I’m sliced into two with a valyrian sword each time a new product launches in Africa. Glad that we are embracing technology, but sad that these products fail to live up to…………………....what do we even expect?

Some of these startups just buy a template, paste their logo on it, change some text, and that’s it! No research, no validation, no knowledge of the best technologies to use for when the winter of scaling eventually comes.

The really successful startups are those that solve real people and business problems, by researching, understanding, defining and taking the time to design every bit of the business that comes together to fix those problems. Be it those little features that convert, or designing a team that shares a common vision, and ultimately every aspect of the business.

The challenge

The first time I used hotels.ng, I was very impressed by the aesthetics and design compared to many other indigenous products I had come across. It presented itself as an exciting product to use as a case study on how we can improve on our products as well as design better products that affect people’s lives.

This is not primarily about showing off some cool features hotels.ng can have, rather it’s about addressing a bigger problem: we don’t value design around this side of the globe, probably because we are ignorant of its importance to how we live our lives.

I have used hotels.ng just once, a time I traveled to Uyo for a Friend’s video shoot. Not enough to start chopping the onions?

But I thought a hotel booking platform could do more than just show me states, hotels in them, and best deals. Vacation, events, business purposes, visit, random travel are all reasons for hotel booking.

With data being key in modern product design, I envisioned a personalized product that learns from user behaviors, patterns, and data, so as to present the user the best options and help people make the right decisions faster.

Anyways, while the ultimate goal is to make the user’s journey an easy and personalized one, increasing sales and conversions for the business was not to be forgotten.

My goals

To design a more intuitive and personalized experience for hotel booking.

To design a product that inspires, motivates and informs the user.

To invent creative ways to generate more revenue for the business.

To improve the aesthetics of the product to buy trust, and give delight.

The Process