Executive Summary

The Apart hotel concept is a relatively recent one. The main idea is to have apartments with hotel services, such as reception and room service. Our project is about Glenridge Resort, an apart hotel located in Albufeira, Algarve. Nowadays people everywhere use the web to do many things. One thing that has become successful is the opportunity of buying services online, like for example making a reservation in an apart hotel. It is therefore of major interest for companies to provide the best quality services on their websites. This can constitute a huge advantage both for companies (they can attract possible costumers from all over the world, The world is flat) and costumers (they can easily see all the possible alternatives and choose the one that fits their desires). The improvement in quality service passes through choosing and applying the best modern information technology and marketing techniques. Glendridge Resort is not seizing the advantages of the internet in a good way, since its website lacks most of the essential characteristic that a booking online service requires. Hereby, we intend to help Glenridge Resort improving its services through a redesign of their website. The first step was identifying all the gaps Glenridges website has. Then we created interviews to common users of websites of the same type, in order to create personas that represent our most important kind of customers. These personas were the base to recreate the website. The second step was to create paper prototypes and wireframes with the new design. But it didnt end here, after that, we conducted several usability tests among different potential customers and users of the website and carefully listened to what they had to say about the new website. Having these comments in mind we redesigned the prototype several types until we finally having the final one. At this point we provided Mil Cores with a powerful prototype of a new website. A prototype that was carefully crafted and shaped according to the customers wants and needs, a prototype ready to be built by the programmers, and to then, achieve success. A prototype brings Mil Cores mission and values online.

Step #1: Plan your project

Using a network and CPM and Gantt chart, we were able to plan the main activities of our project, determine the duration and outcome. As the main activities of our project, we highlight the following: research, interviews, personas, design, paper prototype, wireframes, usability test, construction. We started by doing the research site, which needed reconstruction, this research process lasted about 20 days, not 'cause we knew for sure, if we wanted to redesign an already existing site, or create a new one. Once we have decided and chosen our project, we began with interviews of people to really understand what we needed to change the site. this process lasted five days, because we interviewed one person per day, 5 people in total. The basis of interviews, we created two personas, which took five days, and this process is totally dependent upon Information received from the interviews. Website design, includes sitemap, which took 10 days. which is dependent on the interviews and the needs of our users. processoas prtotipo as the paper and wireframes, are dependent on the process toalmente sitemap and slow 5 and 15 days consecutively. these processes, which correspond to the creation of website design that is simple and intuitive in its use, and its function to provide reservation service and information about the resort. To see this, we did a usability test (duration 15 days) that helped us see and understand if we are on the camino cert, and actually managed to create a reasonable site. After all these processes we come to the construction site, for him to serve in its function, the objective of this project is to increase the number of apartments in the resort reserves, increase profits and reduce costs. The risks that we are running, is that the site will be not popular, what people may think that the site is confusing. not obtain success in our primary objective and expected results, which is the greatest number of reservations, apartments in the resort.

To avoid these risks, after creation of the new site design, we perform test usibility.

Interviewing process
Taking into account that we are reconstructing an apart hotel website, our target is any person that uses to go to Algarve and is willing to make a reservation online. We interviewed five persons that matched these criteria. The interview guideline is based on 3 parts. The 1st part consists on gathering information regarding peoples interests about Algarve and book online; the 2nd part focuses on how people reacted to the actual website interface; the 3rd part, exploits if the main things about the website were kept on peoples mind.

Sitemap
When designing a website, one of the most important steps is creating the site map. All the website structure development starts from here. It clearly explains how the website is organized, what pages it has and how they relate to each other, and how it is hierarchically structured. Our idea, based on our personas, was to create a sitemap, with not too much vertical hierarchies, i.e., link after link. Instead, we want to show the users several options, minimizing the number of possible viewing pages, (we do not want our users to feel lost, like they were in a labyrinth). Thats why the display of our sitemap is in a more horizontal way. As a result of the conversation with our interviewees, we concluded that the main site should have the option to change language. We reorganized the two main menus in order to have just one, so that the website gets more intuitive and simple. Some of the previous links were deleted because they were repeated, and some others were included inside the main ones. We created some sub-links in the Glenridge Resort rubric, which are: Glenridge Apart Hotel, Location, and Guestbook. Inside apart hotel page, three more pages show up: Apartment T0, Apartment T1 and Apartment T2. We replaced Eventos 2012 by Leisure & Services, which in turn leads to Services and Leisure. Another rubric added to the main menu is Golf. Gallery section leads now to two subsections, Inside and Outside respectively. One of the big barriers when buying online is the lack of trust people have in the site. Glenridges website besides being confused regarding booking method, it does not inspire any trust. In this new version we propose, since it is much more practical, simpler, attractive, we believe one would feel more trust in it. Por imagem do sitemap!

