Redesigning of the User Experience & User Interface of an existing platform
Hey, welcome to my first ever redesigning of a Website- Zostel, also my first case study ever. I tried re-designing it in a way which has it’s better look out and easy to use.
So what is Zostel all about?
ZOSTEL started way back on 15th August 2013, Zostel is India’s first and the largest chain of backpackers’ hostels.The company was started with a vision to promote travelling as a way of life. In 2013, before Zostel introduced the concept of backpacker hostels to the Indian mainland, there were hardly any backpacker hostels and all a budget traveler had in the name of stay options were unsafe and dirty lodges notorious for fleecing guests and rude behavior. Fast forward to August 2017, Zostel has top-rated hostels at 38 locations across India & Nepal — surrounded by a completely new and fast evolving ecosystem of more than 200 backpacker hostels.
Zostel, being a team of highly motivated professionals from top B-schools and T-schools of the country came together to change the status quo in this stale market sector and to create a fresh, new market segment of backpacker hostels in India. The core theme of all the Zostels has been to provide a safe, hygienic, centrally located and affordable accommodation wherein travelers can come together and share their stories while having a good time. Zostel also promotes micro-entrepreneurship as almost all the Zostels are run by handpicked, motivated local entrepreneurs on a franchise model.
STAKEHOLDERS
Dharamveer Singh Chouhan, Co-Founder & CEO — Zostel, kick-started the initiative by addressing the travel community through his open letter.
SEVEN- CO FOUNDER’S
Akhil Malik,
paavan Nanda & Tarun Tiwari alumni of Indian Institute of Management Calcutta,
Chetan Singh Chauhan and
Abhishek Bhutra alumni of Indian Institute of Technology, BHU and Siddharth Janghu alumnus of MDI Gurgaon.
Having started the first Zostel in Jodhpur, Rajasthan on 15 August 2013, the founders started off by winning 14 back to back business plan competitions across the world including WIEF, Richard Ivey and Eureka at IIT Bombay.
OTHER STAKEHOLDERS
café owners,
Adventure companies,
Alternative accommodation providers,
Property managers,
Franchise owners, among others.
UNDERSTANDING EXISTING INTERFACE
Problems
No Home button
No balance in Navigation Bar
Too much information on the homepage
Alignment problem
Book now navigation bar
Large Icons
Background
No colour palette
EXISTING INTERFACE
MISSION, VISION PURPOSE AND VALUE
The company was started with a vision to promote traveling as a way of life.We hope to play our part in promoting traveling and to create a trustworthy, fun brand in the process while taking along the local communities with us.
“We stand for a simple, flexible hotel and hostel product with a good sense for guests, the right trends and the necessary courage, which brings us our unorthodox reputation in the travel industry. With our comprehensible concept we aim at making guests pay only the components they truly need and want. With a clear focus on costs and size we offer our guests budget-priced accommodation at central locations.”
WHY ZOSTEL?
10% off on dorms across all Zostels.
Discounts at our partners in 25+ cities.
Special perks for TRUE ZOSTELLERS.
Exclusive Zostel Goodies.
SAY NO TO ZOSTEL
NOISE: We had taken up the most expensive rooms (Deluxe) that the Zostel had on offer. The Blue Turban bar & common areas are bang opposite these rooms — delivering high decibel music till late hours of night. The music starts as early as 5PM and goes on till late in the night.
IS ZOSTEL SAFE?
Zostel is a great option for travellers, especially women. It offers an option where you can share a dorm with women which I have found very useful during my travels. The rates are always reasonable and it is very safe.
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
Accomodation
Website, rooms and management works for them
Age — 18+
Types of Customers — Students , Solo Travellers ,Employees,Artists , Photographers , designer etc.
Similarities- Bunk beds, deluxe rooms, Ac rooms, 24/7 bar and food, common activity area, games, packages.
Differentiations- Gender-vise dometries, Limited destinations(12), only hostels, less expensive, 2,4,6,8,10 sharing basis room.
