Challenges
Newly Opened Hotel
Stay Plus is an independent boutique hotel with 19 rooms, launched in 2023 in Bangkok. It initially attracted Asian guests (especially Chinese) with its unique, spacious rooms, prime location, and modern amenities. While these factors contributed to high occupancy rates in its first year, the hotel faces 2 significant challenges for long-term success
Business Requirements
Sustaining Appeal Beyond Novelty
As the hotel ages and newer competitors emerge, Stay Plus must develop innovative services and experiences beyond physical attributes and newness that continue to attract both new and returning guests.
Enhancing Online Visibility and Engagement
In an increasingly digital marketplace, Stay Plus needs to improve its online presence to attract new guests and maintain competitiveness.
Process
I prioritised user research at the start, gathering insights before any ideation began. Through affinity mapping and thematic analysis, I identified key patterns that informed the solution which was refined through iterative user testing, and then prepared with documentation for implementation handoff.
User research
Synthesis findings
Tools & Methods
Surveys
Interview
User journey map
Affinity mapping
Wireframing
Print Design
Adobe Photoshop
Competitor Benchmarking Analysis
Understanding Success Factors in Bangkok's Boutique Hotels
To strategically position Stay Plus, I benchmarked Bangkok's boutique hotel landscape, focusing on differentiation beyond physical attributes. Analysing similar competitors revealed key drivers of guest satisfaction and uncovered opportunities to build a sustainable competitive advantage for Stay Plus.
Methodology:
Selected competitors: 3-star hotels within 3km of Stay Plus
Key metrics: Google Maps, Agoda, and Ctrip scores (main OTAs used by Stay Plus guests)
Evaluation factors: Digital presence, Physical attributes, Service quality, and Unique features
Key Findings:
Physical Attributes vs. Unique Experience
Most hotels demonstrate competency in basic physical attributes
Higher-scoring properties distinguish themselves through unique offerings
Brand Identity Impact
Hotels with strong brand characteristics and unique selling points consistently score higher
Properties lacking distinctive identity tend to score lower, despite good locations or aesthetics
Competitive Advantage
Success appears less dependent on traditional factors (location, facilities)
Key differentiator: Ability to create memorable experiences through unique features
User Research
Getting to Know the User
Given that 90% of actual guests are Chinese, with the remainder being Asian, the user research focused primarily on Chinese travelers. I employed a 2-pronged approach:
Broad Insights: Bilingual online survey distributed to hotel guests and via Chinese social platforms (WeChat, Xiaohongshu).
In-Depth Insights: 40-minute interviews covering travel preferences, accommodation choices, and hotel service expectations.
Key Survey Findings:
prefer following their plan with some room for flexibility.
consider pre and post-trip hotel services important.
Key Interview Insights:
Strong preference for advice from same-nationality travelers.
Planning & Flexibility
Desire for detailed pre-trip planning balanced with flexibility during the stay.
Safety & Trust
Travellers, especially those from China, prioritise feeling secure in unfamiliar environments.
User Journey Map
Empathise the User
After gathering comprehensive user insights, I created a user journey map. This visualisation revealed not just customer touchpoints, but also the backstage activities, support systems, and dependencies that enable seamless service delivery, helping me optimise the entire hotel experience ecosystem.
Analysis
Identify Hierarchical Themes
The next step was to systematically analyse this qualitative data to uncover deeper patterns. By identifying hierarchical themes, I aimed to understand the core drivers behind guest preferences and behaviours.
Key Themes:
Balanced Planning
Detailed pre-trip planning with in-stay support
Minimal Effort
Preference for easily accessible, low-effort services
Ideation
Make It Crazy 8's
With a solid foundation of user research insights and clearly defined opportunities, we moved into the ideation phase. The goal was to explore diverse solutions for enabling guests at the Bangkok boutique hotel to easily discover and share trusted local experiences.
