Project Details
My role: UX design, visual design
Methods used: persona development, traveler interviews, competitive analysis, brainstorming, user flow diagramming, copywriting, sketching, mockups, focus group
Tools used: pen and paper, Lucidchart, Adobe XD
Project duration: 1 week
Defining Potential
Labor and labor-related costs make up the most significant portion of operating expenses in the hotel industry. In 2019, these accounted for 50% of total operating expenses, up from 43% in 2015. Seeing this figure drop by even a few percentage points would have significant impact for any hotelier.
According to a 2016 report, guest placing requests via digital channels (text message, email, social media, etc.) expected replies from staff within 12-27 minutes. There’s strong potential an automated, staff-free service approach could exceed these expectations.
While establishing a new invisible service hotel, it would be critical to monitor these two metrics, along with overall customer satisfaction.
Suspected Skeptics
The concept of an invisible service hotel would be a harder sell for certain types of travelers than others. In particular, I suspected frequent travelers with high expectations would be leery of this model. Finding a solution that could convince a skeptic to try a staff-less hotel would be a win.
With only one week to create a solution for this challenge, I needed to quickly find out what’s important to these types of travelers. I targeted two friends/acquaintances to interview whose personal details served as make-shift personas for the sake of this exercise.
Justin Morris*
Hotel nights/year: ~100
Primary travel: business (90%)
Destinations: worldwide
Price point: mid-high range properties ($150 - $300 USD / night)
Age: 48
Lisa Burns*
Hotel nights/year: ~35
Primary travel: business (40%) leisure (60%)
Destinations: worldwide
Price point: budget-luxury properties ($90 - $500 USD / night)
Age: 60
*Names revised for privacy
In order to not bias the responses of my interviewees, I initially concealed that this research was for an invisible service hotel. I presented both participants with a very open-ended question to see how they would respond: “What’s most important to you in a hotel stay?” Two things Justin said stood out to me: personalized experience and above and beyond service.
Concierge: “Mr. Morris, I was just calling to see if your room is ok? I’ve sent up a bottle of wine to say thank you for staying with us again.” Providing thoughtful and personalized gestures makes a huge difference for travelers like Justin who spend a significant amount of time on the road.
I moved on to asking my interviewees questions about their experiences with and opinions of invisible service hotels and later looked into the service offerings of several such properties. As my research concluded, I reflected on key insights I had uncovered:
Hesitation and skepticism around the concept exists
Invisible-service hotels of today predominantly rely on self-service offerings
While many meet the basic needs of travelers, few (if any) exceed expectations, especially in the luxury market
Going beyond the expected makes for memorable service experiences
(Re)Defining the Challenge
With these insights in mind, I created a guiding philosophy to help direct my thinking going forward:
Proactive Staff Service > Guest Self-Service
Exceeding expectations > Meeting expectations
This helped focus my efforts towards a new, more specific goal: create a proactive service experience that exceeds hotel guest’s expectations.
Sourcing Inspiration, Forming a Hypothesis
I began thinking of examples of proactive digital services that have raised my personal expectations. It was easy to think of a few examples:
Siri: “Hey, we noticed you’re out and about and just got back in your car. Want directions home?”
Eno (from Capital One): “We noticed you made two identical purchases yesterday. Was this a mistake?”
Google Assistant: “Looks like it might rain today. Want a full weather report?”
Virtual assistants like Siri and Eno proactively present relevant information at key moments in a user’s journey.
These notifications are timely and (usually) relevant. But, moreover, they initiate a conversation between the system and user when they assume help might be needed.
Superior concierge-guest relationships work in a similar, conversation-based way. This made me wonder, would a proactively programmed chatbot be a good solution for an invisible service hotel?
Designing the Experience
With the one-week timeline going fast, my design process began by quickly researching best practices for creating chatbots and assessing their visual language.
The challenge specified the design solution should take the form of an iOS app. After sketching layouts for the app’s core screens, I focused most of my time on designing the logic behind the virtual assistant.
I create a list of five “triggers” that would kick the chatbot into action. I fleshed out what it would say for each trigger and what input options would be presented to the user for reply.
I created a series of conversations the chatbot would initiate using specific time and status triggers.
Invisible Service Made “Visible”
Using these resources as a roadmap, I quickly moved to create high-fidelity app mockups of several key screens.
My Stays and Concierge
The My Stays screen presents high-level details of each stay past, present, and future. Selecting one of these cards would provide more information about that particular stay.
The main gateway to the customer service experience is through the Concierge screen. Here, users access conversation threads that correspond with each stay.
Chatbot Triggers
The chatbot intuitively initiates conversation using a series of programmed triggers. These provide services such as check-ins and restaurant suggestions. In addition, thoughtful gestures such as offering room upgrades and gifts from neighboring businesses are intended to surprise and exceed expectations.
Guest Requests
While the chatbot is designed to anticipate most needs, it can also accommodate requests at any time. When users press the bell icon, they’re presented with a menu of commonly requested items. After a request has been made, the system provides an expected delivery update.
Focus Group Feedback
To gather some quick feedback on this design solution, I presented my app concept to a small focus-group to hear their thoughts. I was encouraged that most participants were intrigued by the idea and interested in trying a prototype. Two primary concerns were also raised.
Some thought the system’s notifications might feel excessive and wondered if there would be a way to limit the volume.
Without the presence of an onsite staff, participants expressed concerns regarding personal safety and wondered if the app could provide features to ensure safety.
Concluding Thoughts
Given this was only a week-long challenge, I didn’t have the opportunity to do everything I’d hoped. With more time, I would have designed other core screens/features, addressed issues from the focus group, and researched the development process of building chatbots.
There’s certainly potential for chatbots to revolutionize the hotel staff-guest experience with the right design strategy in place. I’d love to see this idea materialize, measurably reducing labor costs and improving request response time while providing travelers with access to thoughtful, high-end hotel experiences.