CUSTOMER ANALYSIS
Age — 18 and above
Gender — Male/Female/Others
Location — India and Nepal
Solo/Group of people staying in a room
Accomodation — 2 (Deluxe Room), 4,6,10 (Mix Dometeries)
Doesn’t prefer family staying
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
USE OF WEBSITE
The site is available only to individuals and entities that can form legally binding contracts under applicable law.The Site and the materials located on or through the Site are provided by us for informational purposes only, with the understanding that we are by the provision of these materials not engaged in the rendering of legal or other professional advice or service. Commercial use of this site is strictly prohibited unless you obtain prior written consent from Zostel Hospitality Private Limited. You may only use this site to make legitimate reservations or purchases. You are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your passwords, login and account information. You will be financially accountable for all uses of the site by you and anyone using your password and login information. The information contained in or through the Site is based upon sources believed to be accurate and reliable; and we have exercised reasonable care to assure the accuracy of the information. However, we make no representation or warranty as to such accuracy. These materials were prepared for us by personnel of our owned and managed hotels and others. We do not guarantee that the Site will operate continuously or without interruption or be error free. In addition, We may also suspend or discontinue any aspect of the Site at any time without being liable for any direct or indirect loss as a result of such action.
RESTRICTIONS ON USE OF MATERIAL
All materials contained in the Site are the copyrighted property of Zostel Hospitality Private Limited. Any software that is made available to download from this Site is the copyrighted work of Zostel Hospitality Private Limited. Your use of the Software is governed by the terms of the end user license agreement, if any, which accompanies or is included with the Software. You may not install or use any Software that is accompanied by or includes a License Agreement unless You first agree to the License Agreement terms. No material from the Site or any Internet site owned, operated, licensed, or controlled by us or our affiliates may be copied, reproduced, republished,uploaded, posted, transmitted, or distributed in any way. For purposes of these terms,the use of any such material on any other Web, except that you may download one copy of the materials on any single computer for your personal, noncommercial home use only, provided you keep intact all copyright.
ACCESS AND INTERFERENCE
You will not use any robot, spider, other automatic device, or manual process to monitor or copy the Site or the contents or information (including the Information) contained therein without our prior express written consent. You agree that you will not use any device,software or routine to interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Site or any transaction being conducted through the Site. You agree that you will not copy,reproduce, alter, modify, create derivative works, or publicly display any content (except for any Information in which you have an ownership interest) from the Site without our prior express written consent or the appropriate third party. The information (including the Information) you provide to us (i) shall not contain any viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, cancelbots or other computer programming routines that are intended to damage,detrimentally interfere with, surreptitiously intercept or expropriate any system, data or information; and (ii) shall not create liability for us or cause us to lose (in whole or in part) the services of our ISPs or other suppliers.
EXISTING INTERFACE ANALYSIS
Brand Analysis -
Started way back on 15th August 2013, Zostel is India’s first and the largest chain of backpackers’ hostels.The company was started with a vision to promote traveling as a way of life. In 2013, before Zostel introduced the concept of backpacker hostels to the Indian mainland, there were hardly any backpacker hostels and all a budget traveler had in the name of stay options were unsafe and dirty lodges notorious for fleecing guests and rude behavior. Fast forward to August 2017, Zostel has top rated hostels at 38 locations across India & Nepal — surrounded by a completely new and fast evolving ecosystem of more than 200 backpacker hostels.
Zostel, being a team of highly motivated professionals from top B-schools and T-schools of the country came together to change the status quo in this stale market sector and to create a fresh, new market segment of backpacker hostels in India. The core theme of all the Zostels has been to provide a safe, hygienic, centrally located and affordable accommodation wherein travelers can come together and share their stories while having a good time. Zostel also promotes micro entrepreneurship as almost all the Zostels are run by handpicked, motivated local entrepreneurs on a franchise model. Since early 2017, in addition to providing social accommodation, Zostel has come up with a new segment — Zostel Escape — wherein we try to provide local, authentic experiences to the guests. These experiences are again handpicked and conducted by the local people and are intended to take the guests beyond the obvious and touristy destinations and experiences. With time, Zostel Escape will be rolled out across all Zostels.
INFORMATION HIERARCHY
Hostel (Zostel)
Guest Reviews
Awards and Recognition
Franchise
Hotels (Zostel X)
Pictures of every room
Payment Method
Blogs
Particular
Destinations
Gender, age and per person accomodation.
Contact us
Availability of rooms
Packages/offers
Join us — Volunteer,career and host an event.
NAVIGATION FLOW
STYLE GUIDE
WIREFRAME
PROTOTYPE
CONCLUSION
This was a very challenging project. We found out which design would practically be possible and which would not be. We learn’t a lot many things and this required all the design elements in it. This project was very enriching and now that we look at it after completion, we feel more confident about our work and would like to take up another user experience project again.
THIS PROJECT WAS DONE BY US;
