UX/Visual Designer
UX Case Study – TravelDepot App
Challenge: Design a mobile app that allows hotel guests to quickly order and receive forgotten essential items directly to their room within minutes.
Deliverables: Research summary, personas, user journey map, task flows, wireframes, UI design, interactive prototype
Role: UI Design & Prototyping, part of a cross-functional UX and development team
Project Overview
I designed the TravelDepot mobile app for E-Filliate to help hotel guests quickly replace forgotten essentials. The app lets users browse available items and request fast delivery to their room. My goal was to create a simple, intuitive experience that benefits both guests and hotel staff through research-driven design.
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Problem Statement
Travelers often forget essentials and don’t want to search unfamiliar areas after a long trip. Hotels usually offer limited items, and managing requests via front desk calls causes delays and frustration. TravelDepot helps hotels expand their inventory and provide guests with a convenient solution directly through the app.
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Goals
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Simplify ordering forgotten items
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Minimize guest effort with quick, intuitive flows
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Provide staff with an efficient order management system
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Improve guest satisfaction and hotel service ratings
Empathize
Usability Testing
We tested with guests and staff to understand their needs. Guests wanted fast, private, and easy ordering. Staff needed a simple system that fits their workflow with clear order communication. Common issues were unclear product availability and delays.
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Sample Tasks:
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Order a phone charger to your room
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Request a toothbrush and toothpaste
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Check available personal care items
Define
Affinity Map
We organized user insights into three main needs: quick item discovery, seamless ordering, and efficient staff fulfillment. This helped us identify the primary pain points and prioritize solutions that would improve both guest and staff experiences.
Top 5 Pain Points:​
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Difficulty finding available items quickly
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Ordering process feels complicated or slow
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Lack of clear confirmation and tracking for orders
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Staff overwhelmed by manual order management
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Poor communication between guests and front desk
Personas
We created four main user personas to guide the design:
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Michael – Business Traveler
Needs fast, convenient delivery of forgotten essentials without leaving his room. -
Sarah – Traveling Mom
Juggling kids and luggage, she wants a quick, hassle-free way to get family items. -
Emma – Vacationer
Seeks a simple, reliable solution to replace small forgotten items without disrupting relaxation. -
Samantha – Night Shift Front Desk Clerk
Needs an easy, clear system to manage guest orders efficiently with minimal disruption.
User Journey Map
This user journey map outlines Sarah’s key actions, tasks, emotions, and potential improvements while using the Travel Depot app to quickly replace forgotten travel essentials.
User Journey Storyboard
This storyboard illustrates key moments in Sarah’s experience as a traveling mom—from realizing she forgot an item to receiving it in her hotel room. It highlights her goals, emotions, and touchpoints, showing how the app’s design supports a smooth, stress-free ordering process.
Ideate
Task Flow
We created task flows for two common user actions on the TravelDepot app:
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Browsing and selecting forgotten items to order
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Confirming and tracking delivery to the guest room
By mapping these flows, we identified friction points such as unclear item availability and complicated checkout steps, which helped us prioritize improvements for a smoother, faster user experience.
Prototype
Sketches
I sketched multiple layout options to address key pain points, focusing on clarity, speed, and ease of use for both guests and staff. The wireframes went through several iterations as I refined navigation, product presentation, and order flows to build a strong foundation for the final design.
Low-Fidelity Prototype
A clickable lo-fi prototype was built to simulate basic interactions and test flows.
Test
Hi-Fi Prototype
TravelDepot app’s design to life. These detailed prototypes showcased key screens, highlighting improvements in usability, visual clarity, and a smooth ordering experience for hotel guests.
Conclusion
After several weeks of research, design, and iteration, the TravelDepot app successfully streamlines the process of replacing forgotten items during hotel stays. Usability testing confirmed significant improvements in navigation, order speed, and overall guest satisfaction. This project reinforced the importance of involving users early, testing core flows, and designing for both guests and hotel staff.
Next Steps
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Monitor long-term hotel adoption and guest satisfaction
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Explore personalized recommendations based on past orders
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Integrate real-time inventory updates to further streamline staff workflow