Prototyping & Iterating — Booking Engine
Iterative user testing to significantly improve the booking experience, making it much easier for users to find and modify room selections and ancillaries.
WLH's website was built on technologies that had become increasingly unreliable and slow. In Phase Two the focus was on improving the booking process — specifically allowing users to more easily find and modify their room selections and ancillaries according to their specific needs.
Lead the UX design for the new booking engine — understanding user pain points, aligning design with business objectives, creating and testing wireframes, and ensuring a seamless handover to the development team — all while adapting to a mid-project rebrand.
Gathered detailed information on user pain points by analysing call centre data and Qualtrics surveys, highlighting the need for users to easily discover and modify room choices and ancillaries. Conducted a competitor analysis to identify key industry features and innovations.
Engaged with key stakeholders to align the project with business needs and objectives, ensuring design solutions addressed both user and business requirements.
Mapped the entire user journey and restructured the information architecture, incorporating innovative design thinking to make it easier for users to find and modify room options and additional services. Continued developing the design and component library from Phase 1.
Created initial wireframes and conducted rigorous user testing, focusing on how easily users could navigate, select, and modify room and ancillary choices. Iterated on designs to enhance usability; refined wireframes were presented to stakeholders and developers to establish project timelines.
Reworked the wireframes to create a stripped-back MVP, ensuring the core feature of easy room and ancillary modification was front and centre while planning for future enhancements.
Facilitated a smooth handover of all UX wireframes and artefacts to the development team, and created prototypes for post-MVP features — user-tested to ensure the booking engine would continue to evolve based on user needs.
When the business underwent a complete rebrand mid-project, updated all in-progress wireframes to align with the new brand identity and developed digital brand guidelines focused on accessibility.
The booking engine reached the final stages of pre-release and was scheduled for delivery in Q4 2024. The iterative, user-focused approach led to a product that significantly improved the booking experience, making it much easier for users to find and modify their room selections and ancillaries — ensuring WLH maintains a competitive edge in the market.