The advent of lighter and smaller personal computers created the need for hotel rooms that provide modem access and accommodate business travelers' computers. In response, a major hotel company launched an effort to design a room that profitably meets the needs of business guests.

Research Objective:

The research consisted of several phases with various objectives:

Available research was reviewed to understand what information existed and what did not.
Next, CMI helped the team understand business guests' current and emerging needs by segment as input for designing alternative room concepts.
CMI then designed and executed the quantitative research to finalize the design concepts, beta test 3 concept rooms, and estimate market share and ROI for alternative pricing structures.

Methodology:

CMI employed a combination of qualitative and on-site quantitative research to uncover business travelers' needs and test the room concepts in hotels in three cities.

The Result:

Construction of a hotel room designed to meet business travelers' needs was fast tracked, and an additional spin-off product that could facilitate computer usage in regular hotel rooms was developed.