ENJOY PUNTA DEL ESTE
ROLE:
Project Leader – Designer
User Research, Usability Test, Visual Design, Developing and testing.
PARTICIPATING TEAMS:
Marketing, IT, Sales, Casino
PROBLEM DEFINITION
- Enjoy Punta del Este belongs to an International Company who designed a corporate website 3-4 years ago. Being the largest hotel of all, it has a much wider offer as well as different communication needs, and the structure of the corporate site was not adjusted to the needs of our users.
- The hotel handles a very large volume of information and the corporate site does not have the capacity and structure to show everything clearly.
- Although it has a CMS, it is limited, so it was not possible to update all the sections and contents, and in case a major change was required, the request had to be submitted to IT in Chile, and the responses generally took too long.
HOW IT ALL STARTED
Given the magnitude of the project and the number of areas involved and interested in having their own website, we decided to hold a Design Sprint workshop (led by Nicolas Bianchi) for 2 days,
where people from different areas such as Marketing, Hotel, Casino, Production and Contents, Sales (Uru, Arg and Bra), Punto Agency, Food and Beverage and IT participated.
During the workshop, different issues were addressed, all of which were worked on with a focus on the website.
As a final result of the workshop, several prototypes of different functionalities were obtained, in addition to a large volume of information that was subsequently analyzed.
OBJECTIVES AND GOALS
- Create a platform (website) with all the information about the Hotel and its different activities.
- Generate in the user the habit of visiting the site every time he/she wants to know something about what is happening.
- Have the site 100% updated on a permanent basis so that it can be a useful resource for hotel employees as well.
THE PROCESS
Both in the Design Sprint Workshop and throughout the process we used the Design Thinking methodology.
EMPATHIZE
DEFINE
IDEATE
DESIGN
TESTING
This was the RoadMap we established for the 1st stage:
March 17th-18th
-Design Sprint Workshop
Abril 3rd to 7th
-User Research
-Benchmarking
Abril 10th to 14th
-User Personas and Empathy Map
– Wireframes
-Digital Wireframes + 1st prototype
Abril 17th to 21st
-Usability Test
-Moodboard
Abril 24th to 28th
-Accesibility
-High Definition Prototype
May 2nd to 29th
-Developing
-Testing
BENCHMARKING
We selected 6 hotels that for some of their characteristics are competitors of Enjoy Punta del Este, either by proximity, by similarity of entertainment offer or even for being a reference in the industry. In all cases they were analyzed and we were able to obtain some conclusions to take into account when designing the website.
The overall experience is very good. It is a clear site, well organized, and with just the right amount of information to go through it all. It has very good images (and they are well used).
The site manages to convey very well the essence of the place and the experience that the user can live being there.
Regarding the functionalities, this site is part of a larger one (of the Principality of Monaco), so at times one leaves the site without realizing it and this generates some friction.
The site manages to convey very well the essence of the place and the experience that the user can live being there.
Regarding functionalities, it is a very large site, with well organized information.
Confusion can arise when trying to reserve a table in restaurants, since these reservations are made through other platforms.
Aesthetics: It is acceptable.
Practicality for the user: It is practical
Destination: It only has the location, they do not talk about the destination, attractions near the hotel, etc.
Visibility of social networks: Not listed
Quality of content: Photos of rooms of low quality.
Audiovisual video: Acceptable
Tripadvisor: I think it is a good tool, where they show customer comments, their experiences, etc.
Aesthetics: Minimalist, innovative.
Practicality to the user: It is practical
Destination: Shows the destination where each of its hotels are located. Very good content.
Visibility of social networks: They are linked.
Quality of content: High quality
Audiovisual video: We did not find Tripadvisor: It does not count.
Unlike the rest of the hotels seen, it is the only one that proposes a more different aesthetic, which manages to transmit the essence of the place.
At the UI level it has some bugs, but overall the site experience is good.
USER PERSONAS
Given the size of the hotel and the wide variety of users that visit it annually, we concluded that we should focus on 3 User Personas: the guest, the casino player and the businessman looking for a place to hold an event.
Name: Natalia
Profession: “housewife”
User Type: Guest
Description: Natalia is a housewife who is dedicated to her family, likes to go out with friends, be on the cutting edge and invests in her beauty. Her husband is a businessman who works all day during the week. He leaves early and comes back late.
They have come to the hotel on other occasions.
OBJECTIVES AND GOALS
- Relax on the weekend, spend time with family, have dinner with your husband and spend time at the spa.
- Seeks fun and entertainment.
- All the services of a 5 star hotel.
FRUSTRATIONS AND PROBLEMS
- Keeping fit.
- To be a good mother and wife.
- Little family time with her husband.
MOTIVATIONS
- To have all the services to be able to delegate tasks, rest and have fun.
- Leave the kids in a safe place where they won’t miss her like Kids Club so she can have quality time with her husband or time to herself at the SPA knowing that her family is having fun too.
- Spending time with the family eating, at the pool or taking a walk.
- She is motivated by having everything in one place, escaping to an important hotel, internationally recognized, with trajectory and a guarantee of having a good time.
