Low-fi Prototyping & Pilot Usability Testing StayRight Team

StayRight Our Values Ethics matter. Don’t stay at the wrong hotel. StayRight.

Our Mission to increase awareness of unethical hotels and encourage travellers to stay in hotels with good practices

Our top idea Selected interface We chose to prototype a Chrome plugin that augments a user’s view when browsing and booking hotels on existing websites/services. Rationale Users don’t want to change their current hotel browsing and booking behaviors (on KAYAK, Expedia, Google Search, etc.). We want to seamlessly integrate our product into users' existing habits.

Low-fi Prototype Structure Chrome plugin Focus on existing habits Displays badges, pop-ups and redirects the user to a full page application.

Main Tasks browse & select track your impact report bad practices Include a fourth task? report bad practices

Task #1: Browse & Select

Task #1: Browse & Select

Task #1: Browse & Select (cont.)

Task #1: Browse & Select (cont.)

Task #1: Browse & Select (cont.)

Task #1: Browse & Select (cont.)

Task #2: Track Your Progress

Task #3: Report Bad Practices

Experimental Method Step 1: Briefing & intro Step 2: Firing up the machine Step 3: Summarizing

Step 1: Briefing & intro When we greeted the participants, we didn’t reveal to them the true purpose of our product. We simply said that StayRight would help them choose a hotel for their next travel. We asked them to start by evaluating the hotels they see on the screen.

Step 2: Firing up the machine We let the users interact with the screen. If they tapped on grayed out Kayak or Google Hotels buttons, we didn’t simulate any interaction. If they tapped on the StayRight badges, we started the task flow.

Step 3: Summarizing At the end of the experiment, we asked them the summarize what they think is the purpose of this app in 1 sentence. This step helped us validate whether users clearly understood the value proposition of our product. We also asked them whether this app would affect their decision if they used it.

Experimental Results Our top 6 findings

Tie-breakers Testers valued price and location above all, but they said they would use ethical score as a tie-breaker.

Meters > badges Meters were perceived as objective and honest, rather than “sponsored” content. These elements are critical to the trustworthiness of our product.

Credibility & transparency Testers wanted to know how our ratings were calculated and how reports might be reviewed for truthfulness.

Reporting vs. reviewing Testers appreciated a distinction between leaving a review and reporting bad practices.

Consistency Standardizing elements (such as meters and star ratings) could help users interpret and act faster.

Labeling & content Our content was unclear for some testers and could benefit from clearer descriptions.

Suggested UI Changes Platform Move to a mobile app Bring in data from Google Hotels/Kayak Provide ability to book directly Functionality Guests don’t have the knowledge to review hotel ethics - remove the add comment/review page. Display how ethical footprint is calculated Meters instead of star badges Wording “Reviews” → “Staff Reports” Mention reviewers are certified hotel staff Mention Meters associated with hotels on the browsing page Title on “Ethical Breakdown” popup Consistency of scores and ranking for hotels and travelers (whose scores are comprised of the hotels they’ve stayed at) The bar below the graph on the “Your Profile” page. Do scores on the bar apply to the user’s overall history, or just to a single hotel from the progress chart that they’ve clicked on? The summary/scores at the bottom of the “Your Impact” page should have a title to indicate what this section about Reframe the “Review Hotel ‘X’” page as a “Report Hotel ‘X’” page to suit our intended task Modify or scrap the reporting page altogether. We’re not sure that guests have the ethos to rate a hotel’s ethical or unethical practices Show the users that the hotel staff leaving reviews/reports are certified; they are knowledgeable about the hotel Offer an explanation of how ethical scores are calculated

New UI Mention Meters associated with hotels on the browsing page Title on “Ethical Breakdown” popup Consistency of scores and ranking for hotels and travelers (whose scores are comprised of the hotels they’ve stayed at) The bar below the graph on the “Your Profile” page. Do scores on the bar apply to the user’s overall history, or just to a single hotel from the progress chart that they’ve clicked on? The summary/scores at the bottom of the “Your Impact” page should have a title to indicate what this section about Reframe the “Review Hotel ‘X’” page as a “Report Hotel ‘X’” page to suit our intended task Modify or scrap the reporting page altogether. We’re not sure that guests have the ethos to rate a hotel’s ethical or unethical practices Show the users that the hotel staff leaving reviews/reports are certified; they are knowledgeable about the hotel Offer an explanation of how ethical scores are calculated

New Taskflow Mention Meters associated with hotels on the browsing page Title on “Ethical Breakdown” popup Consistency of scores and ranking for hotels and travelers (whose scores are comprised of the hotels they’ve stayed at) The bar below the graph on the “Your Profile” page. Do scores on the bar apply to the user’s overall history, or just to a single hotel from the progress chart that they’ve clicked on? The summary/scores at the bottom of the “Your Impact” page should have a title to indicate what this section about Reframe the “Review Hotel ‘X’” page as a “Report Hotel ‘X’” page to suit our intended task Modify or scrap the reporting page altogether. We’re not sure that guests have the ethos to rate a hotel’s ethical or unethical practices Show the users that the hotel staff leaving reviews/reports are certified; they are knowledgeable about the hotel Offer an explanation of how ethical scores are calculated

Thanks 147! Any questions?