Luxx Space
A sustainable hospitality service concept that combines a co-working space, self serviced vending machines, and locally-sourced meals to improve Dluxx Hotel's guests' experiences.
Duration
2 Months
Responsibilities
UX research
Service design lead
Design strategies
Client communication
Overview
Highlights #1
Spatial Design: Luxx Space
A sustainable co-working that enables Dluxx to partner with local food providers around Thammasat university to produce and sell food products 24/7 to hotel guests.
Highlights #2
UX UI: TU Luxx Vending Machines
Featured within Luxx Space, TU Luxx is a self serviced vending machine that sells food that are grown and made locally on campus called "Luxx meals".
Highlights #3
Branding and Packaging Design: Luxx Meal
Luxx Meals provides ready-to-eat bento boxes made from locally grown ingredients, with food waste collected and returned to local farms to be turned into fertilizer for future crops for the next batch.
The reason behind Luxx Space…
Dluxx Hotel is seeking new ways to improve their guests' experiences and quality of the stay
The Ask
As a part of Thammasat University's branding which is known for being sustainable, Dluxx has highlighted their needs for us at the initial stage of the project which helps us set up proper high level goals for our future designs:
Maintenance: Solution should be maintenance-friendly, requiring no additional staff for upkeep.
Sustainable: must follow Thammasat university's vision which is to be sustainable and environmental friendly.
Business: Generate extra revenue for the hotel as well as save the cost as much as possible
Guests experiences: Improve the overall experiences of the hotel guests
Trying to understand the current context…
We interviewed, observed, and role played as guests to find potential areas in need of improvements with the services
Primary Research
Understanding Dluxx and their offerings
We decided to conduct a competitor analysis based on basic necessities hotels are expected to have, and compare Dluxx to the existing similar hotels around the area in order to find potential problem lead.
Chateau hotel and apartment
Iya Hotel
Dluxx Hotel
Food Services
Multiple Types of rooms
Common Area
Affordable price
Talking to real users, putting ourselves in their shoes and observe
Our team went through a series of research methods including users interview, observations and role playing over a period of 2 weeks in order to gain a better understanding of how things work as well as pin point potential opportunities and pain points inside and outside of the hotel.
14
Hotel guest interviewed
4
Hotel staffs interviewed
2
days of observation
2
Nights of staying in the hotel
Research data leads to a problem lead in the lack of food services
Through the methods of grouping and synthesizing, we were able to piece together on the common pain points of most interviewers which revolves around the hotel does no food services for its guests.
Mapping out nearby food services
After finding out there is a lack of food services in the hotel, we set out to find the nearest food services, calculate the amount of time hotel guests have to spend to travel to and saw that Thammasat university actually has a lot of food providers! Most of which also include:
Rooftop Farms ran by the Agriculture Faculty
Food Factory ran by the Food Science and Innovation Faculty
Night markets, and canteens for students
Local Cafes, Canteens and many more!
30
Restaurants/food shops
28
Coffee shops
10
Marts
2
Night markets
Pain Point #1
Diverse local food providers but no food services
Even though the campus ground has a lot of food providers and services, none of which actually provides to Dluxx Hotel.
Pain Point #2
18 min+ walk to the nearest food
80% of interviewees expressed frustration in finding food near the hotel.
Pain Point #3
Lack of facilities & Manpower
Dluxx hotels has no extra facilities for their guests, and at the same time the staffs are worked to the max, with no chances for bringing in more hires.
distilling our research into personas..
Most hotel guests are university entrance test takers who spends a lot of their time preparing for exams
Personas
After the exploration and, digger deeper research phase, we came to conclude our findings into 3 main personas. We picked the first persona to be our primary persona because they spent the longest time staying in the hotel per stay.
Test Taker Taylor (Primary Persona)
Typically stay at Dluxx Hotel for 2 to 3 days, 2 to 3 times per year, for entrance exams. They spend much of their time in the hotel doing last-minute exam preparation.
Pain Points
Workarounds
Have to spend a lot of time finding food
Spend a lot of money ordering food to the hotel
Do not know where to find nearby food
Use Google map to walk around
Do not have a place to prepare for exam
Spent a lot of time inside the hotel room to prepare
Hospital Visitor victor
Guests visiting family in the hospital generally spend most of their time there, returning to the hotel only to sleep at night. Their stays typically last 2 to 3 days.
Pain Points
Workarounds
can't find an easy way to get to the hospital
Call the local motorcycles, and use the hotel's taxi service
Spend a lot of time getting to food stations nearby
Buy a lot of food from the hospital and stock ups
Can't use the Taxi service at night
Use ride hailing applications
Athlete Andy
Guests staying at Dluxx Hotel for the annual university sports competitions typically stay for a short period, mainly returning to the hotel for resting.
