Enhancing User Experience: Integrating ‘Hotel Fingerprint’ in Hotel Listings and Detail Pages
A UX Research Study Plan of My Task
Imagine you join our company and are now the responsible Product Designer for our hotel list and hotel index (i.e., a hotel’s detail page). Your responsibility includes integrating our new feature, “hotel fingerprint” in these two pages.
In our existing feature, we highlight 3 top well-rated items of each hotel in the hotel list (e.g., top-rated for the swimming pool). Now with the hotel fingerprint, we extracted the top well-rated item from the user group including family and couple. In this case, we have “top-rated by families” and “top-rated by couples”.
a) Please describe an analysis approach to find out how would you integrate the hotel fingerprint in the hotel list and hotel index. Collect possible hypotheses you would like to test and explain how and why you would test them.
b) Please prepare visual concepts (best in Figma, can be in Sketch) and explain your ideas.
c) What would be relevant metrics that you would observe to see whether your improvements have the intended impact?
What
Why (Stakeholder`s Interview)
Holiday Check`s founder, VC, PM, PO, Marketing team, and Product designer will be stakeholders.
Research goals
Baseline assumptions/hypotheses
As the first rule of Heuristic Evaluation ( Visibility of system status), the design should always keep users informed about what is going on. But in the current application, when users submit some filters, they will not recognize whether the filter worked or not. So I assume if I get a usability test and ask them to find a suitable hotel with a good swimming pool, they will have trouble finding it. I even assume they will ask how I can recognize which result has a pool.
Approach
Overall approach and timeline
Relevant resources, links, or applications link
Define
Initially, I misinterpreted the term “fingerprint,” assuming it referred to a biometric registration system for hotels, enabling services like pool or spa access and ordering food or other amenities. However, this interpretation seemed out of place within the context of the task description. This prompted me to investigate further, considering whether “fingerprint” might hold a different significance in this context, particularly related to a business perspective. As I delved into this, I discovered that the term “hotel fingerprints” alludes to the unique distinguishing features of each hotel.
Given this new understanding, our objective within this case study is to incorporate distinctive characteristics of each hotel into the hotel list and index. This enhancement aims to assist users in pinpointing the most suitable hotel based on their defined filters. Subsequently, we should rigorously test all our hypotheses concerning these features to determine the most effective ones.
Hypotheses
As a user seeking to identify an ideal hotel swiftly and efficiently, my foremost goal is to save valuable time and streamline my travel preparations. I anticipate a straightforward and prominent indicator or functionality that facilitates the sorting and filtering of my search criteria, simplifying the process. Furthermore, I require a user-friendly, visually appealing interface with legible fonts and intuitive components, ensuring a seamless experience as I scroll and explore, allowing me to quickly access the information I need.
In the quest to gain deeper insights into the user’s journey while navigating the application in search of the perfect hotel, I constructed a set of user stories. These narratives serve as a blueprint for discerning the specific requirements and expectations encountered at each step of the process.
If we consider the central objective as booking a suitable hotel, each feature integrated into the application plays a pivotal role in enhancing the overall user experience during the hotel booking journey. To address this, I embarked on a series of inquiries:
1. What are the fundamental needs of our users in this scenario? 2. How can I effectively fulfill these needs? 3. Are my proposed solutions sufficiently robust for the task at hand? 4. Do my solutions meet the standards of usability and accessibility?
In my quest to present these features, I explored two distinctive concepts: Badges and Chips. Furthermore, I conducted a comprehensive examination of applications sharing similar features, seeking inspiration and novel ideas to more effectively communicate the impact of filters on search results.
This screenshot is extracted from the Booking.com application. Upon applying filters, the application promptly presents the results aligned with your specified criteria. However, it falls short of illustrating the discernible impact of these filters on the search outcome.
In this snapshot from Iran’s renowned e-commerce platform, Digikala, I applied color filters for mobile phones, and the results are visually represented through a set of vibrant and distinctive color circles.
领英推荐
In this screenshot from the Trivago application, my search for hotels in Berlin featuring amenities such as a pool, bathroom, and spa yields results enriched with supplementary descriptions.
In this image from Alibaba Travel Co., a prominent travel application in Iran, the presentation of search results is thoughtfully designed. It employs a combination of text and “chips” to offer a clear and effective representation of the available options.
