Hilton Hotels User Research
Hilton stakeholders are seeking to gain a deeper understanding of the wants, needs, and expectations of users in choosing to book a hotel for business and leisure travelers as well as motivations and expectations when enrolling in a loyalty program.
Problem
Key executives at Hilton identified ten key business goals and are seeking information to help achieve these goals. Unfortunately, their goals are varied so we narrowed down these goals to those that could and could not be addressed with qualitative user research, specifically through participant interviews.
Approach
Research Plan & Interview Protocol
Once stakeholder alignment was gained, we developed a cohesive research plan that included high-level research themes and questions as well as an interview protocol to help facilitate a conversation with our users.
Conduct Interviews
Next, we conducted a series of interviews with target users. These interviews were conducted digitally using a variety of web conferencing applications to understand how travelers begin their search and choose lodging as well as gauging interest in and knowledge of loyalty programs. The study included interviews with four semi-frequent leisure and business travelers.
Analyze & Synthesize Data
Using a shared spreadsheet, the team collected interview findings and discovered patterns amongst our users. We then prioritized our findings by creating an affinity diagram to highlight key themes that emerged through the research.
Results
The key themes discovered in our research were:
Motivations to sign up for loyalty programs
Our users were most interested in signing up for a program when the terms, agreements, and benefits were clearly laid out. Key concerns were how easy or hard it was to enroll in the program and what savings the user gained if any from enrollment. If communication was not clear or savings were not easily obtained, interviewees were not motivated to sign up for a loyalty program.
Desirable characteristics of a hotel property
Safety, comfort, and cleanliness were by far the most important property features to our interview participants. This was followed closely by on-site and/or local amenities like a pool and hot tub in the hotel and good food close by or an attached restaurant. Breakfast included was an especially important feature for business travelers and leisure travelers with families.
Motivations to book with a certain hotel
For both business and leisure travelers, proximity to the event or attraction was most important. Once this location was narrowed down, the price of the room was the next method of filtering and choosing to lodge. For some, chic, modern features were a bonus when making a choice to book.