Has nothing to do at the hotel when resting
get out of the hotel and walk to the nearest uni facilities
Can't practice or exercise in the hotel
go to the nearest running stadium (2 minutes away)
How might we offer Test Takers Taylor have easy access to meals options while staying at Dluxx to reduce time and effort traveling for nearby food?
Ideation
Brainstorming ideas through case studies
Going through the food services case studies in both the hospitality industry, sustainable food ecosystem and many more in order to find inspirations!
Turning "The Ask" from Dluxx into a design criteria
Using the high level goals from Dluxx Hotel, we turned their requirements into a criteria that helps us select/merge ideas into solutions that highly fits with our client:
Maintenance -> Self Automation: The solution must work with the existing number of staffs.
Sustainable -> Utilizing Local Food Sources: The solution must be interpretable into the current food providers system.
Business -> Low Cost, High Demand: Optimizing production cost, and serves all hotel's guests food needs
Guests experiences -> More facilities: Offering an improved experience that is more than just staying at a hotel experience
Introducing Luxx Space…
A sustainable, self vending machine cafeteria and co-working space for the hotel guests
Delivery
Simplified Service Concept
Test Taker Taylor's Use Case
How might we help Test Taker Taylor, who is our main persona, to have access to quick meal options so she can save more time for studying and preparing for her university entrance exam while staying at Dluxx Hotel?
Start
Spatial Design Touchpoint
Taylor is hungry and she goes into Luxx space, which is downstairs at the hotel.
Go to TU Luxx
Spatial Design Touchpoint
Taylor goes to the TU Luxx vending machine inside Luxx space.
Choose
UX UI Touchpoint
Taylor chooses the type of food she wants to eat from the TU Luxx vending machine food category.
Add to cart
UX UI Touchpoint
Taylor picks the dish she wants to eat and read the list of ingredients inside, and decided to add to her cart.
Confirm
UX UI Touchpoint
Taylor go through her order list, and confirm everything in her order before scanning the QR to pay.
Wait for the food
UX UI Touchpoint
Awaiting her food's arrival, Taylor views the brief clip on the machine about the Luxx ecology, showcased by the vending mechanism.
Success!
Graphic and Branding Touchpoint
Taylor get her TU LUXX meal! and get to enjoy her food within minutes!
Testing and Results
Testing Plan
Recruited Testers
2 Hotel Staffs
10 Hotel Guests
4 Students
The prototype included a showcase video, 3D renders of the space, and a UI prototype of the vending machines. Users explored the UI prototype to place a food order and viewed the video and renders to understand the concept. There was an interview afterwards for all testers, and NPS for hotel guests and students.
Potential Market Size (Goal 3: Business)
Potential Daily customers
140+
Luxx space, located in a 176-room hotel with 80% weekly occupancy, has a potential daily customer base of 140+ guests. Operating 24/7 with easy, fresh food options, the space offers convenient dining, not even accounting for nearby dormitories.
A snapshot of the overall testing insights
Most guests liked the idea of hotel food services, but management was hesitant due to high investment
NPS Score Result
64
Displaying a high market demand for Dluxx food service among guests
Time Spent in finding food
95% Decreased
Luxx space is located in front of the hotel, cutting down from 18+ minutes to just 1 minute walk to get food
Interview insights
TU Luxx Machine > Luxx Space
Management expressed interest in building TU Luxx first, as the first priority
Business Impact
Base Market Size
Potential Daily customers
140+
Luxx space, located in a 176-room hotel with 80% weekly occupancy, has a potential daily customer base of 140+ guests. Operating 24/7 with easy, fresh food options, the space offers convenient dining, not even accounting for nearby dormitories.
Potential Increase in revenue
Potential increase in revenue at least
15%
Based on recent hospitality trends, introducing healthy food options can significantly boost revenue. For instance, a boutique wellness retreat saw a 20% increase, while an urban hotel reported a 15% rise (based on case studies of wellness-focused dining initiatives).
Key Learnings
Project scope
This project goes beyond designing the digital experience, encouraging a broader understanding of business aspects.
Design communication
Designers need to present and sell their designs effectively, requiring clear communication and adaptability with different stakeholders.
Team collaboration
In a team of 6, we identified our strengths and weaknesses, delegated tasks efficiently, and assigned roles to maximize efficiency, leveraging our diverse skill sets for success.
The Team
I deeply appreciate my talented teammates, Marie, Aiya, Pisey, Nahm, and Beaut, for their invaluable contributions to this project, making it one of the best service design projects in our third year. Special thanks to Dr. Edward Hwang for his supervision and support during the research phase.
