The objective When we started, there were almost 6,000 hotels in the Hilton portfolio. Today, I believe that number is closer to 8,000. Migrating each individual hotel’s site using a new headless CMS allowed us to reimagine property content as reusable and shareable components. A massive cross-functional endeavor The all-hands-on-deck effort took partnership from every […]
Author: Jen
Hotel loyalty site redesign enhances user experience and security
Redesigning Hilton.com gave us a chance to make the site more secure, more personalized, and easier to use. Objectives Loyalty is critical to hospitality business and Hilton Honors is one of the biggest hotel loyalty programs in the world. To support evergreen goals of increased member occupancy percentage and revenue, loyalty messaging reaches users at […]
Sustaining content lifecycle with governance artifacts
I love a paper trail. Documentation brings structure, it helps keep things consistent, sometimes it answers “what were we thinking?” I create a playbook for anything that can be repeated or scaled: pages, components, error messages, and so on. I keep these as lo-fi as possible and plug the information into presentations or Confluence pages […]
Project management principles and practices
Via Coursera, I completed a specialization in project management principles and practices offered by the University of California, Irvine. The program is just right for professionals who want to better understand the role of a PM and incorporate some of their practices in their own work before investing in a project management certification. The program […]
Demystifying payment security online
With digital payments’ rising popularity, fraud is a growing concern for the hospitality industry. Credit-card chargebacks cost significant time and money, leading to preventative enhanced security measures like strong customer authentication (SCA). SCA requires a two-factor verification before processing payment. In some parts of the world, it’s a fact of life, but it can feel […]
Solving hotel booking challenges together
What is the problem you’re trying to solve? I’ve asked this question so many times, it’s become a catchphrase. But when stakeholders approach with ready-made solutions (and artifacts, sometimes!) getting to the root of the issue can reveal a different approach. One hotel requested a feature they had on their self-hosted microsite. They wanted to […]
A style guide everyone can use
The problem At a large organization with many teams creating content, consistency can be a challenge. Our team designed the website and app products, but a lot of the words come from systems and from writers on other teams. Sometimes they come from UI/UX or product managers or developers. We needed a home for the […]
Your friend, content design
Content design is identifying what users need and determining what content best suits that need. Sometimes that content is a PowerPoint presentation. This deck has inspired many “Aha!” moments among partners who are working with content designers for the first time.
Small copy changes, big money impacts
Hilton added 100,000 rooms to its portfolio in 2024. On top of the yearly pipeline of new openings, the company acquired two brands and entered partnerships with two others. This marked a different approach — previous new brands like Motto and Tempo were built from scratch, not acquired. Integrating the new brands and partners into […]
Refreshing optimizations for hotel websites
At the launch of the hilton.com MVP in 2019, hotel websites fit into two categories, according to their content needs and amenity offerings. About 99% of the hotels fit into one of these categories. Hotels in the remaining 1% would require a more customized solution. These sites began launching in 2021. The original site for […]
Some samples of my personal writing
For several years, I used my blog as an outlet to flex writing muscles I wasn’t using in my professional life. Due to many factors — other hobbies, lack of time, etc — I don’t get to do as much personal writing anymore. But here are a few pieces I’m proud of: Word of the year, […]
Automated hotel room upgrades
An industry-leading feature, automated upgrades allow elite loyalty members to use contactless check-in features without sacrificing potential upgrades. These upgrades are awarded 72 hours before a guest’s stay, at which point they receive an email or push notification. The challenge Hotel guests cite the potential for upgrades as a key (no pun intended) factor in […]
Leading luxury hotel content migration
I led content strategy and design for the migration of more than 100 websites for luxury hotels, resorts, and hotels with other complex content needs using multiple content management systems and structured content and property data. The challenge A small cohort of hotels were not effectively served by the new enterprise hotel website solution. The […]
Hilton unveils new tech enhancements for guests
One of the factors slowing digital key adoption among hotel guests was the inability to share a key. Digital Key sharing was one of many innovations fast-tracked by the covid pandemic and its necessity for physical distance and leaner staffs. I wrote the screens for the experience. From HospitalityNet: In a first for a major […]
Confirmed Connecting Rooms help friends and families connect
Another hospitality innovation introduced in the post-covid “revenge travel” era. By eliminating the need for a phone call, Connecting Rooms make life easier for front desk and call center agents as well as guests. From The Points Guy: Hilton even acknowledges that booking connecting rooms hasn’t always been seamless. Previously, you had to call or […]
Simplifying account profile management
More usability enhancements to the Hilton Honors web experience, replacing a sidebar navigation with a responsive landing page.
Helping employees use their benefits
Hilton employees and approved friends and family members are eligible for generous room discounts. This page previously detailed the specifics of the program in FAQ format, which should not be the primary source of information. Intuitive groupings and scannable copy in plain language create a more navigable experience for both audiences. To ensure users understood […]
Simplifying loyalty program perks
The revamped Hilton Honors site offers a more direct, concise and user-friendly breakdown of member perks than its text-heavy predecessor.
Getting to the Points with content design
While hotel stays are the primary method, the Hilton Honors program offers members several other ways to earn and use Points. Users weren’t aware of these flexible ways to maximize their membership, despite the information being readily available. Fewer clicks, more context The experiences and dining platforms, partnerships, and transfer/gifting/pooling features required users to link […]
Scaling style with shareable guidelines
When we migrated 5,000-plus hotels to the new hilton.com, we moved to a headless content management system and transitioned product copy to skimmable, structured and tagged short descriptions that highlighted key selling points and were optimized for readability. This was a big change from the long-form, keyword-stuffed paragraphs that hotel stakeholders and other key partners […]