Confidential Prepared Byfor

Customized Brett Combs

Lorem Ipsum LLC June 1/19 Version 1.0

Marriott Hotels
User Research Planning Document
Confidential Customized for Lorem Ipsum LLC Version 1.0
Marriott Hotels Research Plan Summary

Goals & Research

Executive Summary 1: Resolve search functionality issues shown to be complicating

online booking

Research
This report outlines the proposed user research plan for Task based usability testing with interactive mockups of redesigned
Marriott International's website and smartphone application search functionality, faceted navigation and sorts.
experiences redesign. 2: Discover opportunities to improve booking beyond search

Research
Marriott has set the following goals Conduct jobs to be done analysis and user surveys based on job stories

• Increase hotel bookings via digital properties by 10%; Research

• Increase reservations for its luxury and lifestyle Collection hotel categories; Conduct interviews to identify “pits” and “peaks” in the customer life
• Gain 10,000 new Rewards members within the first quarter of the relaunch; cycle
• Decrease the online reservation abandon rate by 20%; and
• Increase bundled hotel and flight bookings by 5%.
Research & Design Process
User research and UX practices will focus on the hotel booking digital experience and
opportunities to improve the particular experiences for luxury reservations, bundle Analysis phase
bookings and rewards membership through Marriott.com and the Marriott App. • Task based analysis & usability testing with interactive prototypes
• Jobs to be done analysis and job story surveys
• User interviews identifying pits and peaks of patron experience
Questions
Design Phase
● What aspects of search are contributing to bounce rates? • Task based analysis & usability testing with second iteration
● Which moments stand out from the rest for hotel patrons, good and bad? interactive prototypes
● What are the functional, social and emotional jobs to be done for travelers
who are hotel patreons? • Additional user interviews, & surveys where deemed valuable by
ongoing testing and development
 Marriott Hotels Research Plan Issues

Marriott.com

Observed UX Issues 01
1. Choosing a destination for hotel accommodations does not support browsing, forcing the selection of a city or zip code

2. The primary CTA is unrelated to booking accommodations an unlikely to reflect a job potential patrons have to get done

3. The second CTA forces users to visit a link and leave the page to learn about Marriott’s price matching policies

4. The second CTA mixes information specific to price with general information about accommodations, mobile booking &
undefined promotions

5. Contact information is obscured if available at all from the landing page

6. Explore destinations section is inconsistent and does not provide a button to engage in browsing

7. No images of people anywhere on the site

 Marriott Hotels Research Plan Issues

Marriott App

Observed UX Issues 02
1. Google Play store is producing an error (unable to connect to server) preventing the download of the Marriott app

2. Guest login loads a web page leaving the app (may be perceived as a malfunctioning product)

3. Guest login forces users into the task of selecting a destination with no option for browsing

4. Search results display inconsistent images describing the destination

5. Map view does not make the relationship between a selected destination and the banner of horizontal scrolling hotels included in the
results (failing mental model)

6. Detail page for a hotel displays images in an order that does not begin with the hotel exterior and proceed in to the lobby and the room.

7. Returning to search results from a detail page in map view bounced all the way out of the app back to the login screen (malfunction)

8. Pervasive visual communication errors in hierarchy spacing and information architecture contribute to usability issues
 Marriott Hotels Research Plan Principals

Guiding Principal

Our most memorable positive moments

are dominated by four elements:
elevation, insight, pride, and connection.
If we embrace these elements, we can
conjure more moments that matter.
 Marriott Hotels Research Plan
Research Goals
Resolve search functionality issues shown
1
to be complicating online booking for web
and mobile application users
Discover opportunities to improve digital
2 5
booking and digital experience moreover,
beyond search usability by focusing of pit
and peak moments in the patreon
experience
Goals
Use job story analysis to uncover
3
opportunities to add value to the Marriott
experience for hotel patrons
Determine what if any characteristics users
4
share who use the Marriott App rather than
the mobile version of the website
Verify through user testing that research
and design implemented in ways that are
likely to drive improvement in metrics
defined by Marriott Hotels
 Marriott Hotels Research Plan Questions

High Level Questions

Elevation

0 For a company with booking and search at the

center of the business is there a way to
outperform the industry with information
0
1 architecture that transforms this central user
task from a pit to a peak experience? 3
Love
So much of what Marriott offers patrons is
aesthetic and emotional, will a redesign which
0 Positive moments
In what ways can we capture the heightened
sensory appeal of the Merriott patreon
features images and animation more
prominently remind users of the experiences
they love?
2 experience within Marriotts’ digital
properties?
 Marriott Hotels Research Plan Questions

