This document outlines a user research plan for Marriott's digital properties. It identifies key issues uncovered in previous user testing, including problems with the hotel search function, sorting search results, finding hotel information, and booking hotels. The plan aims to improve these areas and drive users to additional Marriott features. It proposes research goals, questions, and next steps like reviewing analytics, a brief competitor review, and surveying 500 past and potential users.

1. A User Research Plan for
Digital Properties
by Alisha Kimberley, User Researcher
akimber2@kent.edu
Stakeholders:
James Murphy (PM), Sam Eisenschenk (Head Engineer)
Last updated 6/1/2014
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Findings
Know what your users know.

2. User Research Executive Summary
With the results collected from the Nano Usability Test to build upon, we now move forward
to more targeted research. We’ve uncovered some prominent user experience issues, where
we know improvements are needed. Now, we’ll dig deeper into:
• The success of hotel search function.
• How search results are being sorted.
• How guests are looking for information on particular hotels.
• How they are booking their choice hotel.
• And how we can best call attention to other features Marriott boasts.
Our goal throughout this research will be to identify the strengths and weaknesses of
Marriott.com’s user experience and uncover opportunities for improvement.
Findings
Know what your users know.

3. Prominent User Experience
Issues Encountered
Marriott’s Digital Properties 6/1/2014 3

4. Issue: Hotel Search Function
1) Guests do not notice they can change the way they view
Marriott’s Digital Properties 6/1/2014 4
their search results.
2) Users found no further benefit by using the Advance
Search option because it did not feature additional options
that they cared about.
3) Visitors wondered why they were not able to filter by
function in the first place, not as a secondary level after
their initial search already happened.

5. Issue: Sorting Search Results
4) Guests do not notice they can change the way they view
Marriott’s Digital Properties 6/1/2014 5
their search results.
5) Users would like to have been able to base hotel choice on
a star-rating system. (Closest rating they could find was
Brand and they weren’t even certain what that meant to
them.)
6) When visitors found additional options to sort by, they did
not understand what the options’ labels meant before
actually clicking on each them.

6. Issue: Seeking More Hotel Info
7) Guests wanted more pertinent information to readily be
available about the hotel itself; and they wanted to be able
to drill down for more information when needed.
8) Users did not readily see where they could look at photos
of the hotel and made comments about the ‘stupid’
location of the link to them.
Marriott’s Digital Properties 6/1/2014 6

7. Issue: Making a Hotel Booking
9) Visitors felt the cost section of their reservation was
purposely de-emphasized.
10) They also thought the cost section of their reservation and
the check-out screen were not as professional-looking as
the rest of the website.
11) Guests noted the Pillow Preference option was nice, but
kind of funny. They didn’t know why it was placed with the
requested options since the preference was not
guaranteed.
Marriott’s Digital Properties 6/1/2014 7

8. Issue: Highlighting Additional
Features on Marriott.com
12) Visitors asked how they sign up for Marriott Rewards.
They did not notice they could register as they booked
their hotel.
13) They also did not understand the benefit of registering for
Marriott’s Digital Properties 6/1/2014 8
Marriott Rewards.
14) Guests were not aware of the fact that they could book a
flight and a hotel together.

9. Building a User Research Plan
Marriott’s Digital Properties 6/1/2014 9

10. User Research
Goals
1. Improve upon the hotel search function.
2. Allow for easier manipulation of the hotel search results.
3. Discover what information users readily want to know about the hotels they are
Marriott’s Digital Properties 6/1/2014 10
researching.
4. Determine what visitors expect and want to be provided with as they move through
the booking process.
5. Drive guests to the additional features (other than the basic booking) available on
Marriott.com.

11. User Experience
Questions
1. What is the demographic makeup of our user population?
2. How do people choose a hotel?
3. Why do people start a hotel search and then not complete a reservation?
4. When do people use the Marriott website vs. the mobile app?
5. What value are customers looking for in a hotel loyalty program?
Marriott’s Digital Properties 6/1/2014 11

12. General Research
Questions
1. What kind of distractions do users encounter as they are searching for and booking a
Marriott’s Digital Properties 6/1/2014 12
hotel?
2. Do guests prefer to use visit Marriott.com via their computers or their phones?
3. What are the most important features guests look for when selecting a hotel?
4. How do people enter data into the hotel search function?
5. When/where/how should the Marriott Rewards Program be introduced to
Marriott.com visitors?

13. Questions for Users
1. Where are you physically located when you initiate a search on Marriott.com?
2. What member of your party tends to book the reservation?
3. What would make you decide to join a rewards program?
4. How important is price when you book a reservation? (1-5 scale)
5. What kind of hotel room preferences are you interested in?
6. What kind of hotel amenities to you expect to be featured on Marriott.com?
7. How much time do you expect it will take to make a reservation?
8. How likely are you to ask for assistance if it’s available on the website? (1-5 scale)
9. What makes you want to create an account while booking online?
10. Are you traveling for business or leisure?
11. Do you visit more than one hotel’s website before making a booking?
12. Will you be traveling with children?
13. Do you own a smart phone?
14. What do you like about Marriott.com?
15. What don’t you like about Marriott.com?
Marriott’s Digital Properties 6/1/2014 13

14. What’s next?
Marriott’s Digital Properties 6/1/2014 14

15. Business Goals for
Digital Properties
1. Increase hotel booking via digital properties by 10%
2. Increase reservations for their luxury and Lifestyle Collection hotel categories
3. Gain 10,000 incremental members of the Marriott Rewards loyalty program in the
first quarter after the redesign
4. Decrease by 20% the number of people starting and then abandoning a reservation
5. Increase by 5% the number of people choosing a hotel and flight package (vs. just
Marriott’s Digital Properties 6/1/2014 15
booking their hotel alone)

16. Recommendations for Next Steps
Review the web analytics to find out information, like how often people visit the site and how
long they stay. You can also identify where people abandon the site.
Since users did not understand some of the labels that were used to identify the additional
options available when sorting the hotel results, we suggest a very brief competitive review
of other hotel chains’ websites. See how the competition labels items and sorts them into
categories. A formal card sorting session is unnecessary.
Lastly, conduct a survey built upon some of the questions offered within this report. Use a
rating scale 1-5. Administer it to prior Marriott.com visitors, as well as potential visitors.
Survey about 500 users.
Once the data from these three research methods is
gathered, we’ll be ready to move forward with confidence
to re-design Marriott’s digital properties with both your
business goals and your customers in mind.
Findings
Know what your users know.