In this snapshot from Jabama, an Iranian travel application affiliated with Alibaba Travel Co., a unique approach is taken to display search results. Instead of utilizing chips or explicit text for filter-based presentation, the results are sorted based on the filter criteria. Upon closer inspection, it becomes evident that crucial information about the hotels or houses is embedded within their names or prominently displayed in the first picture. For instance, in this image, we can clearly see a depiction of the pool, and it is explicitly mentioned in the name, “house with 4 rooms and a warm water pool.” However, when searching for amenities like a sauna or jacuzzi, it becomes challenging to discern which listings offer these facilities directly from the list, as this information is not explicitly highlighted.
In This Case Study:
Within this case study, our primary aim is to introduce a feature that swiftly presents top-rated results based on the user’s chosen filters, categorizing them as either suitable for couples or families. The key performance indicator for this task is speed, as we strive to expedite the user’s search process. Equally crucial is the user-friendliness of the feature, ensuring that components are intuitive and straightforward. Additionally, it’s imperative that users have clear and convenient access to this feature, with its purpose readily comprehensible.
In our pursuit of achieving optimal speed, I engaged in a critical analysis to identify potential obstacles that could hinder user efficiency. To address this aspect, I conducted a “speed boat test,” aiming to uncover any factors or situations that might impede the speed and effectiveness of the feature’s implementation.
Speed Boat Test / with the Usability test scenario
What is the speed boat technique? This gaming method focuses on the reverse aspect of prioritizing — on identifying the least-priority product features. If you ask people to tell you about drawbacks and complaints about the product, you may be surprised and upset. This will give a large amount of uncontrolled feedback.
Cost: ●●◎◎◎
Power of case: ●●?◎◎
Time to ready: ●●◎◎◎
Time to start: ●◎◎◎◎
Test Scenario: Let’s imagine you’re planning a trip to Italy, and you want to travel either with your partner or your family, depending on your choice. Your goal is to find an excellent and suitable hotel that offers both a good pool and a sauna. Your task is to discover the best hotel for your upcoming travel. As you perform this task, please think out loud and don’t hesitate to ask any questions that may arise during the process.
Following this, I asked the participants to provide their feedback in FigJam, encouraging them to jot down any aspects that confused them or posed obstacles during the task. I then repeated the same scenario using the Alibaba application. Finally, I engaged the participants in a discussion, focusing on the elements of the process that facilitated their progress and those that impeded or confused them.
The Test Result
Since the product is solely available in the German language, without support for other languages (a limitation inaccessibility), I faced the challenge of sourcing volunteers proficient in German. Regrettably, my local environment only yielded two individuals with German language skills. As a result, I cannot ensure the completeness and reliability of my research results. In general research interviews, it is typically recommended to engage with a minimum of three or four participants to reach data saturation, where no further novel insights or information emerge. Due to my limited pool of available participants, achieving this level of data saturation may prove challenging.
Problems with Search Box
Both users initially attempted to find a hotel using the search box on the homepage. However, the search box exclusively looked for hotels by name, which created confusion for the users. For instance, when they input “Italy” as their search query, the search results included hotels in India that happened to have “Italy” in their name. This unexpected behavior left the users perplexed and hindered their search for hotels based on location.
Problems with Filters and Sorts
One of the users pointed out that the abundance of intricate filter options, including details that were not crucial to her hotel selection process, such as breakfast, resulted in confusion. She found that the excessive details made the decision-making process for choosing a hotel more challenging. As a solution, she expressed a preference for Alibaba’s simpler and more comprehensive filter system, which offered a more streamlined and user-friendly experience.
Problems with the Hotel List
For both users, identifying hotels that encompassed all or most of their desired filters proved to be a challenging task. For instance, when they selected filters such as pool, sauna, golf, and tennis, they struggled to discern which hotels on the list offered each of these amenities. This led to a repetitive process where they had to open individual hotel detail pages, scroll through them, access the descriptions, and then return to the list page, only to repeat this for other hotels to compare and make an informed choice.
Both users suggested the inclusion of text or icons in the hotel list pages to clearly indicate which services each hotel offered, thus simplifying the decision-making process. Moreover, one user noted that the hotel list page contained information that was excessively prominent, while potentially more pertinent information could have been made more prominent. For instance, they found that the hierarchical presentation of the blue button displaying user ratings was excessive, which, in their opinion, reduced usability.
Problems with the Hotel Page
Both users expressed frustration with the need to scroll through lengthy text in order to access information about a hotel’s description, details, and services. This scrolling process was perceived as both annoying and tedious. They expressed a preference for a more concise presentation, suggesting the use of icons or brief, easily digestible information that would provide a more efficient means of obtaining comprehensive details about the hotels.
Design
You can explore the visual concept on Figma by following this link.
Hope you enjoy it.
Jan2023