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Case Study · IHG · 2017

Guests could book a room. Signing in is where they gave up.

IHG wanted one simple way for guests to register, sign in, and manage their accounts across every brand and channel. In four weeks I mapped how guests book and sign in online, on the phone, and at the front desk, then wireframed the fixes and a roadmap to get there.

Client
IHG
Role
UX lead at Slalom, with one program manager. Workshops, research, user flows, and wireframes.
Work
Workshops, Journey mapping, Wireframes, Roadmap
journey · online

Online, the guest is fine until the booking is done. The trouble starts at sign-in.

01 · The Problem

Booking worked. Everything around it didn't. Joining IHG Rewards Club online didn't match joining at the front desk, and sign-in, password reset, and account features hadn't kept up.

  • One guest, many brands, and three ways in: the website, the 1-800 line, and the front desk.
  • Guests signed in with a member number and a 4-digit PIN, and many couldn't remember either.
  • When a desk agent couldn't tell whether a guest was a member, the stay never reached a profile.
  • IHG also wanted fewer systems to build and pay for, shared across brands.
02 · Key Screens
journey · phone and front deskWith an agent, one question decides everything: is this guest a member?
booking flowRate, details, review, confirmed. Joining is one checkbox.
sign in and resetOne box for any ID, self-service reset, and the PIN retired in one screen.
roadmapDiscovery, quick wins, then an identity platform.
03 · What Happened

IHG took the recommendation: quick wins first, then buy an identity platform instead of building one.

  • The quick wins went into design and delivery in late 2017.
  • A sign-in platform proof of concept ran in early 2018.
  • IHG chose to buy, picked a vendor in June 2018, and began planning the platform that August.