment information
Roadmap for Future Releases
Release 1: Guest Feedback/Customization. Focus on guest features
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Guest-specific needs
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Offering personalized services
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Features bases on guest preferences
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Language translator
Release 2: Hotel Operational Needs. Focus on staff management and administrative features
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Staff efficiency
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Service delivery to optimize internal processes for better guest interaction
Release 3: General Feedback/Concerns. Improve based on feedback
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Quality of life improvements
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Improving overall guest satisfaction and experience
Individual Project
The task was to design a future state journey map for the hotel guest experience. It reflects the end-to-end service journey, which includes all four innovative service concepts previously conceptualized as a team. Which were:
RFID/NFC tag linked to a central database
Welcome kit/Starter kit as a personalized gift on check-in
No Human Interaction personal butler app
Just for You itinerary planning helper
We could also choose to include other service concepts that were abandoned by the group but feel that they can fit into the end-to-end user journey. For this project I also included my idea of large self-service Studio tablets for guests to pick rooms on their own.
The service-oriented architecture developed for the team’s personal butler app provided the infrastructure for me to build upon and extend its functionality using the other three service concepts. I had to take into account how technology can improve all aspects of the guest experience. The redesigned experience starts from researching and booking hotels, to arriving at the hotel and checking in, exploring local attractions, and it ends with checking out and recommending the hotel to others.
I imagined that the guest’s mobile app would be required as a convenient physical token which is with them all the time and provides them with NFC access to all hotel facilities and touchpoints.
We need to provide the guest with sufficient utility to entice them to install the app. We also need time to prepare their personalized welcome kit before they arrive. Therefore, in our booking confirmation email, we need to include a link to our app store page and encourage them to download it before the deadline to enjoy various discounts on hotel facilities and services.
To ensure that everyone who is staying in the room, not just the person who booked the room, downloads the app, we provide the convenience of using the mobile app as an NFC keycard.
We want to ensure interoperability with 3rd party drivers without the hassle of creating and managing accounts for them or designing and maintaining a separate interface for them to learn and use. Therefore, all communication between the hotel and 3rd party drivers is done via WhatsApp chatbot.
Service Innovations
The guest generates a QR code using their mobile app. The driver will snap a photo of this QR code and send it to the hotel chatbot to verify that the guest has arrived for the trip.
Trip tracking is done via the Google Play location sharing feature. The driver logs the trip to the chatbot to confirm that the trip is taking place. The guest is encouraged to enable location services during the trip for safety purposes.
Guests are empowered to choose their own rooms from a large self-service Studio tablet, while staff make suggestions or recommendations and handle admin processing. Upon arrival at the room, the bellman will demonstrate to guests how to use the personal butler tablet and its itinerary planning feature.
With the mobile app already set up before the guest arrives, all they need to do is sync the app to the personal butler tablet to set it up. Guests can book tickets to local attractions via the itinerary planning feature.
Transport arrangements are done via the same interface. Housekeeping and in-room dining are arranged using the personal butler tablet. Confirming room checkout, arranging for porter services, customizing transportation options and payment are all done via one interface on the tablet
Bringing the Customer Journey to Life
I used the Future State Journey Map to tell the story of the future front stage experience using the scenario of a family of 5 from Kuala Lumpur who is looking for a family-friendly holiday retreat in Singapore:
Scenario: Jane wants to organize a family trip with her brother, sister in law, their son, and her elderly mother. It has been a while since the last family trip and many have mentioned that they need a vacation to take a break from the stresses and responsibilities of life. Everyone has different interests and she wants to accommodate the needs of everyone. Singapore seems like a family-friendly destination and there are many new attractions since the last visit more than a decade ago. Her mother has difficulty walking and needs wheelchair mobility assistance.
I added a section on Context and Expectations to immerse the reader in each step of the scenario as the family goes about their trip and their stay in the luxury hotel. This makes each step in the task flow more relatable to the reader and enables them to empathize with the family and the situations they face as they go about their journey.
Task flow (in blue) vs Context and Expectations (in yellow)
Future State Journey Map
The revised service concepts are presented and brought to life as scenarios and actions the hotel guests take in my Future State Journey Map.
The Future State Journey Map will serve as a guiding north star to coordinate effort among multiple teams and stakeholders as they work together to implement our recommended solutions and turn our vision into reality.
