Motel 6- The Automated Experience
Motel 6 is the leading budget motel chain that is currently undergoing a massive renovation in all of its 1300 properties in the United States and Canada.
In this group project, we created an app that will mirror the renovations that are taking place and elevate the digital experience in a way that matches industry standards as well as guests expectations.
My Role: UX/UI Designer
Team Collaborators: Yali, Hassan
SEE LIVE PROTOTYPE
Project Challenge
How do we automate booking, billing, check-in and key entry all
via a mobile app so that guests can book a room and just walk right in.
Research
Methods & Findings
In order to have a clear understanding about the target customers, their current pain points, what they expect to find in a reservation booking app and what our competitors are doing we took the following steps:
Survey
We sent out surveys to people who have stayed in a budget motel in order to understand who they are.
User Interviews
We interviewed our target users to better understand their needs and expectations as well as learn about the process of booking and searching.
User Testing
We tested the current Motel 6 app on a group of 10 people to discover any pain points and frustrations.
Comparative Analysis
We compared hotel reservation apps like Hotel Tonight and Hotels.com as well as keyless entry apps such as Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) and Merriott Mobile App to find any existing pain points and learn how we can improve our design.
Findings
The majority of motel 6 guests are users on the go, which means they don't make a reservation in advance, but rather when they need to make a stop.
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The current app is lacking the option to see search results along the route, and instead shows available rooms that are off route. This is one of the primary pain points for our key user who uses the app on the go and doesn’t want to spend time narrowing down options or detouring their route as they need to continue with their trip the next day.
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Users cared mostly about distance, price and parking options of the property.
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Waiting to check-in was another pain point for guests, especially after a long drive.
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35% of users felt overwhelmed by the number of search results visible to them at a given point.
Persona
To better empathize with the our users, we've developed a primary persona based on the insights gathered during our discovery stage; primary age group, motivation, frustrations, goals, booking and traveling habits.
Wire Flow
The following user flow shows a scenario for a first time user who's a Motel 6 member by using the Instant Book feature to book a room. Once they receive a confirmation, they check-in and access the room by using their phone as the electronic key.
Features
For the next steps, more testing will be needed in order to determine the usability of the Instant Book feature and perhaps test it on a select group of motel 6 users who are existing members in order to see if users like it or find it limiting.
In addition, we’ll need to test the mobile check-in and keyless entry feature in real life to identify any difficulties and issues users may encounter.
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It’s important to say that for the purpose of the practice we were given, certain constraints were not fully taken into account when designing the keyless entry feature, such as the type of technology motel 6 will choose to use or the company’s age restriction on booking a reservation and how to bypass it without slowing down the process or limit it to verified motel 6 members only.
Next Steps
