Motel 6 is the leading budget motel chain that is currently undergoing a massive renovation in all of its 1300 properties in the United States and Canada.

In order to mirror the renovations that are taking place, the company wanted to elevate the digital experience in a way that matches industry standards as well as guests expectations.

Our goal was to make booking and check-in the easiest experience in the industry by automating booking, billing, check-in, and key entry all via an iOS app so that guests can book a room and just walk right in.

This project has helped me understand the importance of user testing and research and how it informs the design process. It’s a crucial step in order to deeply understand users pain points and find a solution to a problem that is not always visible on the surface.

In order to have a clear understanding about the target customers, their pain points, what they expect to find in a reservation booking app and what our competitors are doing we took the following steps:

1. Surveys- we sent out surveys to people who have stayed in a budget motel in order to understand who they are 

2. User Interviews- we interviewed our target users to better understand their needs and expectations as well as learn about the process of booking and searching.

3. User Testing- we had a group of 10 people use the current motel6 app while we observed and then interviewed them about their experience

4. Competitive and Comparative Analysis: we studied both the process of the keyless entry feature, as well as how other reservation apps like Hotel Tonight and Hotels.com work

- The majority of motel6 guests are users on the go. 

- Users want to find an affordable, clean room along their route. The current app was lacking this option which was crucial for our key user who uses the app on the go and doesn’t plan their trip in advance

- Users wanted to see the distance and price information first 

- Users don’t want to spend time at the front desk and they want to be able to walk right in without any delays.

- 20% of users felt there were too many options visible to them at a given point

With these findings in mind, in order to meet users’ expectations and support the business objective, we designed three priority features:

1- Instant Book- gives the user one option based on their set preferences

2- Search Along My Route- Lets you see available rooms which are along your route (connects to Google map or let’s you enter your destination)

3- Mobile Check in and Keyless Entry

Mobile check in and keyless entry let’s you access your room with your phone without having to wait in line for your key. Your phone IS the key.

With this feature, users will know when their room is ready, how to get there from the parking and how to access to other guest services Motel 6 offers.

Upon checkout, their credit card will be charged automatically.

For the next steps, more testing will be needed in order to determine the usability of the Instant Book feature and perhaps test it on select group of motel 6 users who are already existing members in order to see if users like it or find it limiting.

In addition, we’ll need to test the mobile check in and keyless entry feature in real life to identify any difficulties and issues users may encounter.

It’s important to say that for the purpose of the practice we were given, certain constraints were not fully taken into account when designing the keyless entry feature, such as the type of technology motel 6 will choose to use or the company’s age restriction on booking a reservation and how to bypass it without slowing down the process or limit it to verified motel6 members only.