Marriott Projects

Marriott.com responsive redesign and more

from 2007-2015

Marriott.com Responsive Redesign

In 2014, Marriott’s UX team began the multi-year journey to convert thousands of in-language content pages from a static design built for a desktop to a responsive one that would work across all viewport sizes. I was the discovery lead and product manager for this project.

 

Mapping the Ecosystem

I made extensive visual sitemaps of each section of Marriott.com. These were primarily used by product managers and UX leadership as a tool for understanding scope and site section ownership, getting a snapshot of upcoming projects, and prioritizing work.

Creating New Components

I worked across disciplines to understand what existing content pages and components were used most often, what was effective, and what was missing. I was covered in data dumps, spreadsheets, workshops, and stakeholder meetings. Then I worked with an external agency, EightShapes, to design and prototype the highest-value components and page patterns in a responsive, rather than static, format. An internal team expanded these patterns into a system that worked for everyone across site sections and languages. Everything was documented in a component library and I trained content management teams, designers, and our agencies around the world on its capabilities.

BEFORE: Meetings & Events on Mobile Viewport

Just one example: The design couldn’t fit onto a mobile viewport – this is what users saw when they brought up the Meetings & Events page on their mobile device.

AFTER: Meetings & Events Responsive Design

Once the responsive framework was in place, all non-transactional pages on Marriott.com underwent a refresh or redesign.

Other Marriott Projects

I worked on dozens of projects while at Marriott from 2007-2015, ranging from quick brainstorms to usability repairs to long redesigns of both customer facing and B2B systems.

 

Marriott Insiders Community

I was UX lead for the first major redesign of the Marriott Insiders community, taking it from a basic out-of-the-box forum solution to a space evocative of the Marriott brand that encouraged participation and delivered useful information to members.

Marriott Personalization

I was the first information architect to work on Marriott’s personalization efforts. I learned extensively about the possibilities and ethics of personalization, worked with the marketing department to understand our available data, educated UX leaders about personalized content, and mocked up and tested ideas with users.

Marriott Events RFP Digital Transformation

I was the information architect for the digital transformation of Marriott’s events and meetings RFP and small group booking processes.

Deals on Marriott.com

I was UX Lead for exploring the ways in which users wanted to see deals on Marriott.com. We interviewed stakeholders, gained an understanding of our databases and the ways hotels created deals, created mockups, and tested them with users.

Telepresence Rooms

How might we continue to host meetings if air travel were disrupted or not cost-effective? I pitched the idea of using Cisco telepresence rooms, and Marriott built several rooms around the globe to test them. It was met with some successes – the NIH loved it! But people loved travel too much and weren’t willing to give it up.