HOTEL TONIGHT
2015 · iOS, Web · Balsamiq, Photoshop, InVision
The Project
Web App to allow hotel revenue managers to plan, forecast and optimize their inventory.My Role
As the design lead for HTx, the platform that allows hotels to manage inventory on Hotel Tonight, I redesigned the desktop app and created a mobile app. I established regular on-site user studies with our partners to make sure that all design solutions were in line with their business needs. Being the only designer on the project, I collaborated with the product manager, engineering team, and one of our company’s founders.Challenge
While the consumer-facing Hotel Tonight app followed high design standards, HTx had not been prioritized for some time. It was hard to use, the UX was inconsistent, and the visual design was not on-brand. We also learned through our ethnographic studies that hotel managers are often away from their computer. The market fluctuates throughout the day, and, to stay competitive, managers need to be able to react quickly. While the web app works very well for desktop, it is hard to use on a mobile device.
Discovery Phase
For the first month, I didn’t design anything. I just talked with our customers, visited them at their office, and learned about their challenges and goals. My mission was to help hotel managers optimize their inventory on Hotel Tonight, and make their lives easier. So there were plenty of topics to cover. After a few dozen interviews and visits, I poured through the transcripts looking for patterns. Based on what I learned in the interviews, I worked on a user story map with the VP of product. We organized and prioritized activities and tasks in the context of a hotel manager’s daily schedule.
Process
Next, we looked at those tasks and activities and redesigned the dashboard to be more useful. A big piece was to visually indicate when inventory started to become low, or when the hotel no longer appeared on HT’s consumer-facing app. In addition to the dashboard, I designed a daily digest email to give hotel managers timely input on sales and inventory.
HTX for Mobile
! A big a-ha moment was when we realized that hotel managers spend way more time away from their computers than at their desks. I designed a simple app, which allowed for quick updates to the inventory while “on the go.” We tested the flow on some of our hotel partners to make sure that the app satisfied their needs. It was meant to be a companion piece to the dashboard, not a replacement. So, being able to schedule inventory three days in advance was precisely what our clients needed.