Empowering hotel staff with optimal property management software

01 / Summary

What was delivered and how

Services

  • Behavioural insight (quantitive & qualitative)

  • Recruitment strategy

  • Persona development

  • Informative architecture

  • Wireframing

  • UI

Deliverables

  • 5 Personas

  • Responsive navigation

  • User-interface designs

  • User Flows & Site maps

  • Dashboards

  • Wireframes

Outcome

I led the 'Host 360' design evolution, transitioning from desktop software to cloud-based, orchestrating customer research, defining hotel needs, facilitating feature brainstorming workshops, and seamlessly transitioning to implementation.

Designed modular scalability for Hotels: Inventory Management, Task Manager, Rate Manager, Reservation Bookings, and Payment Systems with Customer Profiling.

02 / Understanding the problem

Hoist Group sought assistance in transforming their cloud-based initiative, 'HotSoft 360', by redesigning it to cater to its diverse customer base while maintaining its feature-rich property software. Hoist Group acknowledged the need for a modern, scalable product to stay competitive, given concerns about outdated features and interfaces due to a lack of recent customer research.


Research overview goals and objectives:

User roles & responsibilities

User roles & responsibilities

Understand the variation in Roles and Responsibilities and their relationship to HotSoft.

Communication Methods

Communication Methods

Identify the most effective and ineffective methods of communication utilised in hotels.

Hotel operations information flow

Hotel operations information flow

Explore the methods and channels through which information is received and shared within a hotel environment.

Task Delegation

Task Delegation

Investigate the task delegation processes, including written, verbal, and visual methods.

Hotel staff digital needs

Hotel staff digital needs

Assess the existing digital needs of users and potential future needs within the hotel industry.

Customer Requirements for PMS

Customer Requirements for PMS

Determine the requirements and preferences of existing HotSoft customers regarding a Property Management System (PMS)


Unfortunately, the research was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of financial constraints and operational challenges within the hospitality industry, there was no budget available, and hotel staff could not participate in validating design concepts.


Despite the lack of incentives, recruiting a diverse range of hotel staff posed a significant challenge. However, through proactive cold-calling efforts, we successfully recruited participants. The survey allowed customers to opt into the research, overcoming some recruitment hurdles.

Unfortunately, the research was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of financial constraints and operational challenges within the hospitality industry, there was no budget available, and hotel staff could not participate in validating design concepts.


Despite the lack of incentives, recruiting a diverse range of hotel staff posed a significant challenge. However, through proactive cold-calling efforts, we successfully recruited participants. The survey allowed customers to opt into the research, overcoming some recruitment hurdles.

03 / The solution

Phase 1: Customer Insight Gathering

156

Survey respondents across Europe

11

Customer interviews

604

Minutes of interviews

Phase 2: Persona development, visualised the findings into personas:

Developed 4-6 user personas, each detailing goals, needs, opportunities, attitudes, and behaviours to provide a more holistic understanding of our target audience.

Presenting the preliminary research findings, here are a few thematic themes highlighting discoveries from semi-structured interviews and surveys:

from the Noun Project

Continuous guest data MGMT

Continuous guest data MGMT

Maintain guest data throughout the entire guest journey — from booking, during their stay, and even after, enabling ongoing communication and personalisation.

Need for informative dashboards

Need for informative dashboards

Implement a dashboard that offers a comprehensive overview of vital hotel data, including check-in numbers, daily reports, and sales data. Bite-sized overview information needs to be available at all times.

Requirement for reporting & project management

Requirement for reporting & project management

Respondents expressed a need for user-friendly access to reports and a platform for seamless sharing with their teams to facilitate an increase in sales and boost team motivation.

Insufficient communication tools

Insufficient communication tools

A common concern among participants was the inadequacy of digital communication methods for effectively tracking tasks and projects.

Created by IGraphics

from the Noun Project

Streamlined task access

Streamlined task access

Hotel staff are always on the move & multitasking so ensure easy access to departments and tasks, enabling efficient completion, even on the go and in urgent situations.

Desktop navigation options:

Phase 3: Information architecture and navigation exploration

After feature estimation, the focus shifted to mapping module infrastructure, structuring the system with site maps, and ensuring seamless cross-device navigation.


Establish information architecture and visualise wireframes for core pathways like Reservation Booking, Card Details Storage, Payment Processing, and User Management, including system setup and configuration.

