Luxury Access Club
Design a responsive website with tailored objective from the client
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Scope: 3.5 weeks
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The Team
Raisa Moreira
Paul Harvey
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My Role
UX Research
UI Design
Prototyping
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Tools:
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Research and validation of the potential of a mobile website that would enable users the opportunity to experience accessible luxury hotels and resorts - without having to be an in-house guest
Project Overview
"I want people to be able to touch luxury for a price that makes sense to them” - Itiah Thomas, Stakeholder
Luxury Access Club is a project to give others the opportunity to feel that luxury hotels and resorts are accessible to them as well, even if they don't have the money to pay the full price to enjoy it or the need for overnight accommodation as a prerequisite.
Our Goal
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Validate the Luxury Access Club as a viable and desirable proposition for both target users and the supply side
knowing our target audience
To help us validate Luxury Access Club we started with the interviews, our target audience was people in their 30’s, according to our research this group is more likely when traveling to choose comfort, pay for luxury and, well-being.
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14 people on the demand side
Demand Side key insights:
The strange feeling of not belonging there ..
All our interviewees had spent time in a hotel where they were not in-house guests.
To visit bars and restaurants, sometimes to attend an event or to enjoy the hotel’s facilities.
Users mentioned that at most hotels when you purchase a DAY PASS, their access is limited.
“ I felt concerned whether I’d be allowed in and would feel stupid/embarrassed if discovered.”
At some hotels user's access is limited, "they don’t allow you to circulate throughout the hotel facilities, “A bit disappointing"..
Survey key insights:
77 responses - 71.4% were in the age bracket 25-39.
AirBnB comes in 2nd place
Travel with their significant other when travelling for pleasure
Travel with friends
Prefer to stay in hotels more than any other kind of accommodation
What are the 3 most important things that they consider when booking accommodation?
5 people from supply side - Including Luxury Hotel managers & consulting SME’s
Supply Side key insights:
5 star hotels, means exclusivity
In their opinion, the Luxury Hotels & Resorts would be cautious of allowing non-in-house guests within the Hotel's grounds
For guests, high cost means exclusivity
The tricky part is how to monitor the behaviour of outside guests
“PEOPLE TALK
This could potentially cause problems for the hotels if high paying guests find out that non-in-house guests were allowed to use the same facilities at a lower cost.”
“The main priority is to protect guests”
Giving a face to our data
George, 50
General manager of a luxury hotel
Goals
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Security for his guests and staff
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Maintain the feeling of exclusivity
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For George reputation and profitability are his main drivers
Frustrations
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Under-utilised facilities
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Dips in low seasons
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Maintaining a constant revenue stream
Mia, 36
Constant traveller
Goals
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Get more out of her vacation
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Access all facilities
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Receive the same treatment as in-house guests have.
Frustrations
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Being limited to use certain areas
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Having to go to a specific hotel’s website to buy Day Pass.
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Feeling that doesn't belong to that hotel
Jose, 47
Low-cost traveler style
Goals
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Access to luxury hotels at a lower cost
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Somewhere to go on long layovers
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Freedom to experience luxury on a budget
Frustrations
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Long layovers
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Luxury means expensive
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Memberships that expect loyalty
Facing the problem:
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Demand problem statement:
Users need a way to have access to luxury hotels and resorts without having to book a room, so that they will have an opportunity to experience luxury without the expense.
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Supply Side problem statement:
Hotels & resorts need a way to occupy less used common areas, especially in low season dips, which will aid in increased hotel revenue, whilst maintaining the exclusivity and security of guests and staff.
What are our competitors offering?
Intending to compare how our direct competitors run this market and how they talk to the users, we found Day Pass App and Resort Pass as direct competitors. It helped us to come up with some ideas and build some features on our design
Features we wanted to apply in our designs highlighted
Presenting the solution to Luxury Access club
Design a mobile version website where users can purchase daily passes and membership access to hotels and resorts, taking advantage of their facilities without having to book a room.
This way, users can have their wishes fulfilled and hotel managers can increase the hotel's profit by making unused areas available to the public, without affecting the experience of the in-house guests.
First iterations
Before we started working on our version of the design we wanted to test the first iteration made by the client to find out how effective it was and where we could improve through feedback from the real users.
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Users thought these icons were call to action
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“Titles doesn't make sense”
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“I want to see ratings”
Usability test
After testing the initial version, we started redesign your project through our users preferences
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Reviews available
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The difference in price available for comparison
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Filter and search by location
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Top rated Hotels as a quick look before click through the full hotel page
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Icon for login and Sign Up added
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"Where and when" field straight on the first page
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Facilities and restrictions info available
Usability Testing
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Quick description of
"How it works" in 4 steps, of how the user would use that pass
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Call to action added on the page of the chosen hotel
Final Design
Overall the 10 users tested were able to complete the tasks with minor issues.
After great feedbacks, testing with the demand and also with the supply side, we come to our latest design
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Single Pass flow
A call to action is added on the page of the chosen hotel where users can purchase a single pass or become a member.
And then we realized that most users did not know what was the difference between the two options offered and they could possibly give up on the purchase.
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So we decided to add a “Find out more” call to action on the home page where it directs users to a clearer explanation of the advantages and benefits that differentiate the two options.
Membership flow
Here we demonstrate what the user's logical flow would be like registering to have a membership and easily paying for it.
Next Steps
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Create a user portal with a history of purchase and use of day passes, also remaining passes
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Offer different membership levels
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Define whether restaurants are included
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Consider profile headshots of members/guests so that the hotels know who they are at first glance on arrival
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Create a website Review page
Client feedback
Our team presented the research results and the ideas we gathered talking to real users, the client was quite impressed with the amount of work we delivered in a short period. when the client entrusted us with this project the only request was for a complete research to be delivered, the client's focus was involved in confirming the assumptions and validating the product as a viable proposition. The Design would be considered a plus.
At the end of the third week of a lot of dedication, Paul and I were able to deliver not only the complete research but also a hi-fi prototype of the product.
Final Thoughts
Although a hi-fidelity prototype wasn’t one of the requested deliverables, when we tested with SME’s, it seemed that they appreciated having a tangible product to interact with. We feel that by offering them the prototype to interact with, they could further understand how the Luxury Access Club website would work and this might not have been quite so clear when running usability testing with them if we only had words and numbers to offer them.
