Challenge

iRiS is the leading guest experience platform provider serving the hospitality industry. Using their library of APIs, customers can develop their own applications.

Our goal for the project was to create a food ordering section (The Mobile Dining App) for the Marriott Loyalty App. The Mobile Dining App is simply allowing guests to place orders during their stay or before they arrive to their booked hotel.

1st Stage Features

Available in 9 Languages
Outlet Availability
Availability of Menus/Foods based on the given delivery option
Create a cart
Modify the cart
Delivery to Room
Delivery to a specific location (e.g. Poolside, Lounger 12)
Order to Pick-up
View Order History
Communicate to Outlets
Accessibility Mode : ADA - Level AA
Property Based Analytics : Sales, User Behaviour and Performance

Research

Analysis

I have gathered as much information as I can within a short period of time. There are many companies I have investigated and the ones that played a crucial role in the whole project is listed below.

During the analysis, I captured data based on the user reviews both positive and negative and also factored how efficient, effective or statisfactory product such competitors are providing.

Usability Test - Quick Feedback

Once I had the interactive Prototype in Marvell, I planned usability testing sessions with Marriott Guests in Washington/Maryland. The goal was to learn if they are able to complete some tasks successfully without my help and identify changes required to improve user performance and satisfaction.

Through the lab tests, we discovered that people have to put too much energy to find out what is available in the outlets. They needed a better and faster way to view the available food options. This allowed us to first display outlets with food type, price level and availability and then move on to what delivery option user would like to have, so eventually they can list available Foods and Drinks based on their selection. In the first session of the interviews and usability tests I had 12 participants joined in. With the other following sessions I had the chance of interacting with 33 actual guests from the members of the Marriott Loyalty Program.

Analyse + 2nd Phase Upgrades

First Marriott Mobile Dining App launched in Courtyard Marriott in Maryland. Right now there are more than 200+ properties of Marriott which started using the app. More than 10.000 orders already placed. End of 2018, more than 4.000 properties will be using the app.

KPIs Setup, Feedback

During the production phase, I immediately started to create the very basics of the analytics which will allow me to gather information relevant to Sales, Staff Performance, Product Peformance and User Behavior. Right now we are able to  monitor the performance of each property using GA and Smartlook.

2nd Stage Features:

Include 12 more languages
Add Filter/Search
Personalisation Setup
Promotions
Order Status
Two Way Messaging
Geo-Targeting & Beacons

Conclusion + Credit

It’s been an amazing journey so far! I’ve learned and applied a lot of my skills around the entire project. Through collaborative brainstorming, regular user validation and scalable design sprints, the team can better preserve creative integrity amidst fast timelines.

• * Explore product ideas with the parallel paths of user research and ideation, then converge afterwards to define requirements.
• * Casual ideation workshops with a clear agenda helps remove fear of “dumb ideas” encouraging feedback from quiet team members.
• * Product documentation acts as guidelines, with some flexibitlity allowed for creative freedom.
• * Collaborative prototyping minimizes paper-trail documentation.
• * Test with users as prototype fidelity increases (more users in the beginning, les is acceptable later on).