High level site map: Created a site map to organise different modules based on content and features.


Navigation exploration with low-fidelity wireframes with different navigation options, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages in hosting scalable modules across various devices.

Mobile navigation options:

Phase 4: Developed high-level and mid-level wireframe flows for every module, focusing on essential tasks such as booking management and task execution.

Above example of high level user flows.

Example above is booking spa appointment and linking to guest profile.

04 / Outcomes:

Final designs:

05 / Learnings:

During this design process, I realised the critical importance of atomic design thinking and the use of reusable components in managing the complexities of design and ensuring consistency across various modules.

01 / Summary

What was delivered and how

Services

  • Behavioural insight (quantitive & qualitative)

  • Recruitment strategy

  • Persona development

  • Informative architecture

  • Wireframing

  • UI

Deliverables

  • 5 Personas

  • Responsive navigation

  • User-interface designs

  • User Flows & Site maps

  • Dashboards

  • Wireframes

Outcome

I led the 'Host 360' design evolution, transitioning from desktop software to cloud-based, orchestrating customer research, defining hotel needs, facilitating feature brainstorming workshops, and seamlessly transitioning to implementation.


Designed modular scalability for Hotels: Inventory Management, Task Manager, Rate Manager, Reservation Bookings, and Payment Systems with Customer Profiling.

Empowering hotel staff with optimal property management software

01 / Understanding the problem

Hoist Group sought assistance in transforming their cloud-based initiative, 'HotSoft 360', by redesigning it to cater to its diverse customer base while maintaining its feature-rich property software. Hoist Group acknowledged the need for a modern, scalable product to stay competitive, given concerns about outdated features and interfaces due to a lack of recent customer research.


Research overview goals and objectives:

Unfortunately, the research was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of financial constraints and operational challenges within the hospitality industry, there was no budget available, and hotel staff could not participate in validating design concepts.


Despite the lack of incentives, recruiting a diverse range of hotel staff posed a significant challenge. However, through proactive cold-calling efforts, we successfully recruited participants. The survey allowed customers to opt into the research, overcoming some recruitment hurdles

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Zohrane ⏤ 2024

04 / Outcomes

05 / Learnings

During this design process, I realised the critical importance of atomic design thinking and the use of reusable components in managing the complexities of design and ensuring consistency across various modules.

Final designs:

03 / The solution

Phase 1: Customer Insight Gathering

Phase 2: Persona development, visualised the findings into personas:

156

Survey respondents across Europe

11

Customer interviews

604

Minutes of interviews

Developed 4-6 user personas, each detailing goals, needs, opportunities, attitudes, and behaviours to provide a more holistic understanding of our target audience.

Presenting the preliminary research findings, here are a few thematic themes highlighting discoveries from semi-structured interviews and surveys:

After feature estimation, the focus shifted to mapping module infrastructure, structuring the system with site maps, and ensuring seamless cross-device navigation.


Establish information architecture and visualise wireframes for core pathways like Reservation Booking, Card Details Storage, Payment Processing, and User Management, including system setup and configuration.

High level site map: Created a site map to organise different modules based on content and features.


Navigation exploration with low-fidelity wireframes with different navigation options, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages in hosting scalable modules across various devices.

Mobile navigation options:

Desktop navigation options:

from the Noun Project

Continuous guest data MGMT

Maintain guest data throughout the entire guest journey — from booking, during their stay, and even after, enabling ongoing communication and personalisation.

Need for informative dashboards

Implement a dashboard that offers a comprehensive overview of vital hotel data, including check-in numbers, daily reports, and sales data. Bite-sized overview information needs to be available at all times.

Requirement for reporting & project management

Respondents expressed a need for user-friendly access to reports and a platform for seamless sharing with their teams to facilitate an increase in sales and boost team motivation.

Insufficient communication tools

A common concern among participants was the inadequacy of digital communication methods for effectively tracking tasks and projects.

Phase 4: Developed high-level and mid-level wireframe flows for every module, focusing on essential tasks such as booking management and task execution.

Phase 3: Information architecture and navigation exploration

Created by IGraphics

from the Noun Project

Streamlined task access

Hotel staff are always on the move & multitasking so ensure easy access to departments and tasks, enabling efficient completion, even on the go and in urgent situations.

Above example of high level user flows.

Example above is booking spa appointment and linking to guest profile.

Zohrane ⏤ 2024

Instagram

Linkedin