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FOUR SEASONS
How Augmented Reality and Keyless Entry Can
Improve the Hotel Experience.
Project Overview
This is an ongoing, concept level project that I am currently presenting to the Vice President of Rooms at Four Seasons. Working within the strict constraints of brand, I sought to gain an understanding of how AR and Keyless Entry can improve the hotel experience. I added this feature to the Four Seasons mobile app.
Solution
Implementing mobile key technology provides guests with the convenience of reducing time at the front desk and assists in the prevention of lost or forgotten room keys. This solution allows hotel guests to check in and access their assigned guest room immediately upon arrival, unlocking the door with their mobile device and thus eliminating the need to visit the front desk. Potential guests are also given the opportunity to view the entire hotel from a 360° perspective, allowing them to view and get directions to the rooms, gym, pool, lobby and more.
Role
UX/UI Design, User Research, User Interviews, Prototyping, Usability Testing
Tools
Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Optimal Workshop
Timeline
3 weeks/30hrs per week
DESIGN IN DETAIL
Ready to jump into the prototype? Click to view in Figma.
view prototype
01 research
RESEARCH GOALS
- Gain an in-depth understanding of the hospitality industry and how user experience plays a factor, both virtually and in-person.
- Identify trends and insight into competitors and how they’ve accomplished keyless entry. (Hilton, Marriott, etc)
- Identify target audiences, in part as Four Seasons guests, but also users who would ultimately use keyless entry/360 room views. (ie. Would Millennials primarily use keyless entry? How do we support an older generation who may not use this feature?)
- Gain a deep insight into Four Seasons users’ goals, needs, frustrations, and motivations.
USER RESEARCH RESULTS
100%
of total participants
- said seeing a 360 view of their hotel and room would be beneficial to their stay allow them to gain trust with the hotel brand
- said having a Mobile Key and Virtual Check-in would save them time and that it was a major bonus for them
- said they would want to ensure that the Mobile Key was secure before using it - but trusted that the hotel would do so
- would download an app if it meant they could check-in virtually and use a key on their phone
- enjoy amenities and activities, such as the pool, gym and spa once they’re at the hotel
INTERVIEW WITH STAKEHOLDER
I conducted an interview with the Vice President of Rooms at Four Seasons to better understand the clientele and the goals and pain points that Four Seasons is facing.
Goals
- Streamline guests needs prior and during their stay
- Build loyalty and gain retention on their app
- Add additional features to their current app in order to enhance their guests' stay.
Problems
- How can we predict and integrate the guests itinerary without feeling too pushy or like blatant marketing.
- The two things Four Seasons wants to focus on for improving their app is: Mobile Key and Mobile Payment.
- How do we allow the user to set up their profile so that it queues up relevant information for their stay?
potential SOLUTIONS
After my conversation, I sought to gather a few solutions to Four Seasons' problems and how AR and Keyless Entry could solve them. Below is a few of my ideas and questions that I posed while designing this feature.
- Through the AR technology, can we discover a way to add recommendations based on the guests' habits/stay.
- For example: on the first night when the guest is checking in, and using their Mobile Key, they get an alert that says something about making a reservation for dinner in regards to a restaurant near their location in the lobby.
- The user can access the menu, reviews, a 360 view of the restaurant and pick out their table and make a reservation
- Would need to ensure these alerts are personable and in a way that does not feels like spam ie. the guest doesn’t receive that alert every time they go into the lobby
- Using the mobile key to have guests use their phone to charge the expense to their room and the card that is on file within the app.
- This could send a receipt to the app as well - “Four Martini’s at the Lobby Bar: $64”.
- Would act as an additional security feature, to ensure someone didn’t over here guest's room number and is charging items to their room without their knowledge. - Mobile Key is used to enter the gym. Can the hotel gain the information that a specific guest visited the gym 7 times during their stay and use that information to give them a more personalized visit next time?
- If you love to do yoga, then every hotel you’re in should showcase yoga classes at the hotel or local studios for their stay. That’s proactive thinking so that the guest doesn’t have to go seek someone out and ask them about yoga classes, they already have that information.
- Exploring the fine line between being personalized/accommodating and being “creepy”. No one wants to feel tracked but how can we use that information to our advantage?
defining the job
In order to better define the key user I would be designing for, I created a persona based on my insights from my user research. Using a jobs-to-be-done approach, I defined ideas for why this persona, Josh, would hire the app. From there, I generated “how might we” statements and began to generate solutions.
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02 ideation
I created a few lo-fi wireframes to explore a few different ideas for the mobile key landing page. I ended up with a variation of #1 and #4. I believe it encompasses all of the information the user will need whilst staying at the hotel and gives to option to both unlock the door or pay for something.
expanding upon the ideation
final wireframes - pre testing
03 USABILITY TESTING
Using a small but diverse set of subjects I solicited feedback for proof of concept and future features and functionality.
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04 FINAL UI
features
- Landing page showcasing mobile key feature while retaining Four Seasons branding.
- Designed new page called 'my stay' where users can access mobile key and 360 map
- Exploration of Mobile Key, Spa & Wellness page, search results and directions
ADDITIONAL SCREENS
During testing, users were interested in how AR could be used through the booking process. Currently, Four Seasons does not offer booking within their app but I wanted to explore how this could be implemented. Because I designed a new page called 'my stay', this is where users would access the booking feature. This allows for a seamless transition for the user to search, book and then access their stay at Four Seasons.
Because the booking process was not within the project scope, I only designed two screens in order to investigate how this design feature would look within the app.
next steps
Phase 02
In the next iteration of this project, I would like to work on implementing more features including:
- Fleshing out the complete booking experience flow within the app
- Notifications for hotel services via AR maps
- Mobile Key payment
- Making a reservation and selecting table using 360 maps
final reflection
I really enjoyed exploring keyless entry and AR within the hospitality industry. Apps, in particular, are increasingly important in the way hoteliers manage the services they provide to their customers and can now control many aspects of the guest cycle and experience. Including features such Virtual & Augmented Reality allows guests to use this tool to explore the hotel, access restaurant opening times, reviews or interactive tourist information maps, or even create user-generated content.
Overall, the design had a usability test completion rate of 100% (5 out of 5 participants) when navigating the prototype.
view prototype
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