Paper Prototypes
Any website should have a user-centered design, be simple, attractive and should have a structure such that any person can navigate through it without any problems. Based on these propositions, we created prototypes for all the pages that constitute our new version. The prototypes will be operational and feasible, in short it means clear and reasonable to our targets as well as any user. Additionally, it will be based on our personas opinion, needs and goals concern the structure of any home page. The main problems we found on this page were: Preos na Internet weak structure and lack of design. Eventos 2012 Instead of events, the word Brevemente appears. Glenridge Resort poor written Portuguese with a lot of mistakes and no cohesion. Apartamentos lack of organization, it is difficult to understand the characteristics of the different departments and again poor written Portuguese. The photos presented are not appellative. Galeria not organization by sections, such as T1 apartments, T2 apartments, outdoor pictures, indoor pictures. Pacotes Especiais instead of promotion description, what shows up is Golf+Interesses. Inscreva-se j incorrect name since this link brings to reserve j. Contato EUA leads to the same link as Inscreva-se j. Taxas Pblicas not understandable. Whats the difference between taxas pblicas and preos na internet?? De Vendas confusing name and non existence of a hyperlink.

Reservas - supposed repetition of Inscreva-se j but, to worsen things, no hyperlink exists. Interesses de golf besides the name being confused, once again theres no hyperlink.

Since Glenridges website was totally confused, we here propose a new version. According to our interviewees Glenridge Resorts website seems not to be a reliable site to book online. In short, they consider it very poor (terrible design, color combinations), incomplete (many supposed hyperlinks were not conducting anywhere), very confused (repeated links, language mistakes), weak structure (seems to have two main menu bars). These descriptions correspond with the problems we found. Por foto do site Based on our personas and some searches on Internet websites we realized that users are familiar with a particular website structure that is used by common sites. Based in the interviewees opinions and in our own got feel we designed a particular base structure adopted for all the pages of the Glenridge Resorts website. The suggested prototypes can be seen on paper version and for a better view, we created wireframes.

Usability Protocol
The test is conducted by a facilitator and a note taker is also present. The facilitator explains the representative user only the minimal information about the procedures of the test. The representative users should express themselves continuously about any difficulty or problem that may occur during the test. The note taker must listen and watch the representative user and take notes about the usage. No specific information about the business or the website will be provided. The aim of this test is to accurately evaluate the sustainability, navigability and usability of the website.

Task #1: Please try to change language. Task #2: Please try to know information about the apartments this apart
hotel provides.

Task #3: Please try to find the location of the Glenridge Resort. Task #4: Please try to book an apartment. Task #5: Please try to make a reservation to golf. # 1: both of our representatives, could reach easily, the option to "change language site," and had no problems with understanding.

#2: To see information about the apartments in apart-hotel, our users also do not have any problem to get it. as we had already considered and planned, we include all the information about the hotel in the same space. clicking on the option Glenridge Resort User can see all the information about the hotel. #3: So when we ask to find the location of the resort, which is one of the most important and sought-Info, our representatives have found this information in all simplicity, since this follows immediately after the description of the apartments and the hotel. #4: After visiting the site, we ask our representatives to conduct a reserve apartment. And this has already been provided with this option also not had any difficulties. On our website, they soon found the button 'reserves', and step by step managed to make the reservation and in the end, after options of payment, completed the purchase. As the resort has two choices of apartments, which is the T1 and T2, when booking, users only have to choose the option they want, moreover, is as a purchase / reserve a usual site for the sale of product.

Usability test: Significant issues preciso fazer este teste!!

We conducted 2 usability tests with 2 different representative users. The representative users were able to accomplish all the protocols tasks in a reasonable time and they did not identify any serious problem in terms of navigability or simplicity. However, we noticed that representative users found difficult to understand some features of the website mostly because of the lack of color and image. People are very used to identify different buttons and directions simply reacting to the website colors and images. Despite clearly stated/written, people did not intuitively read and consequently they felt uncomfortable with the format of the test. However, after the initial impact and adaptation process to the format, the representative users accomplished the tasks easily without any serious problem as already mentioned above. We think the usability tests were successful and did not report any serious issue due to two main reasons: (1) the simplicity of the business makes easy to build a simple website; (2) because we kept focused on providing what the interviewees told us, we did not invent a website, we gave people want they asked for.

