Hospitality Innovation Lab (HIL) is a startup specialize in building management solutions for hospitality businesses.
HIL aims to empower businesses to deliver exceptional guest experiences by elevating their staff training programs
NiteCapp is a beverage-first hospitality learning and management system built for Marriott International
My role was to define and design the product from ground up, and after 5 months, we successfully secured funding from our client! 🎉
We talked to 5 bartenders at various levels and 3 bar managers from different Marriott locations. Key findings include:
1 Â The culture of the workplace and the sense of belonging are what motivate and retain employees.
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2 Â The current training process requires employees to have strong extrinsic motivation. They quickly lost interest when training felt daunting and tasked.
3 Â The current training is inconsistent. Different locations present the same material in various ways: some use slides, while others provide paper copies.
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1 Â Presenting information in digestible chunks and pairing learning materials with context was crucial.
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2 Â Gamifying the learning process can boost users' extrinsic motivation.
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3 Â Retrieval practice tools like flashcards and quizzes are commonly used to enhance memory and retention
Training materials from multiple sources were cumbersome. NiteCapp condensed and streamlined all training into a single, one-stop platform.
I digitalized Marriott's product directory and training materials, enhancing its information hierarchy with progressive disclosure for more intuitive navigation and content discovery.‍
Streamlining training with reusable templates featuring bite-sized, interactive narratives to ensure consistent service standards across different Marriott branches
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Use real sales data and physical rewards to drive the extrinsic motivation of staffs to up-level their quality of service and upselling skills, driving up revenue.
Our research revels that employees were less likely to quit when working in a team that “felt like family.” We used team-centric labels along with a simple team profile that serves as an icebreaker for new employees.
Marriott's key value propositions for staff retention are global opportunities and brand influence. We emphasize these early in onboarding and through a brand catalog and profile to showcase employees' industry potential.
We understand that staff training isn't a "set and done" process; building a culture and keeping staff motivated is a long-term endeavor.
‍Our vision is to create a robust bartender community and expand the social influence of the Marriott brand. While we couldn't prioritize these features in the MVP, these future explorations have helped us and Marriott envision a clear future and potential for the NiteCapp platform.
Beverage-focused user generated content allows bartenders to express their passion and 'show off' their skills.
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Meanwhile highlights from Marriott's official accounts emphasize the global opportunities and the brand's influence
NiteCapp is currently in close beta with Marriott's new location in downtown LA. Â Here are a few metrics that we are tracking to measure success:
