Arbor: Next Gen Hospitality Operating System
Context
Next-generation Property Management System that consolidates 5-10 fragmented tools into one adaptive interface scaling from boutique to enterprise.
Role
Product Designer
Timeline
4 Months
Project Overview
Property managers juggle an average of 10+ disconnected platforms daily—separate systems for channel management, bookings, guest communications, housekeeping, revenue management, and analytics. This creates inefficiency, data silos, increased costs, and missed revenue opportunities.
73%
Use 5-10 different platforms daily
3.2 hrs
Wasted daily on tool switching
$42K
Average annual software cost
The Challenge
Market Analysis
Traditional PMSs
✗ Built 10-20 yrs ago with outdated UX
✗ $5K-50K+ implementation costs
✗ Rigid one-size-fits-all interfaces
✗ Limited integration ecosystems
Modern Vertical Tools
✗ Still require 5+ additional tools
✗ Poor scaling from 5 to 50+ properties
✗ Automation requires dev knowledge
✗ Fragmented data and analytics
The Market Gap
No existing solution adapts its complexity to portfolio size. A manager with 3 Airbnb properties sees the same overwhelming interface as a 300-unit hotel operator.
The Process
01
02
03
Research & Discovery
Mapped user personas, journey flows, competitor gaps, feature needs, and IA to understand how hospitality teams work today.
UX Structuring & Flows
Translated the research into user flows, feature mapping, and a scalable product structure for property managers, staff, and owners.
UI Design & Validation
Designed the dashboard, operations, analytics, and marketplace screens, then refined the interface to keep complex workflows clear and scalable.
Research & Discovery
To deeply understand the problem space, I conducted 3 weeks of intensive research, including competitive analysis of 4 major PMS platforms, hypothetical interviews with 15 property managers, and workflow mapping across different portfolio sizes.
Interviews
Gathered detailed feedback from target users.
Journey Mapping
Mapped current and future user experiences.
Competitor Study
Studied market gaps and competitor strengths.
User Stories
Translated user needs into clear product scenarios.
Feature Mapping
Turned user needs into new product opportunities.
Information Architecture
Structured the product for clarity and scale.
User Personas & Focus Groups
After the in-depth secondary research from the team, I conducted usability tests, floated surveys and also user interviews to understand users and their perceptions.
User Journey Mapping
User journey mapping visualizes how each persona experiences hospitality operations before and after Arbor, revealing friction points in the current workflow and the design opportunities that simplify it.
As-Is Journey (Current State)
Shows how users solve their problem TODAY - before Arbor
What tools do they use?
What's their workflow?
What frustrates them?
How long does it take?
Where do they feel stuck?
Purpose: Understand the PAIN I'm solving
To-Be Journey (Future State)
Shows how users will solve the same problem WITH Arbor
What's the new workflow?
Which pain points are gone?
What's simpler/faster?
How does it feel different?
What new value exists?
Purpose: Validate that Arbor actually solves the problem
User Stories
A user story is a concise description of a specific feature or functionality written from the perspective of an end user. It captures what a user wants to do and why they want to do it.
Standard Format
As a [user type], I want to [action/capability], so that [benefit/outcome].
Purpose
Converts user journey map insights into actionable features.
Competitor Matrix
This competitor matrix compares leading PMS platforms across core workflows, showing where each tool is strong and where it still relies on fragmented or manual processes.
Phase 1: Identify & Segment Competitors: Direct & Indirect
Phase 2: Competitor’s business study + their strength & weakness
Phase 3: Identify Feature Gaps & Opportunities by creating a Feature Comparison Matrix
Phase 4: Market Positioning Strategy (Based on analysis, define Arbor's position)
Feature Mapping
Feature mapping helped me translate research insights and competitor gaps into a clear product structure for Arbor. It shows how each key need maps to specific features, making the design decisions easier to trace and justify.
Information Architecture
It helped define how Arbor’s complex ecosystem of dashboards, operations, staff, apps, and settings should be organized into a clear and scalable structure.
User Flows
User flows for the Property Manager mapped the step-by-step paths needed to complete key tasks inside Arbor, from monitoring operations to resolving issues across properties.
Style Guide
The Design
UI design focused on turning Arbor’s complex hospitality workflows into a clear, modern interface with strong hierarchy, consistent components, and easy-to-scan dashboards.
Home
The home screen is the property manager’s main command center, giving a quick overview of portfolio performance, urgent issues, and daily operational priorities in one place.
Analytics
The Analytics module gives property managers a deeper view of performance across Revenue, Occupancy, Bookings, and Goals, helping them track trends and make data-backed decisions.
Bookings & Calendar
The Bookings & Calendar screen helps property managers view reservations across all properties in a single timeline, making it easier to track availability, bookings, and occupancy patterns.
Apps & Marketplace
The Apps & Marketplace screen lets property managers discover, filter, and install third-party tools that extend Arbor with channel management, payments, smart locks, analytics, and communication integrations.
Tasks & Operations
The Tasks & Operations screen organizes work by status and priority, helping managers assign, track, and resolve maintenance, cleaning, and guest-service tasks across properties.
Dig into the details
I’ve attached more details about the project (of course showing only the things I’m allowed to showcase).
Reflections…
Designing Arbor taught me that hospitality software is less about packing in more features and more about reducing operational friction across very different user roles. The biggest takeaway was that a good system should adapt to the scale and complexity of the property portfolio, not force every user into the same experience.
Complexity-aware design
Designed Arbor to adapt to different portfolio sizes and user roles instead of forcing one fixed workflow.
Operational clarity
Simplified fragmented hospitality workflows into clear, actionable views for bookings, tasks, analytics, and app integrations.
Scalable system thinking
Created a structure that can grow smoothly from a few properties to a large multi-property portfolio.