Despite the good results of the first 3 tests, we thought we could be absolutely sure about our website usability if we did more tests with more realistic prototypes. We constructed computer-designed prototypes with the same colors, shape and designed of the potentially official website. Our prediction was that with very realistic prototypes, the usability tests would be produce even better results. With realistic prototypes we were able to overcome the discomfort that some representative users appointed as the main problem. The final results confirmed our expectations; the representative users felt much more comfortable using the website and they were able to achieve the same tasks faster. To conclude, we know there is a trade-off between paper prototypes and wireframes when doing usability tests. Paper prototypes help to identify and resolve many usability issues in the design process, require minimal effort to create and change, and preliminary ideas can be immediately tested. However, paper prototypes have some significant disadvantages: they are perceived as unprofessional and are not very similar to a real website. Wireframes can solve all these problems but they require more effort and are not a good choice for preliminary tests. To overcome this issue we decided to find a balance between these two options. Our PowerPoint-constructed prototypes were designed to look similar to a website. The prototypes colors and design are equivalent to the print screen of the official webpage. This will make the usability tests more realistic and the test users can actually feel that they are using a website. We think this decision guarantees the quality and reliability of our usability tests.

Appendix
Interview Protocol I Interest in Algarve and Online Booking 1. Interest in south coast of Portugal

2. What is his or her objective and why he or she goes to those places. 3. Frequency he or she goes there. 4. Where he or she searches for place to spend his or her vacations. II Existing Glenridge Resort website 1. Take a look at this website (please do not click in any link). What is your first impression? 2. Can you understand what this website offers? 3. What would you expect to see before clicking on the following main menu links? 3.1 Eventos 2012 3.2 Glenridge Resort 3.3 Apartamentos 3.4 Galeria imagens do resort. 3.5 Pacotes especiais 3.6 Inscreva-se J 3.7 Contato EUA 4. Now please click on these links. Did it correspond to your expectations? What do you think? 4.1 Eventos 2012 4.2 Glenridge Resort 4.3 Apartamentos 4.4 Galeria 4.5 Pacotes especiais 4.6 Inscreva-se J 4.7 Contato EUA
5. What would you expect to see on the following links?

5.1 Taxas pblicas 5.2 De Vendas vivendas 5.3 Reservas 5.4 Interesses de Golf
6. Now please click on these links. Did it corresponded to your

expectations? What do you think?

7.

Would you make a reservation through this website? Is it intuitive? If you were to make a reservation on this website, how would you proceed?

8.

III - Impressions kept in mind 1. What is the name of the brand? 2. What services does it sell?

3. Could you briefly describe the structure of the site? If yes, what options were in there? 4. In Apart-Hotel booking website, what are the main characteristics that you value? 5. In your opinion what can be improved in this website? 6. Would you come back to this website?

Madalena Amaral Interview I Interest in Algarve and Online Booking

1. 2. 3. 4.

Gosta do Algarve. Internet and friends, feedback of friends. Os amigos vao para la, ja vai para la ha muitos anos. Frequency he or she goes there.

II Existing Glenridge Resort website 1. Falta de preocupaao no design. Ve se q nao foi uma empresa. 2. Sim, com facilidade. Sitios para ficar a dormer. 3. 3.1 os eventos que iriam ocorrer em albufeira em 2012 3.2 como e o resort, historia do resort.Apartamentos os apartamentos q o resort possui. 3.3 Apartamentos 3.4 Galeria imagens do resort. 3.5 Pacotes especiais as promooes disponiveis. Packs especiais 3.6 ficou a pensar bue. Receber newsletters 3.7 Contato EUA contacto dos eua resort 4.
4.1 Nos eventos nao aperece nada, e o pior q me podia

aparecer. 4.2 Texto fraquinho, pouca qualidade. 4.3 haver alguma ordem, ta uma balda. T3 fotos, t1 fotos 4.4 forografias desaorganizadas 4.5 incompleto 4.6 nao e o termo ideal para sugerir uma estadia, uma marcaao. Nao e de todo. 4.7 nunca diria que era para entrar em contacto c o resort via e-mail 5. What would you expect to see on the following links? 5.1 tao a gozar c a minha cara. 5.2 Vivendas 5.3 De Vendas 5.4 Reservas esta e q seria para reservar 5.5 Interesses de Golf possibilidades de jopgar golf no resort
6. Nao e o nome adequado que se de aos preos. Mais uma vez

mostra q nao ha preocupaao cuidado em manter o site actualizado. Reservas idem. Igual... 7. Nao, nada intuitive. 8. Carregaria em reservas. III - Impressions kept in mind 1. Nao me lembro

2.

3. 4. 5. 6.

Apartamentos Tem imagens, ha varias opoes que nao da para entrar, tem muitas imagens no inicio, cores azul claro, nao e elegante, reservas, taxas publicas, galeria, o nome do coiso, golf, Valorizo o design, tem de ser coerente q mostre uma equipa organizada por detras do site, tem ser um site elegante Tudo Nao

Madalena Barahona Interview

5. Interest in south coast of Portugal Gosta do Algarve. 6. Where he or she searches for place to spend his or her vacations. Internet and friends, feedback of friends. 7. What is his or her objective and why he or she goes to those places. (to book, to know more about south coast of Portugal, golf, apart-hotel?) Os amigos vao para la, ja vai para la ha muitos anos. 8. Frequency he or she goes there.

