Hotwire’s Travel Info at Your Wrist

In early 2015, Hotwire received exclusive training from Apple to develop a Watch app for the device's launch. This initiative made trip information more accessible through wearable technology while positioning Hotwire to capture early adopters in the growing iOS ecosystem.

Background: In early 2015, Hotwire was one of the companies chosen to receive exclusive Apple training to build a proper app for the launch.

Why Apple Watch?

  • Hotwire for the Apple Watch makes trip information more helpful and convenient.

  • It’s part of iOS technology extension and capturing the early adopters market of Apple Watch.

Role: Lead UX/UI

Apple Watch Release

Apple announced its first smartwatch to compete in the wearable device market. Hotwire was one of the few companies invited to receive guidance on building the app properly.

Brainstorming | Design | Go-To-Market Plan

Brainstorming

It started with brainstorming at the Hotwire office, prioritizing problems, and features to build on the first launch. Then, I spent a week at Apple’s headquarters with many other designers/developers from different companies to build using Apple’s best practices.

UX flow, UI explorations

After figuring out the technology constraints and learning the core usability of the watch. We embarked as a team on a journey to build the first Hotwire app for the Apple Watch. Our challenges were to determine what the users needed to achieve their successful trip by using the watch.

Hotwire for the Apple Watch makes trip information more helpful and convenient.

Go-To-Market Plan

Marketing plan: PR (News / TV), mobile app web landing page, web homepage, social postings, DBM (email & banner), in-app interstitial, iTunes App Store (What’s new?).

Core features:

  • At-a-glance short and long-view formats

  • Rental car pick-up, hotel, and flight check-in reminders

  • Full Trip details including car, flight, hotel details, and itinerary view with maps

  • Active and past trip summaries