Inns by the Sea Mobile Booking
Discover how we redesigned the Inns by the Sea booking experience to bring coastal luxury right into your pocket. As lead UX/UI designer, I guided this 8-week project from user research through to high-fidelity prototypes.
Crafting an experience that is intuitive, and engaging to help people succeed in their cozy vacation goals. ✨
Inns by the sea is a small hospitality company based in Carmel-by-the-Sea CA with 4 welcoming, warm, classic inns on the coast of California. In October, I joined the team as a Front Desk Agent, then was promoted to Reservations Specialist in January 2025. As I learned more about the clients, I noticed a few trends in booking; I am looking to promote the properties and resolve the issues clients have with their booking.
Project Overview
The IBTS Mobile App is a companion to the Inns by the Sea website, built to help travelers easily browse properties, check availability, and book stays directly from their phones. My role encompassed end-to-end product design, from initial discovery to hand-off of polished Figma assets.
Problem Statement
Users visiting our analytics showed high drop-off on mobile: the desktop site wasn’t optimized for touch, search filters were buried, and our booking flow felt clunky on small screens. We needed a streamlined, mobile-first experience.
How can we improve the overall customization and personal experiences of booking direct?
- HMW improve the clarity, customization, and ease of booking directly through the app?
- HMW make exclusive offerings like the Romance Package more discoverable and desirable?
- HMW support returning guests by helping them remember and repeat past experiences they loved?
Project Goals📈
- Seamless Booking Experience: Reduce time-to-book from 2 minutes to under 60 seconds
- Enhanced User Engagement: Improve mobile search engagement by 25%
- Increased Promotion & Upselling: Increase completed bookings by 15%
Process🤝
User Research
Conducted 5 user interviews and analyzed survey data to uncover pain points in our existing mobile flow.
In addressing the question, “How can we improve the overall customization and personal experiences of booking direct?”, our research identified significant gaps in the current guest booking journey.
Market Research
Key Findings
User Personas
Design: Framing the Experience
Flowmap
Developed a flowmap for the user journey through the app.
Wireframes
UI Design
Translated wireframes into high-fidelity Figma mockups, introducing a cleaner visual hierarchy and coastal-inspired color palette.
Final Designs
Key Improvements
- Increased header size: Improved contrast and visual hierarchy.
- Gift card graphic redesign: Enhanced readability and brand cohesion.
- Updated bottom icons: Aligned with brand colors (light blue & dark blue).
- Improved page contrast: Better visual clarity between different views.
Brand Design
Conclusion Takeaways and Future Plans
This project allowed me to lead the visual direction and create a high-fidelity mobile app concept for Inns by the Sea. Though development was not in scope, I treated the project with the same attention to detail as a live product—preparing a polished presentation with Figma layouts, component mockups, annotated UX wireframes, and brand designs reflecting the location and hospitality focus.
My goal was to create a compelling visual narrative that aligned with the brand’s identity while elevating its digital experience. This exercise strengthened my ability to clearly communicate design intent to non-design stakeholders and demonstrate how thoughtful UI design could enhance booking usability and brand consistency across properties.