9. Take a look at this website (please do not click in any link). What

is your first impression? Muitas cores, dois botoes que nao se percebem bem; taxas publicas? Gostou das imagens; nome nao est devidamente destacado 10. Can you understand what this website offers? Resort, hotel com golf, piscinas 11. What would you expect to see before clicking on the following main menu links? 8.2. Eventos 2012. Eventos realizados pelo hotel/ eventos com o qual tem parcerias/eventos que o hotel patriciona 8.3. Glenridge Resort fotografias do hotel, quartos, preos 8.4. Galeria imagens do resort. 8.5. Inscreva-se titulo desadequado; dados necessarios para marcao do resort 8.6. Contato EUA escrevem de acordo com o novo acordo Now please click on these links. Why didnt the content of these links match your initial expectations? O que que acha? 8.2 Porque no existem. brevemente pouco perceptivel 8.3Acho que... (periodo de hesitao)... zzzz nao correspondeu s expectativas porque afinal mostra a discrio do resort. 8.4 est razoavel, (aquilo que o melo tinha dito tem sempre de andar para baixo o que se torna incomodo) 8.5 Porque que no me mostraram logo directamente a ficha?!?
12.

8.6 igual ao inscreva-se j 9. What would you expect to see after clicking on the following links? 9.2. Taxas pblicas no sabe 9.3. De Vendas no sei to a gozar com a minha cara. Nao sei, esto a vender casas no resort!? 9.4. Reservas repetio, nome mais adequado 9.5. Interesses de Golf sitios onde se possam jogar golf Now please click on these links. Why didnt the content of these links match your initial expectations? 10. Would you make a reservation through this website? Is it intuitive? Nao e nao. If you were to make a reservation on this website, how would you proceed? 11. nao existe Now please, close the website. Would you answer to some questions about the
website? 1. What is the name of the brand? Qualquer coisa beach and golf resort 2. What services does it sell? estadia Could you briefly describe the structure of the site? If yes, what options were in there? Opoes dos services, inscreva-se j, taxas publicas, reservas, eventos (reteve apenas o que era mau)

In Apart-Hotel booking website, what are the main characteristics that you value? Imagens, simplicidade, saber o que esperar mais intuitive, quer design coerente, bonito

In your opinion what can be improved in this website? Tudo at agora

I Interest in Algarve and Online Booking 1. Gosta do Algarve.

2. Internet and friends, feedback of friends. 3. Os amigos vao para la, ja vai para la ha muitos anos. 4. Frequency he or she goes there. II Existing Glenridge Resort website 1. Falta de preocupaao no design. Ve se q nao foi uma empresa. 2. Sim, com facilidade. Sitios para ficar a dormer. 3. 3.1 os eventos que iriam ocorrer em albufeira em 2012 3.2 como e o resort, historia do resort.Apartamentos os apartamentos q o resort possui. 3.3 Apartamentos 3.4 Galeria imagens do resort. 3.5 Pacotes especiais as promooes disponiveis. Packs especiais 3.6 ficou a pensar bue. Receber newsletters 3.7 Contato EUA contacto dos eua resort 4.
4.1 Nos eventos nao aperece nada, e o pior q me podia

aparecer. 4.2 Texto fraquinho, pouca qualidade. 4.3 haver alguma ordem, ta uma balda. T3 fotos, t1 fotos 4.4 forografias desaorganizadas 4.5 incompleto 4.6 nao e o termo ideal para sugerir uma estadia, uma marcaao. Nao e de todo. 4.7 nunca diria que era para entrar em contacto c o resort via e-mail 5. What would you expect to see on the following links? 5.1 tao a gozar c a minha cara. 5.2 Vivendas 5.3 De Vendas 5.4 Reservas esta e q seria para reservar 5.5 Interesses de Golf possibilidades de jopgar golf no resort
6. Nao e o nome adequado que se de aos preos. Mais uma vez

mostra q nao ha preocupaao cuidado em manter o site actualizado. Reservas idem. Igual... 7. Nao, nada intuitive. 8. Carregaria em reservas. III - Impressions kept in mind 1. Nao me lembro 2. Apartamentos

3. Tem imagens, ha varias opoes que nao da para entrar, tem muitas imagens no inicio, cores azul claro, nao e elegante, reservas, taxas publicas, galeria, o nome do coiso, golf, 4. Valorizo o design, tem de ser coerente q mostre uma equipa organizada por detras do site, tem ser um site elegante 5. Tudo 6. Nao