Booking & platform rebuild
This project required me to attain a deep understanding of MGM Resorts current technology including Opera, Archtics, GuestBridge, and other proprietary systems. My day-to-day role was to advise & mentor the team, present all deliverables, work with internal tracks to ensure the platform met all client requirements, daily meetings with MGM Resorts stakeholders, and several presentations to MGM Resorts C-Suite Executives.
Full-time · Experience Director on a UX team of six at SapientNitro
Selling the vision
The DMP framework deck was created for the MGM Executive leadership, and individual Property Presidents to help explain the complexity and benefits of the platform as we began designing for MGM Grand. The presentation included a variety of diagrams detailing how the platform would scale across Content Management, Personalization, and Transactions for all MGM Resort properties.
Visualize the experience
Executive leadership at MGM Resorts paid SapientNitro to create media rich versions of what the platform experience could be for property leadership before design & development.
RICH AND BOLD
Both of the following animatics were created in parallel, and while elements were taken from both, this exploration was believed to be to avant-garde. Most of the concerns came down to creating/managing assets for this richer experience.
MODULAR COMPONENTS
The second animatic uses a variety of tiles to create a complex grid system. The end-product was powered with Adobe Search & Promote, and allows MGM ultimate control over how they promote content. This grids can be changed dynamically by inbound search, external input, time-of-day, and more to provide the best experience and highest conversion for each individual resort.
Partner & off-short alignment
With a large team of stakeholders at MGM, every page, component, and interaction across the site needed to be meticulously documented for approval. We had daily stand-ups with the internal tracks (Design, Development, Content Strategy, and Business) to ensure alignment as we created the platform. This also helped streamline our sprint delivery to SapientNitro off-shore for development.
Empowering distinct brands
Instead of building a different digital experience for each of the 13 MGM properties, our strategy was to build one flexible platform to easily enable cross-marketing efforts. So while MGMGrand.com, Bellagio.com, Luxor.com, Mirage.com, etc. would all sit on the same foundation, each site would feel like its own unique and branded experience.
MGM Grand
Luxor
Bellagio
Reimagine booking
A significant part of our work on this project was to re-imagine how guests could easily book & manage their Room, Show, and Dining Reservations across all devices. This system had to leverage several different transaction engines, each with their own limitations, as well as integrate into the MGM Resorts loyalty program M life.
Room reservations
Event booking
Dining Reservations
Tourist are all mobile first
Each component was designed independently from the page across all viewports, ensuring ultimate flexibility. The biggest challenge was ensuring the new Booking Engine would still have clear calls-to-action across all viewports.
“During MGM Resorts International’s customer experience transformation, Keegan was the driving force linking the vision to real live application and performance.”
Julie Hoffmann
Executive Director Digital/Consumer Experience at MGM