This technique proved invaluable for quickly visualising diverse approaches to user interaction. The result was a rich pool of varied concepts, some of which challenged initial assumptions and opened new avenues for exploration.
Final Concept & Approach
Service Blueprint
The ideation phase produced many innovative solutions for 'Stay Plus,' covering both digital and physical touchpoints. To make sure both the guest-facing parts and the hotel's background operations worked well together, I moved on to create a service blueprint. This would help me pinpoint key touchpoints and ensure the vision for a better, peer-driven guest service could truly come to life.
The Recommendation Loop
A core element of the 'Stay Plus' experience is 'The Recommendation Loop,' a system designed for the organic sharing and discovery of travel insights. This was directly informed by research highlighting that guests place significant trust in recommendations from peers, especially those with similar backgrounds or nationalities.
New guests receive curated recommendations from previous visitors of similar backgrounds.
During Trip
Guests enjoy their stay, benefiting from peer recommendations.
Post Trip
Guests are encouraged to share their favourite experiences and recommendations.
This continuous cycle ensures fresh, authentic, culturally-relevant advice. Passive encouragement, through guests receiving value and then contributing, fosters an evolving community of shared knowledge at Stay Plus.
Final Design
Phase 1:
Pre-Trip
The 'Stay Plus' experience begins the moment a guest confirms their booking, transforming the pre-arrival period into an opportunity for connection and effortless trip planning. The goal is to extend a warm, friendly welcome and provide immediate value.
Key features include:
Personalised OTA Messaging
Friendly, personalised OTA chat welcome sent post-booking with guest name & check-in details.
Brief, non-overwhelming; includes one clear link guiding guests to the hotel’s pre-stay welcome page.
Hotel Website Integration
User-friendly single webpage (via OTA link) provides essential pre-stay resources without overwhelming guests.
Includes a warm welcome, Bangkok travel tips, and interactive map with 'Stay Plus' peer recommendations to aid planning.
Key Steps of Guest Interaction:
See the message in the platform
Visit hotel welcome page
Phase 2:
During-Trip
This phase enriches the guest's current stay by providing a thoughtfully designed welcome kit. Its physical items offer immediate convenience and engagement, while seamlessly connecting guests to useful digital services.
Welcome Kit
Envelope
Postcard
Map
Multi-Functional Envelope
This redesigned keycard holder acts as a central physical touchpoint. The front securely holds the guest's keycard, featuring the Stay Plus signature pattern. The reverse side includes a brief welcome and intuitively organised QR codes, offering direct access to essential hotel services (like gym booking or car rental) and a dedicated portal for sharing Bangkok discoveries. This design bridges physical convenience with digital accessibility.
Prompt to Share Spots
A dedicated QR code on the envelope links to a simple, user-friendly webpage for sharing favourite Bangkok spots. The sharing process is minimal: guests input the place name, with an option to add a photo, encouraging quick participation.
After submission, an animation confirms their tip on the interactive map. This satisfying feedback builds community connection and reinforces the recommendation loop.
Facilities Page
Scanning specific QR codes on the envelope instantly directs guests to dedicated pages for each hotel facility. These pages provide concise information and a clear call-to-action, such as a "Book Now" button.
Custom postcard
This custom-designed postcard invites guests to become creators. During check-in, guests can personalise their postcard using a collection of Bangkok-themed stamps available. This serves as a personalised souvenir, and makes the welcome experience more memorable.
Physical Map
Included in the welcome envelope is a designed, B4-sized physical map that folds neatly to pocket size. It offers a curated guide to Bangkok's key attractions, landmarks, and points of interest, presented in an easy-to-read layout with clear directions.
Phase 3:
Post-Trip
The 'Stay Plus' journey continues even after checkout. This crucial phase focuses on creating lasting positive impressions and fostering long-term guest relationships by extending the unique hotel experience, encouraging social media engagement, and providing tangible keepsakes that keep 'Stay Plus' memorable.
