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Scaling UX Maturity for a Global Hotel Brand

citizenM, a global hotel brand, is committed to delivering the best digital experience in the hospitality industry. To match the quality and ambiance of its hotels, the company needed a strong UX foundation to scale its digital strategy.

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As the first full-time Head of UX, I was brought in to establish and scale UX maturity, ensuring UX research, DesignOps, and experience strategy were embedded into executive decision-making and product development.

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Recognizing that true UX impact requires long-term scalability, I focused on team development, research maturity, and operational structure—laying the groundwork for sustained innovation and guest experience improvements.

SECTOR - Global hotel group, privately owned

SETTING - UX team in Product department in mid-size organization

MY ROLE - Head of UX. Leadership position responsible for UX maturity and team development

TIMELINE - 9 months; ongoing

COMPLEXITY - High

Challenge

Before my arrival, citizenM’s UX function was in its early stages, leading to:

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  • Inconsistent design across digital experiences.

  • Limited research integration, causing gaps in guest experience insights.

  • Siloed product decision-making, making it difficult to align UX with business goals.

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To achieve best-in-class digital experiences, UX needed to be embedded into the company’s core strategy, tools, and culture.

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Approach

1. Benchmarking & Goal-Setting

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Developed a UX strategy and roadmap, defining clear objectives.


Introduced UX performance indicators, including:

  • Customer Effort Score (CES)

  • Conversion Rate

  • Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) & Net Promoter Score (NPS)

  • Stakeholder Involvement in UX Activities

  • Data-Driven Decision Making

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2. Team Development & Growth

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  • Built a multidisciplinary UX team, onboarding external experts to enhance design quality. 

  • Focused on skill development, ensuring the team had both strategic and technical expertise.

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3. Design System, Repository & Governance

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  • Accelerated the development of a unified design system for consistency and efficiency.

  • Established a governance model, ensuring quality assurance and collaboration.

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4. Customer Insights Pipeline, VOC & UX Advocacy

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  • Implemented a continuous research pipeline, integrating user data into strategy.

  • Developed UX metrics and KPIs to measure success.

  • Created an internal Insights Repository, aligning teams with UX guidelines.

  • Hosted customer-centric workshops and UX showcases, promoting cross-functional collaboration.

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Strategic UX Initiatives 

Throughout the year, I led multiple high-impact projects to scale UX maturity while advancing product innovation:

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  • UX Strategy & 2024 Roadmap – Ensuring alignment across teams 

  • Team Building & Development – Strengthening expertise and onboarding external talent 

  • Design System Implementation – Establishing governance for design consistency 

  • Customer Insights Pipeline – Enabling data-driven, customer-centric decisions 

  • Continuous Research & Discovery – Conducting workshops, guest interviews, and triangulating data 

  • UX Artifacts Creation – Developing personas, journeys, research toolkits, and data-backed UX strategies 

  • UX Advocacy & Customer-Centricity – Leading cross-team workshops and showcases to drive culture change 

UX STRATEGY AND 2024 ROADMAP

FOR ALIGNMENT AND COMMUNICATION OF PLANS

TEAM BUILDING AND DEVELOPMENT

SOFT SKILL BUILDING, EXPERTISE DEVELOPMENT AND ONBOARDING EXTERNALS

DESIGN PRINCIPLES AND DESIGN SYSTEM

ACCELERATING ITS DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTING A GOVERNANCE MODEL

CUSTOMER INSIGHTS PIPELINE AND VOC PROGRAM

ENABLING CUSTOMER-CENTRIC DATA DRIVEN DECISIONS 

CONTINUOUS RESEARCH & DISCOVERY - WORKSHOPS, GUEST INTERVIEWS, TRIANGULATING DATA