JTBD Analysis
Outcome Statement
When I want to make travel arrangements I want to book the
right room as quickly as possible so I can attend to other
Questions important matters

1. What group of customers to target for growth. Question

How can we accommodate browsing for booking results for
2. What job the customer is trying to get done.
hours and the user who need to get it done instantly?
3. All the steps that comprise the customer’s job-to-be-done.
4. Associated consumption, related and emotional jobs.
5. The customer’s desired outcomes (needs) associated with getting the core and
consumption jobs done. Structure of Outcome Statements

Examples of Desired Outcome

Statements For #5
Outcome Statement
When I want to make travel arrangements I want to book the
right room as quickly as possible so I can attend to other
important matters

Question
How can we accommodate browsing for booking results for
hours and the user who need to get it done instantly?
 Marriott Hotels Research Plan Questions

Job Story Surveys

Importance
Questions Satisfaction

Example Job Stories &

After collecting desired outcome statements in a qualitative way we measure business
opportunity with a quantitative survey. Analysis #5
Participants reviewing desired outcome statements are asked two questions that can be Job Story
rated on a scale from 1 to 10 When I want to make travel arrangements I want to book the right room as
quickly as possible so I can attend to other important matters
1. How important is that to you?
Question
How can we accommodate browsing for booking results for hours and the user
2. How satisfied are you currently with getting that solution done? who need to get it done instantly?

Survey results are then plotted as a scatter chart showing us where business opportunity Job Story
happens. In the upper are outcome statements that are both important to people and When I want to make travel arrangements I want to book the right room as
quickly as possible so I can attend to other important matters
unsatisfied.
Question
How can we accommodate browsing for booking results for hours and the user
who need to get it done instantly?
 Marriott Hotels Research Plan Questions

Interaction Design & IA

Question UX Study
1
How can animation and information architecture Online remote mood board surveys

● Orient users within their environment Participants

● Provide a deeper level of clarity ● Internal & and stakeholders
● Provide useful feedback to the user. ● Paid participants # TBD
● Allow for more imaginative use of screen real estate (on and off canvas).
● Reinforce element hierarchy 2 Develop and test with interactive
● Direct users where to focus web page mockups
● Hint at what to do next
● Smoothly transport users between navigational con-texts Participants
● Explain changes in the arrangement of elements on a screen ● Internal & and stakeholders
● Provide visual cues that acknowledge user input immediately onsite task based analysis
● Better communicate a brand message ● Paid participants onsite task
● Create affordances that look and feel like direct manipulation of the screen based analysis # TBD
● Create visceral aesthetics and appeal that encourages usage and increases adoption
 Marriott Hotels Research Plan Questions

Defining Moments
Methodology UX Study
1
Online remote survey (Formsite)
Some moments are vastly more meaningful than others,
Participants
Research has found that in recalling an experience, we ignore most of what
happened and focus instead on a few particular moments. ● Internal & and stakeholders
● Paid participants # TBD
● Moments of ELEVATIOn
● Moments of INSIGHT Questions
● Moments of PRIDE
● Moments of CONNECTION 1. What are you best or worst
experiences as a hotel pateron?
When people assess an experience, they tend to forget or ignore its length—a
phenomenon called “duration neglect.” Instead, they seem to rate the experience 2. What has been memorable from
based on two key moments: the end of your stay as a hotel
pateron?
1. The best or worst moment, known as the “peak”;
2. And the ending.
 Marriott Hotels Research Plan Schedule

Schedule
Analysis & Study Prep Prototypes For Testing FInal Round Participant testing

Domain research / Five Forces / Jobs To Be Done / Nano Job
Stories Survey (Formsite) /
Incorporate findings into internal and stakeholder survey
focused on experiences of elevation, insight, pride, and
connection for Marriott patreons
Previous prototypes are recreated as live responsive websites for To be determined
testing. At least three different animated solutions are produced.
Additional remote online user testing of variations in typography,
hierarchy and headline messaging

Aug 1 Dec 1

Jul 1 Oct 1 Jan 1

Participant Studies 1 Begin Development

On site user testing and task analysis with Website & app prototypes are integrated into
interactive prototypes for at least three UI & IA individual prototypes for additional testing after
options. revision

In person 45min user interviews; questions based on On site user testing and task analysis with
information gathered from internal surveys and interactive prototypes for at least three UI & IA
questions focused on elevation, insight, pride, and options.
connection
 Marriott Hotels Research Plan Next

Next Steps
 Marriott Hotels Research Plan Thanks!

Thank you.