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Case Study
Marriott International
Create a seamless customer journey across all platforms and services
Outcomes
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%Revenue increase in 4 years
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Star rating with 1M+ reviews
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%YoY increase in loyalty enrollments
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+Hotel properties migrated to a new platform
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Brands supported in the design system
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M+Employees trained on a new learning platform
1.
Create a shared understanding of the customer journey
Every relationship that Marriott has with a customer is a cyclical journey. It is common for business and leisure guests to simultaneously be in different stages of the customer journey. Variate helped the Marriott team clarify the key moments of the customer journey and create strategic vision concepts to showcase the most significant revenue opportunities for the upcoming year. After securing funding, Variate worked closely with teams across the enterprise to redesign products, services, and the overall design process.
2.
Start with one product to create your new system of design
At Variate, we believe the best way to build momentum around a new omnichannel design system is to start with the redesign of your product with the most opportunity. Using this strategy, Variate led an internal redesign project to reimagine the Marriott mobile app, showcasing all Marriott brands and using this new product as the genesis of the new design system. Once Marriott launched the new app, the Variate team created the new mobile responsive design system files used as the foundation for the Marriott.com redesign project.
Building off the success of the mobile app, Variate worked closely with the shop and book teams to redesign Marriott.com and the entire booking path for all brands. This redesign included conducting more than 300 guest interviews as part of the design process. Variate also worked closely with the design standards team to reorganize how their team worked with all design teams across the organization and build out the actual design system files and governance model that all teams use to organize their work. This new design system is used across the organization and has led to increased efficiencies, better designs, and an empowered design team that enjoys working together.
3.
Design a system that enables brands to shine
The new customer experience strategy enables the Marriott loyalty brand to coexist with 29+ individual hotel property brands, including luxury, premium, select service, and extended stays. Each brand's specific needs vary considerably--for example, luxury and premium brands have richer stories to tell about their culture, features, amenities, and more. Variate created a framework for the design system that allows all brands to coexist in one system and “flex” throughout the customer journey to create the optimal brand experience.
4.
Hybrid internal/external teams lead to sustainable longterm success
Marriott is the world’s largest travel company and employs team members around the globe to work across digital projects and services. Over six years, Variate worked closely with hundreds of team members across the organization to elevate the entire design program one team member at a time. Variate provided design direction, individual skills training, design process improvements, and many other design services to create a positive working environment and design culture that continues to endure today.