AND WITH RESPECT TO THE PRODUCT WE WANT TO DEVELOP?
- They seek to make a reservation in an agile and simple way. Visually clear with photos of rooms, facilities and entertainment offer.
- They need to be clear about the services that are included in the rates.
Name: Santiago
Profession: Businessman
User Type: Casino Player
Description: Santiago is an Argentine businessman who often comes to Enjoy Punta del Este with his family, since he can spend hours in the Casino while his wife and children are entertained in other areas.
MOTIVATIONS
- Travel as a family to places with activities for everyone.
- Maintain their social status.
FRUSTRATIONS AND PROBLEMS
- Losing money that I did not contemplate.
- Not to win.
MOTIVATIONS
- Service and quality of service.
- Returns on courtesies.
- Shows, Dinners, Tournaments.
AND WITH RESPECT TO THE PRODUCT WE WANT TO DEVELOP?
- Quickly contact someone at the hotel to learn about your benefits or to coordinate visits.
- To have within reach all the activities that will be available during your stay, both for you (casino) and for your family (SPA, Shows, Kids, Gastronomy).
Name: Miguel
Profession: Businessman
User Type: Convention Center Customer
Description: Miguel is a successful businessman who spends most of the year traveling, which means he rarely sees his family. He is a very social and up-to-date person, who seeks personalized attention when organizing his events.
MOTIVATIONS
- Maintain the growth of your company.
- To be able to spend more time with his family.
FRUSTRATIONS AND PROBLEMS
- He spends very little time with his family.
- He is very demanding, so when something does not go as he wishes, he gets frustrated.
- Getting out of his routine is a problem as he is very organized.
- He defines himself as a workaholic.
MOTIVATIONS
- The success of your company keeps you motivated.
- Have everything organized to be able to delegate tasks and focus on other things.
AND WITH RESPECT TO THE PRODUCT WE WANT TO DEVELOP?
- Every year you do a very big event for your company, and you are always looking to outdo the previous event.
- Having all the information you need about our resort in one place will save you time and increase the likelihood that you will choose us.
MVP (Minimum Viable Product)
As part of the Design Sprint Workshop we obtained an MVP for each problem presented. This information, added to the information we were able to obtain from the User Personas, allowed us to work on a new MVP. In addition, a work plan was elaborated which determined that the website would be built in stages, the first one being an “informative” stage, that meant having the site with all the areas of the hotel with their basic information.
WIREFRAMES
We took the wireframes made by hand during the workshop (the ones that served for the first stage of the project) and took them to low-fidelity digital wireframes, to perform the first tests.
TEST USABILIDAD
We selected 5 users for each User Persona, in order to test the main functions and receive their feedback.
Hypothetical Scenario:
A- User Person Hotel: You are planning your next trip to Enjoy Punta del Este and want to see what rooms are available and book one if possible.
B- User Persona Casino: You want to find out what you need to do to become a member of the Enjoy Club Benefits Club, besides knowing all the activities available at the Casino.
C- User Person Conventions: You are looking for a venue for your next event, so you want to find out what the hotel has to offer in this regard.
Tasks:
A- Find a room, make a reservation, see all the activities on offer and contact someone in reservations.
B- See all Casino activities, see the requirements to become an Enjoy Club member, quickly contact someone from the Casino.
C- Search the Conventions section, see the information and technical data sheet of a Show, find the contact details of the sector.
Success Criteria
A- The user was able to make a reservation, see the calendar and contact.
B- He/she was able to see the calendar of activities, go to the Enjoy Club section and contact.
C- He/she found the section, saw the information of a Salon and its technical data, found the contact information.
As a result of these tests, we were able to draw conclusions about which functions were useful for the users, which ones needed to be improved and which ones could be added according to their needs.
- They were able to see the calendar of activities
- All users were able to complete their tasks
- They wanted to see the menu of the restaurants
- Important information about the Events & Conventions team was missing.
- They were looking for information about Destiny
- To have the contact of the 3 offices
- Have a FAQ section
- Being able to book a restaurant from the web
MOODBOARD
Together with the Marketing team, a Moodboard was created to unify and transmit the spirit that the website was going to have.
THE FINAL RESULT
After almost 2 months of work we were able to complete the 1st stage of this project, achieving the objectives we had set ourselves.
Here we share some images of the project.
LESSONS LEARNED
This was the 1st time I was able to occupy the role of Project Leader, which put me in a different place than I was used to, since I not only had to fulfill my tasks as Designer, but I also had to delegate many tasks and supervise their progress.
I was able to verify once again the importance of listening to the user, since all the information gathered through the usability tests could not have been obtained in any other way than listening to the user.
Another lesson that this project taught me is the fact of having to “negotiate” with the interests of the company (as a business in itself) and the needs of the users. It is important as Designers to be clear about the arguments for which we make each decision, in order to present them to the Board of Directors.
POST-LAUNCH METRICS
During the 1st month of the Web we had 10 thousand users, which speaks of the need to have a platform with all the information of the Hotel.
