Overview

Between February 2023 and June 2024, I led the redesign of Guestline’s self-service check-in kiosk. As the sole designer, I partnered with a Product Manager, a Development Lead, and six engineers to transform an early pilot into a scalable hospitality product.

Key outcomes:

• Check-in times reduced by ~35% (from ~7 minutes to 4.5 minutes)

• Check-out as short as 1 minute if no balance remained (vs. ~5 minutes before)

• Self-service adoption doubled from 30% to 50%

• Guest satisfaction increased ~35%

• Upsell conversions ~20%, creating a new revenue stream

• Consistency across products: Same UI and UX now extend to the GuestStay Portal and Direct Booking Manager, ensuring a seamless brand experience across all guest touchpoints

  
  

Context & Challenge

When I joined the project, the Guestline kiosk was still in its pilot phase. The prototype was good enough to validate the concept: it showed that guests were willing to check themselves in, and it proved the technical feasibility of connecting a kiosk to the property management system.

But beyond validation, the pilot offered limited value to hotels. Guests had to re-enter booking details they had already provided, optional steps like card pre-authorisation or key cutting were hidden, and there were no upsell opportunities. Lobby queues still formed, and staff often had to intervene.

Hoteliers questioned why they should invest in kiosks that simply replicated the front desk at a slower pace. And yet, industry research pointed to strong potential: 53.6% of travellers prefer contactless check-in/out (Posiflex), self-check-in adoption averages around 48% (Ariane), and kiosks have been shown to reduce waiting times and boost guest spending (Impulsify). The Access Group itself described them as “game-changing hospitality solutions” that give guests more control.

The challenge was to take a validated proof of concept and redesign it into a scalable, guest-centric, white-label product that could cut waits, drive revenue, and flex to hotel brands.

Discovery & Insights

I started by auditing the full guest journey across DBM (booking) → GuestStay (pre-arrival) → Kiosk (arrival) → Departure. The audit highlighted unnecessary duplication, hidden flows, and inconsistent communication. Guests expected one seamless experience, but the tools felt disconnected.

The journey analysis and interviews exposed three big pain points:

• Expectation mismatch: Pre-arrival emails promised “faster check-in,” but guests felt they were asked to do it twice.

• Accessibility gaps: Kiosk screens were often mounted too high; the on-screen keyboard occupied a third of the screen, making flows harder for children, wheelchair users, and shorter guests.

• Operational inefficiency: Staff were pulled into kiosk troubleshooting instead of hosting, and hoteliers lacked ROI data.

Competitive research showed most kiosks in the market simply digitised check-in. Few supported upsells, even fewer addressed branding or accessibility. This created a clear opportunity for Guestline: deliver a consistent, branded, and inclusive experience across DBM, GuestStay, and Kiosk, while proving measurable business value.

From here, we defined success as alignment between guest satisfaction, hotel efficiency, and business outcomes. For guests, that meant frictionless check-in/out and reduced waiting times. For hotels, fewer repetitive tasks and clearer ROI. For Guestline, increased adoption of GuestStay and Kiosks plus measurable upsell revenue.

Approach & Design

The previous insights translated into four guiding principles to guide the redesign: clarity, autonomy, accessibility, and brand adaptability.

• Clarity meant removing friction and ambiguity. Guests needed to know where they were in the process at every moment. I introduced clear progress indicators, inline validation, and streamlined language to replace the jargon-heavy instructions of the pilot.

• Autonomy was about empowering guests to complete check-in and check-out on their own terms, without needing staff intervention. Auto-filled details, transparent optional steps, and modular upsells all supported self-service while leaving staff free to focus on hospitality.

• Accessibility ensured the kiosks could be used confidently by everyone, regardless of age, ability, or language. This drove decisions like large touch targets, high-contrast palettes, and WCAG-compliant typography. I also simplified flows so that tasks could be completed with minimal cognitive load.

• Brand adaptability recognised that every hotel wanted the kiosk to feel like their service, not a generic tool. I built a white-label design system with configurable variables for logos, colours, and typefaces—so hotels could inject their identity without compromising usability.

Together, these principles shaped every decision, from the way screens were condensed to how upsells were introduced and how communications were rewritten. They created a foundation where the kiosk wasn’t just functional, but also flexible, inclusive, and brand-aligned.

Before vs After Flow

Before flow

Pilot check in flow

Pilot check out flow

The pilot kiosk journey was fragmented and repetitive:

• Manual reservation lookup and confirmation

• Multiple guest detail forms (name, address, additional guests, arrival details)

• Terms & conditions as a separate step

• Pre-authorisation stretched across three screens

• Key cutting hidden as an extra flow

• Completion limited to paper receipts

• Check-out forced guests through 4–5 redundant screens, even if no balance remained

In total, check-in required 8–10 fragmented screens and check-out 4–5, often leading to staff intervention.

After flow

The redesigned kiosk delivered a streamlined, guest-friendly flow. Reservation lookup and review were combined into a single step, updates were consolidated into one screen with inline validation, and optional services such as pre-authorisation, key cutting, and upsells (room upgrades, late check-out, breakfast) were integrated seamlessly. Check-out was also simplified: review balance → pay if needed → confirm → receive a digital receipt or wallet pass. As a result, check-in was reduced to just four steps, while check-out could be completed from their phone or in kiosk in as little as one minute when no payment was due.

