Streamlining how users search for hotels, entertainment, and break types, ensuring a seamless booking journey. Delivering core search capabilities while allowing for future enhancements.
Business Transformation 2024
Warner Hotels aimed to improve the search and discoverability experience for their guests as part of a larger website and technology stack update. The goal was to streamline how users search for hotels, entertainment, and break types, ensuring a seamless booking journey. The target audience, consisting primarily of Gen X, Boomers, and Post-War generations, required an easy-to-use interface that would simplify decision-making. The company had specific constraints, including a new technology stack that limited real-time data flow, check-in rules that restricted availability on certain days, and the complexity of offering packages that resembled a cruise experience, with activities, entertainment, and meals included.
The task was to design and implement a search feature that catered to the needs of Warner's guests while navigating technical limitations and ensuring future scalability. The core objectives were:
The solution had to be launched as an MVP by Q1 2024, with key features to be delivered immediately while leaving room for future enhancements based on user feedback.
To address these goals and constraints, the team followed a structured design process:
Full feature wireframes were created based on the desired roadmap. However, recognising the limitations of the new technology stack, the team scaled back the wireframes to focus on an MVP that would deliver core functionality first.
The search feature was broken down into four sections—Where, When, Who, and What (later changed to Type of Break). Each section was carefully tailored to meet the needs of Warner's diverse audience:
To minimise distractions and ensure clarity, the search interface was designed to take up the entire screen, presenting information in a focused, easy-to-understand way.
Multiple rounds of user testing were conducted with prototypes, and the team gathered feedback on potential pain points. A pre-launch survey sent to 36,000 guests saw a 16% response rate, with 72% of users able to complete their tasks without issues. A second survey sent to 5,000 users before release resulted in a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 43.2. These insights confirmed the MVP was ready for release with knowledge of the pain points that would be addressed in future iterations.
The MVP search functionality went live in Q1 2024, delivering core search capabilities while allowing for future enhancements. Initial outcomes were mixed but promising:
The business is confident in the MVP’s impact, with user feedback and insights guiding the next phase of development, which will focus on improving the When and Type of Break search sections. These enhancements are scheduled for release in Q4 2024.
Based on user feedback and ongoing testing, Warner Hotels plans to further refine the search functionality, particularly focusing on improvements to the When and Type of Break sections. These updates are expected to be launched in Q4 2024 as part of a continuous effort to enhance user experience and boost overall conversion rates.