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Summary

Our internal Innovation group brought this start-up as case study to look at enhancing the hotel portfolio. Working with hotel product managers in Chicago and Dallas and with Hotelverse stakeholders in London, the Design Strategy team performed a storyboard workshop to create and define the top Use Cases with Hotelverse technology within the hotel portfolio. With this project, we wanted to further define PoCs to build together.

By the Numbers

  • 40 Use Cases discovered
  • 06 Themes uncovered
  • 03 Business Plans at a high-level

Workshop Participants

  • Director Product Management
  • Sr Product Manager
  • Principal II Product Manager
  • Technical Product Manager
  • Design Strategy Director
  • Chief Marketing Officer
  • Technical Product Manager

Workshop Activities

  • Use Case Creation : Product Managers created a series of uses cases across the hotel portfolio
  • Clustered into Themes : The themes could be revisited in the future. Plus, there might be a way to deliver customer value based upon these themes. 
  • Use Case Prioritization : Product Managers voted on the top use cases to further explore with Hotelverse in a future storyboard workshop with them. This activity provided an initial alignment and prioritization.
  • High-Level Initial Business Plan : PM’s created an initial business plan to envision what success might look like for the top use cases. The initial business plan covers Where to Play, How to Win, Assumptions, Enablers, etc.

Use Cases

  • #1:  INITIAL SELL :
    • Competitive Advantage : Proprietary Platform; current direct distribution hotels in target markets
    • Win in a Sustainable Way : Innovative guest experience
  • #2 SELECT ROOM :
    • Competitive Advantage : Loyalty program engagement (offer)
    • Win in a Sustainable Way : Adding 3rd party interfaces
  • #3 UPSELL :
    • Competitive Advantage : Visual guide to drive purchase of room, no competitors so far
    • Win in a Sustainable Way : Innovative guest experience, improve customer satisfaction

Immediate Next Steps

  • Review Report : Take some time to review this report and reflect on findings.
  • Review the Initial Business Plan of Each Use Case : Spend time reviewing each of the business plans for each use case. Socialize with your team to update the business plan.
  • Update the Initial Business Plan, If Needed : After talking with your team, update the business plan for each use case. The business plan will change, as we learn more.
  • Schedule time for a Storyboard Workshop : Schedule a storyboard workshop with Hotelverse to further refine the use cases and ensure a successful implementation of them.

Next Workshop

Request an interview to view the report. I’m happy to talk about this project with you!

Summary

Working with hotel product managers and Hotelverse stakeholders, the Design Strategy team performed a storyboard workshop to visualize the top use cases to Hotelverse technology within the SHS portfolio. With this project, we wanted to further define PoCs to build together.

Goals and Outcomes

  • Visualized 9 use cases where Hotelverse might be used across the HS portfolio.
  • Determined Where to Play and How to Win for each of the use cases
  • Identified what’s needed at each step of a use case with the storyboards. 
  • Aligned on a high-level business plan to successfully implement each use case

By the Numbers

  • 40 Use Cases discovered
  • 06 Themes uncovered
  • 03 Business Plans reviewed at a high-level
  • 03 Storyboards built together

Workshop Activities

  • Use Case Workshop : Internal workshop with hotel group to determine high-level opportunities looking at their portfolio, top themes, use cases, and high-level business plans.
  • Review Business Plans with Hotelverse : Hotelverse answers questions based upon the initial draft of the high-level business plans from the Use Case Workshop from hotel group staff.
  • Visualize the Use Case with Storyboards : Working together the Hotelverse team and SHS Product Managers built storyboards to visualize the use cases together.
  • Identify and Prioritize Use Cases : Teams identified ways that each Use Case could succeed, needs, roles, responsibilities, and prioritized the use cases together. Started to build a plan.

Focus on High-Level Plans for PoC’s

  • Guest booking during initial sale of room
  • Ability to upsell room in booking flow
  • Choose a higher room type during booking flow
  • Add ancillary items to initial room purchase

Immediate Next Steps

  • Review Report : Take some time to review this report and reflect on findings.
  • Review the Initial Business Plan of each Storyboard : Spend time reviewing each of the business plans for each use case. Socialize with the team to update the business plan.
  • Review Each Storyboard : Review each storyboard, including the swim lanes for Hotelverse and Sabre to better understand handoffs and needs.
  • Schedule & Perform Technical Deep Dives : Schedule and perform technical deep dives to understand what’s need from each company. It’s the first step to building a POC.
  • Align on a POC Schedule with Regular Meetings : Work with internal stakeholders for a POC schedule and regularly meet to avoid blockers, gain alignment, etc.
  • Determine Hypotheses and Experiments : Run a Hypotheses and Experiments workshop with Design Strategy to align on the experiments for each of the POCs.