Personalised Postcard Mailing
The guest-personalised postcard is mailed home, arriving as a delightful surprise. This tangible 'Stay Plus' reminder aims to boost brand recall and encourage return visits, extending their positive experience.
Convertible Photo Frame
The welcome envelope easily converts into a desktop photo frame using simple instructions. With 'Stay Plus' branding, this lasting memento stylishly displays trip photos and encourages organic social media sharing.
AR-Enhanced Polaroid Photo
Guests receive a Polaroid-style photo of their visit. Scanning it unlocks an AR-enhanced video memory (e.g., a hotel/city montage with a thank you). This physical-digital keepsake offers a shareable 'surprise and delight'.
Beyond these tangible keepsakes, the post-trip phase is vital for the 'Stay Plus' ecosystem. Recommendations shared by departed guests are carefully reviewed and integrated into the hotel's database. These fresh, authentic insights are then curated and made available to future guests during their pre-arrival planning, ensuring the continuous enrichment of the peer-to-peer travel advice that defines the 'Stay Plus' experience.
Impact
Stakeholder Validation & Testing
Presentations and interactive testing sessions were carried out using Figma prototypes. These sessions allowed stakeholders (hotel owner and staff) to engage directly with the proposed designs and core user flows. The primary goals were to gather feedback, identify any usability concerns from an operational perspective.
Key Findings & Outcomes:
90%
High task completion rate with the refined prototype
4.5/5.0
Achieved an average ease-of-use rating
A clear positive impact on stakeholders' understanding of the 'Stay Plus' concept and secured their buy-in
The hotel owner and staff provided significant early validation for the project.
Implementation
This project outlines the implementation of both the technological and physical components of the 'Stay Plus' guest experience system. The proposed approach involves:
Digital Infrastructure Development: Commencing with the integration of the recommendation system into the hotel website and the setup of all defined digital touchpoints (OTA messages, welcome page, sharing platform).
Physical Element Production: Simultaneously, manufacturing the physical elements of the welcome kit, including custom-designed envelopes, interactive postcards, stamps, and pocket maps.
Design Handoff & Developer Collaboration
To ensure smooth design-to-development, a collaborative handoff provided comprehensive deliverables: Figma prototypes, design specifications, user flows, service blueprints, requirements documentation, and staff training materials.
Post-Launch Monitoring & Continuous Improvement
To ensure 'Stay Plus's' ongoing success and identify enhancements, a comprehensive monitoring plan was proposed, outlining data collection, feedback mechanisms, and key metrics for success tracking.
Key Takeaways
Reflections
Practical Limitations
The limited access to Chinese online platforms required adapting research methods and leveraging personal connections to gather insights. Similarly, restricted site access highlighted the importance of understanding on-site limitations, from available resources to staff training capabilities. These constraints emphasised the crucial need for deeper stakeholder engagement to create realistic, implementable solutions.
Trust and Security
When handling sensitive content like photos and videos, user trust became paramount. This led to the strategic decision to utilise established platforms like Kodak for photo management, building user confidence through familiar, trusted systems rather than creating new ones.
Research Evolution
The competitor analysis strategy shifted when I discovered that traditional competitors primarily differentiated through physical attributes - factors beyond our scope of improvement. This insight led us to broaden the research to examine case studies of hotels providing exceptional service experiences, focusing on elements we could enhance.
Process Management
The project demonstrated the importance of adaptable project management and communication methods. This flexibility in internal processes proved crucial for maintaining momentum and ensuring effective team collaboration throughout the project lifecycle.
Next Steps
Moving forward, the focus is on establishing a robust monitoring and improvement system. This includes implementing pre-launch guest surveys and usability testing, followed by setting up a comprehensive dashboard for tracking key metrics. The plan encompasses regular check-ins through monthly trend analysis, quarterly guest interviews, and bi-weekly feedback meetings. Staff development will continue through monthly training sessions, while a continuous suggestion system will ensure the solution evolves with guest needs and operational realities.