1. Low-fi Prototyping & Pilot Usability Testing
StayRight Team

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

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

4. 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.

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

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

7. Task #1: Browse & Select

8. Task #1: Browse & Select

9. Task #1: Browse & Select (cont.)

10. Task #1: Browse & Select (cont.)

11. Task #1: Browse & Select (cont.)

12. Task #1: Browse & Select (cont.)

13. Task #2: Track Your Progress

14. Task #3: Report Bad Practices

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

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. Experimental Results
Our top 6 findings

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

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

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

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

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

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

26. 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

27. 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

28. 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

30. Thanks 147!
Any questions?