Back to ProjectsThe online hotel booking market is quite saturated, yet there is no clear industry leader for boutique hotel booking websites. How can the this experience be optimized?
The global boutique hotel market size is projected to grow at an annual rate of 7.1% from 2024 to 2030, according to this study. Therefore, this is a great time to optimize the boutique hotel booking process.
This project is a ficticious scenario, completed for UX Design Institute’s Professional Diploma in UX Design course.
Of three usability tests, I conducted one myself and two were conducted by the course. I took notes on the tests and proceeded to analyze them. During the analysis, the affinity diagram was conducted in collaboration with another researcher. The rest of the analysis and design phases of the project were completed by myself.
User research showed that most users are content with widespread platforms, such as Booking.com, and expect other booking sites to have similar features.
Boutique hotel websites often don’t adapt their information architecture to users’ mental models. This is a case where trying to establish new conventions isn’t successful and leads to clunky user experiences.
* These results are based on an online survey conducted with ten participants, an amount which is not statistically significant. However, it was still an interesting result, since Booking.com was also mentioned in every user interview.
“I like when it’s very clear, probably because that’s what I’m used to from booking.com. When I’m booking a hotel, that’s what I’m thinking of.”
User’s mental model is shaped by Booking.com
Interviews focusing on the participants’ recent hotel booking experiences were conducted, followed by usability testing of two hotel booking sites. The aim was to test different booking websites, and find out what users require for a smooth booking experience.
A usability test I conducted during the research phase
“I wouldn’t book either of these hotels on this website, I would look on another source if I could find better pictures and then book on that other site.”
User was frustrated with the unprofessional boutique booking site
“I thought the site looked classy, but I had to do a lot of rooting around to try and find what I was looking for.”
Poor user experience on a boutique hotel booking site
During the analysis, it became evident that comparison behavior (for example: comparing hotels, rooms, prices) is really common, yet designs don’t take this behavior into account. This could be a missed opportunity for a helpful feature.
While creating the subgroups on the affinity diagram, this theme became apparent
The customer journey map also showed that the Hotel Comparison step of the booking process needs improvement
Boutique hotel booking platforms often struggle to deliver a user friendly booking experience.
A boutique hotel booking website which embraces users’ mental models, while incorporating the opportunity to compare hotels.
The outcome is a mid fidelity prototype based on high fidelity wireframes.
After completing the customer journey map, sketching the individual screen states really helped reinforce a coherent flow. This level of detail also meant that creating the wireframes was quite efficient.
This feature enables users to choose their preferred hotel more efficiently by saving their favorite hotels during their search and then comparing these favorites in a side-by-side view.
Despite there being a dominant platform in this sector, I was excited to discover key improvements to the status quo during the analysis phase. This proved to me once again how powerful qualitative research can be.
Next steps to improve the product would be to test the prototype with a larger number of users, even 5-10 moderated usability tests could be helpful, in order to see if the hotel comparison pain point solves a relevant problem. Is the flow logical? Is there product desirability - does this feature truly improve the booking process?
It would be important to test how many users are saving their favorite hotels and if users are interacting with the comparison feature / how much time they are spending on it. How often are users clicking on the CTA within the comparison feature, are they following up with booking the hotels selected there?
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