Extended Stay America

ESA needed a shift from a web-centric solution to a mobile-first approach while maintaining a consistent digital experience.

The existing complex booking process required simplification to improve guest satisfaction and meet brand identity goals.

Long-term guests had fundamentally different needs from typical hotel visitors — kitchen access, laundry, workspace, and a sense of belonging — that the existing digital experience failed to address.

Led an immersive ethnographic research programme where the design team, myself included, embedded on-site at ESA properties for a full week, living as guests to experience the extended-stay journey firsthand. Five of us, one property each, checked in as ordinary guests.

Talked to the long-stay guests around us in the lobby, the laundry room and the breakfast area about two things: the residence (the kitchen, laundry, working from the room, when it started to feel like theirs) and the app (what they used it for, where it failed them, how they extended a stay). Staff conversations at the front desk and housekeeping ran alongside.

Kept an app diary through the week, using the existing app for every task we could and logging where it fell short, then affinity sorted everything as a team on the last afternoon into six themes: arrival anxiety, the kitchen as the product, laundry and the weekly rhythm, working from the room, belonging, and the app as guests actually used it.

Conducted in-depth interviews with long-term guests and hotel staff to uncover pain points, emotional drivers, and unmet needs in the booking and stay experience.

Developed detailed personas and journey maps focusing on the unique rhythms of extended stays — arrival anxiety, settling-in routines, mid-stay comfort, and departure logistics.

Led competitive analysis to uncover market opportunities and unique differentiators for ESA in the long-term hospitality segment.

Designed a mobile-first user interface with streamlined booking flows specifically optimized for extended stays, including weekly rate comparisons, kitchen-equipped suite filters, and loyalty program integration.

Created wireframes and prototypes ensuring WCAG 2.0 AA compliance, validated through usability testing with actual extended-stay guests.

Delivered a refreshed visual style that aligned with ESA’s brand identity, incorporating modular design principles for future scalability and personalized recommendations based on stay patterns.

Ran with a team of 10, 2 direct reports, over 2 months.

Commercial ownership of a budget between five hundred thousand and one million dollars, covering forecasting, change control and the commercial conversation with the client.

Enterprise programme delivered across United States, shipping to Mobile Native iOS and Android.

Heavy regulatory and compliance context, so accessibility and compliance sign off were release gates rather than an afterthought.

I owned the plan, the schedule, scope and change control, the RAID log, and status reporting to the client sponsor.

Functional requirements written so developers could estimate honestly, with UAT and QA gates before each release.

The ethnographic research approach uncovered insights that traditional methods would have missed, directly informing features like the ‘feel at home’ onboarding flow and neighbourhood guide integration.

Results included improved booking efficiency and significantly enhanced guest engagement across digital channels.

The updated design reinforced ESA’s brand identity, positioning it as an innovative leader in the long-term hospitality market.

Embedded accessibility standards and data privacy considerations, ensuring responsible user data handling and compliance with relevant regulations.