Agile accommodation without planning
Arrive Inn
How might we reduce friction and speed up the hotel booking process for last minute travelers?
Is there demand for this new service?
A recent report by American Express Travel reveals that by 2024 spontaneous travel will be a growing trend. Around 80% of travelers plan trips at the last minute, and 44% prefer spontaneous trips to those planned in detail.
According to Forbes magazine and the Travel Trends 2023 report by the Hopper tracker, people are spending 30% less time planning trips compared to 2019.
In 2022, more than half (55%) of hotel bookings on the Hopper app were for same-day check-in — an increase of 8% compared to 2021 and 11% compared to 2020. In the first quarter of 2023, almost two-thirds (63%) of bookings on the app were for same-day check-in.
Problems when traveling without prior planning
A study by Google and Phocuswright revealed that 69% of travelers are afraid of not making the best decisions or finding the best prices when using mobile devices. What’s more, only 23% of travelers believe they could get the same deals on mobile as they would on a computer.
Research by Booking.com indicates that 70% of travelers want more technological options for making last-minute reservations, highlighting the need for innovative and efficient solutions to facilitate this experience.
Research
First, we organized our certainties, assumptions and doubts using the CSD Matrix, which helped us draw up the questions that should be prioritized for the quantitative and qualitative research.
Survey
Initial Research and Target Audience Definition
We began by understanding the needs of last-minute travelers through a questionnaire, providing valuable insights and minimizing rework or prioritization errors.
Research Methodology
We formulated a Research Statement to guide our efforts and conducted screening to identify a well-defined target audience, ensuring precise insights into the needs of last-minute travelers.
We collected data from 96 respondents, which can be seen in the graph below:
Around 52% of people often make last-minute, unplanned trips, validating our product’s value proposition.
The absolute majority use accommodation booking apps and prioritize location, price and quality of accommodation in their searches.
In-depth studies and interviews
Building on initial insights, we conducted in-depth user interviews using a detailed research script to deepen understanding of the target audience and their accommodation preferences.
Results
After conducting the interviews, we grouped and analyzed the data collected. Check out some of the main data and findings below:
Preferences when choosing a place to stay
During the interviews, we identified several aspects that users consider essential when choosing a place to stay:
LOCATION
Proximity to the trip’s
points of interest
ORGANIZATION
Hygiene and state of
repair of the place
BEAUTY
Although relative for each participant, the interviewees reported booking according to the beauty of the photos and landscapes of the place
QUALITY OF
SERVICE
High-quality service
is crucial to ensuring that travelers return for future trips
FOOD OPTIONS
The offer and possibility of food on site are decisive factors for many respondents
Preferences about Booking Platforms and Applications
In the interviews, participants highlighted the importance of trusting and preferring booking platforms that fully meet their needs.
We identified the following determining factors:
Security of purchase and prices
Whether prices are always
the same and without unexpected variations at different stages of the booking process, as well as clarity
about additional fees and costs
Customer support
Whether the platform offers multiple layers of security
and customer support,
offering support and taking responsibility for
resolving problems
Free cancellation
Whether the platform offers
free cancellation, an especially important aspect for travelers who don’t plan their stays in advance when traveling
The target audience, personas and the user journey
Using an Affinity Map, we analyzed interview and questionnaire data, identifying two distinct groups:
-
Leisure travelers seeking new experiences with friends and family via airfare deals.
-
Remote workers balancing exploration with structured accommodations for work.
We defined two personas: Letícia (casual traveler) and André (digital nomad), to guide design decisions by reflecting user needs and goals. These personas informed Journey Maps, visually illustrating user experiences from initial thoughts to goal achievement.
This resource is especially important before starting to actually design the product, as it highlights more of the user’s pain points and opportunities that can be remedied and/or addressed, and is an efficient way of generating even more value for consumers.
MVP and Prioritization
Acknowledging uncertainty, we developed MVPs to test essential features and refine the product post-launch. Using an Impact x Effort Matrix, we prioritized high-value, low-effort solutions for efficient, user-focused development.
Sketches:
initial product flow
To start shaping the application for testing we drew sketches on paper and by hand of the main flow of our application.
Medium fidelity wireframes
We created medium-fidelity wireframes in Figma, enabling early testing and critical adjustments while focusing on functionality over visual details.
Putting Design to the Test: Usability Testing
We conducted usability tests at medium and high fidelity. For medium fidelity, we used remote moderated testing with interactive prototypes, guiding users through a script to identify improvements before advancing to high-fidelity prototypes.
In a nutshell, our tests asked users to perform searches, analyses and reservations based on the situational needs of the tests, based on our previous research. Analysis of the initial results allowed us to identify critical points and positive aspects of usability in the main flow of the application.
Branding
After several discussions about the meaning of traveling and finding shelter in an unknown place, we came up with the name Arrive Inn, a union of the words “arrive” and “inn” with the sound of Arriving.
The logo reflects the app's role in connecting destinations, with a symbol replacing "is" to link the words. A rounded, lowercase font was chosen for a friendly, modern, and agile feel.
Style Guide and
Design System
The brand is filled with the colors purple and blue in soft tones, as we want to convey to the user the feeling of calm, to find their ideal hotel, and wisdom, to have the peace of mind that they are making the best deal. We decided that the primary color of the app would be purple, in order to convey an image of modernity and differentiate Arrive Inn from its competitors in the market.
The typeface chosen for the app is Readex Pro for its readability and reduced visual noise. Rounded buttons add a friendly feel, while custom illustrations provide reassurance during critical moments like hotel reservations.
High-fidelity prototype
Using the wireframes and style guide, we built the high-fidelity prototype and conducted unmoderated usability tests via Maze platform. Adjustments, like adding the Emergency button to the Messages tab, improved usability, achieving 100% success in user tasks.
We discovered in our interviews that travelers get anxious to know if the reservation is successfully done. To reassure the user, the illustrations are used in critical moments such as the booking:
Learnings
From the initial research, through the strategy and the CSD matrix, interviews with the target audience and finally the usability tests, ArriveInn has evolved a lot.
Our initial assumptions gave us a direction to follow, but several discoveries were made, such as when checking into the hotel, could we cut this contact with the receptionist and speed up the process? Our research and interviews indicated no, as this was an important and valuable moment in the user’s journey.
Another discovery was the many reports from female users who reported fear and some problems they experienced when traveling, feeling the lack of a direct channel for help, so we found a differentiator for our product and created the Emergency button.
It was a very interesting process, where each iteration led us to the best possible result.