To support this, I created a structural framework that made the experience both pleasant and accessible. Each screen was organised into clear sections — header, context, main, CTAs, and keyboard — so users were never forced to switch input modes unnecessarily. The design prioritised readability, WCAG-compliant contrast, and generous touch targets, ensuring accessibility regardless of device or user height.

A key shift was moving from a fixed, kiosk-only setup tied to a single tablet model to a responsive layout that worked seamlessly across mobile, desktop, tablet, and kiosk. This flexibility ensured consistency across devices while maintaining accessibility and clarity. The simplified flow improved the guest journey, generated new hotel value through digital receipts and upsells, and established a modular, white-label system where hotels could customise branding and communications — replacing vague prompts like “Check in now!” with accurate, brandable templates such as “Complete your details in 3 minutes to skip the queue.”

Responsive, white-label system

The redesigned portal was built as a fully responsive system from the start, ensuring the same branded experience across mobile, desktop, and tablet. It uses the same modular design system as Guest Portal and DBM, so hotels and guests experience a unified ecosystem across all touchpoints.

Outcome

The redesign delivered measurable improvements:

• Average check-in times dropped by ~35%, from ~7 minutes to 4.5 minutes.

• Check-out shortened to ~1 minute when no balance remained, down from ~5 minutes.

• Self-service adoption doubled to 50%, in line with industry benchmarks.

• Guest satisfaction rose ~35%, with feedback praising speed and clarity.

• Upsell conversion averaged 20%, creating a new revenue channel.

• Staff interventions were halved, freeing receptionists to focus on hospitality.

• Sustainability gains: 45% of guests chose digital receipts and wallet passes, reducing paper waste.

• Consistency across products: The kiosk now shares the same UI and UX as the GuestStay Portal and Direct Booking Manager (DBM), ensuring continuity across booking, managing, and check-in/out.

Real-World Success Stories

Point A Hotels

Point A Hotels, a UK-based chain, faced staffing challenges and time-consuming manual check-ins. Within 90 days of adopting GuestStay Kiosks, they captured 3,000 guest emails that previously would have gone to OTAs. At their 249-room Kings Cross property, kiosks freed staff during peak occupancy, improving productivity.

Guest adoption was smooth, feedback was positive, and staff embraced their ability to “host with heart” instead of being tied to admin tasks. Ana Costa, Senior Commercial Technology Manager at Queensway, described the kiosks as having “revolutionised check-in and check-out,” raising both efficiency and satisfaction.

Read the full Point A Hotels case study

Watch the Point A Hotels video

Classik Hotel Collection (Berlin, Hackescher Markt)

The Hackescher Markt property, part of the Classik Hotel Collection, became the first hotel in Germany to adopt Guestline kiosks. Within just four weeks, 100% of guests were using the kiosk voluntarily, without staff prompting.

The impact was immediate:

• Guests embraced the kiosk for both check-in and proactive check-out.

• Staff workloads dropped significantly, freeing teams from repetitive admin.

• The success prompted the group to order additional kiosks for other properties.

As the hotel team noted, the kiosk wasn’t just an efficiency play — it created a more modern, guest-first arrival and departure experience while reducing pressure on reception staff.

Read the Classik Hotel Collection story

Industry-Wide Impact

Guestline’s 2024 results confirmed the broader success of kiosks and digital self-service: across its properties there were 2.3 million online check-ins, including 120,000 kiosk interactions. These generated 2.6% incremental revenue from upsells like breakfast and saved more than 6,000 staff hours. Around 72,000 guests completed fully autonomous check-outs, while 800,000 personal emails were captured—critical data that would otherwise have gone to OTAs. Guestline’s Direct Booking Manager also processed 1.2 million bookings, with 6.7% routed through Google integration (HospitalityNet).

And adoption keeps growing: Guestline now supports over 3,500 hotels worldwide with its platform, proving the scalability and trust behind this design (Access Group).

Reflections & Next Steps

This project demonstrated how design can turn a validated prototype into a scalable, guest-first product. By shortening lobby waits, introducing upsells, and enabling branding flexibility, the kiosk became both a guest-experience enhancer and a revenue generator.

The rollouts at Point A Hotels and The Gleneagle Hotel validated these results in practice, while Guestline’s 2024 data proved the industry-wide impact. Long-term partners such as the Black Boy Inn further highlight how Guestline’s platform supports operational transformation across different hotel models.

Crucially, the kiosk is no longer a standalone tool. It now sits within a connected ecosystem alongside the GuestStay Portal and Direct Booking Manager (DBM), all sharing the same UI and UX. Whether a guest books online, manages their stay before arrival, or checks in at a kiosk, the experience feels seamless and consistent. For hotels, this means brand integrity and scalability; for guests, it means clarity and control at every touchpoint.

We’re already integrating AI-driven personalisation into this ecosystem. The goal is for kiosks and portals not just to process transactions, but to anticipate needs: suggesting a late check-out when a flight is delayed, recommending breakfast if it wasn’t included in the booking, or tailoring upgrade offers based on past preferences. Automation is becoming not only faster, but smarter and more human—making every guest interaction feel timely, relevant, and genuinely cared for.