Use your Mobile Key to enter your room

Facilitating seamless access to hotel rooms.

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My Role in this transformation

• Research coordination
• Visual QA and product testing
• End-to-end design
• Stakeholders involvement
• New patterns documentation

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Why do we need the Mobile Key?

Marriott International, renowned for its luxury hotels and resorts, and distinguished hospitality services, has always been committed to enhancing the guest experience. Upon receiving feedback from numerous guests expressing their desire for easier room access in the event of misplaced keys, we conducted a thorough examination. Surprisingly, our research revealed that approximately 30% of our guests encountered key loss incidents during their stays, which typically lasted an average of three nights. In response, we explored potential solutions to address this challenge. Drawing inspiration from the automotive industry's mobile key technology, which enables remote vehicle unlocking and ignition start-up, my team and I proposed a similar mobile key solution to the executive team. Following approval of the proposed budget and timeline, we embarked on developing this innovative product.

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Whare we designing for?

We meticulously analyzed the user demographics of the Bonvoy application to delineate personas for the Mobile Key feature. Utilizing data obtained from our customer base, we identified elite business members as the primary users of the Mobile Key. This demographic, known for prioritizing efficiency and time management, emerged as the key target audience due to their propensity to value expedited processes. Through our research, we observed that many of our elite business customers proactively utilized the Bonvoy app for early check-ins or remote check-ins to bypass the need to visit the front desk. The sole impediment hindering their seamless experience was the reliance on physical keys.

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Taking the info and going to the studio

With our research concluded and the project greenlit, we shifted our focus to several key considerations:

• Identifying compatible devices capable of connecting via Bluetooth, NFC, or WiFi to the door.
• Mapping out the comprehensive flow of the product, spanning from check-in to day-to-day usage.
• Devising strategies to effectively educate users on utilizing the Mobile Key.

This process culminated in the creation of a detailed flowchart, meticulously outlining customer decisions and interactions. Given that the Mobile Key project aimed to transition from concept to launch, seamless integration with existing flows such as check-in and booking was imperative. Thus, meticulous alignment with these existing processes was a priority throughout the development phase.

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Thinking about the visual design stuff...

The implementation of the Mobile Key necessitates custom visual enhancements to elevate its design aesthetics. This entails the creation of icons and designs tailored specifically for the digital card interface. One particularly distinctive aspect of the Mobile Key project involved crafting a unique card design tailored to each hotel that guests frequent. Below, you'll find an exploration of the icon and card designs developed as part of this endeavor.

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The cards

The card design seamlessly integrates gradients to simulate the interplay of light on the plastic surface, elegantly showcasing pertinent information alongside the hotel icon. Specifically, the gradient design was meticulously crafted with the Moxy Hotel by Marriott serving as our demonstrative model.

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The card design incorporates gradients to mimic the nuanced reflection of light on a plastic surface, elegantly featuring essential information alongside the hotel icon. Our meticulous gradient design process was exemplified by our demonstration using the Moxy Hotel by Marriott as a model.

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The design iterations

Through numerous iterations from initial sketches to layout concepts, we meticulously refined our designs to identify optimal solutions. Ultimately, we curated seven distinct designs for our final Mobile Key iteration. Each iteration allowed us to fine-tune the layout to prioritize clarity while ensuring the key functionality remained prominent. Upon finalizing our design, we conducted thorough testing to gauge customer satisfaction. With positive feedback received, we proceeded to the final handoff, confident in delivering a solution aligned with customer needs.

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Introducing the new Mobile Key experience

Following the completion of our research and concept development, we transitioned to the handoff and development phase for the new Mobile Key experience. Below, you'll find our finalized user flow, along with animations illustrating the "How to Use" instructions and demonstrations of the Mobile Key in action.

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Conclusion

The development of the Mobile Key product was a meticulous endeavor, marked by careful planning, thoughtful execution, and rigorous testing. Over the initial month of deployment, we closely monitored customer satisfaction levels and adoption rates, seeking to understand the impact of the Mobile Key on user experiences. Our efforts yielded a notable 46.67% satisfaction rate among users of the Bonvoy application, with a consistent 32.4% indicating their intent to use the Mobile Key again in subsequent trips and following through on that intention. The Mobile Key emerged as a transformative addition to the Marriott brand, setting a new standard for customer experience within the Bonvoy application. This project underscored the profound impact even seemingly minor product enhancements can have on customer satisfaction and overall brand perception, reaffirming the importance of meticulous attention to detail and user-centric design principles in delivering exceptional experiences.