Mr & Mrs Smith Hotels
Our Journey With the Leading Luxury Booking Platform to Achieve a Top-Rated App
Brand
service line
Mobile Application Development
UI Design
Consultancy in Product Development
The Case
Mr & Mrs Smith Hotels defines itself as “The travel club for hotel lovers”. Based in the UK, since its foundation in 2003, went around the world, providing a carefully curated selection of travel and accommodation experiences. Over the years, it has evolved into a global travel club with more than a million members of fellow hotel enthusiasts enjoying hand-picked and luxurious stays. Therefore, it became increasingly vital to ensure that its mobile application could offer the necessary functionality and support for its esteemed clientele. In 2016, the leadership sought support in ensuring the maintenance and further development of their existing iOS mobile application.
The Solution
Although our partnership began with an emphasis on application maintenance and improvement, our collaboration yielded a far-reaching outcome. We gradually built mutual trust by leveraging our technological expertise, which led to the conception and development of a brand-new app for Mr & Mrs Smith Hotels. The app was launched in 2020, and its smooth user experience and sophisticated design have since propelled it to become one of the top-rated travel apps in the industry.
From Patching to Perfecting
Our book of endeavours with Mr & Mrs Smith Hotels can be divided into two major chapters. In the first one, we had been taking good care of the existing iOS mobile application for both iPhone and iPad, enhancing user experience and core functionalities. Over these two years, our compass has shown only one direction: understanding and anticipating our client’s long-term needs. While developing new functionalities, we kept our minds on usability, cost consciousness and reusability.
As with any successful collaboration, there was a learning curve as we familiarised ourselves with the stakeholder's needs and availability. Once we had adapted our processes and team to accommodate these requirements, it was time to turn the page and move on to the next chapter. Together we decided to develop an entirely new application from scratch instead of patching up the legacy app and keeping our heads above the water. So we’ve dived deep and started building an application that is cost-efficient and genuinely aligns with Mr & Mrs Smith Hotels’ brand identity.
During the development process of the new mobile app, we recreated user flows, wireframes and partially designed the UI. While doing so, we‘ve ensured a streamlined functioning of the legacy app, not losing sight of the importance of maintaining the quality of a highly valued solution. Ultimately, in 2020, we replaced the legacy app with the new application, which continues to serve over 1 million members worldwide.
The Social Proof of Quality
Over the years, Mr & Mrs Smith Hotels has become one of the leading booking platforms globally, boasting a membership base of over 1.5 million. It endorses more than 2000 carefully selected and strictly reviewed luxury hotels and villas across six continents (in more than 80 countries).
With a continuously growing member base and offerings, the application itself also had to meet the highest quality standards. The 4.5 rating score given by approx. 2900 reviewers makes it one of the top-rated apps in the Travel category of the App Store. As for the benchmarks, the average number of reviews in the Travel category is 919, with an average star rating of 3.85, according to Statista Research Department. While ratings and reviews paint only a part of the picture, they definitely serve as social proof of the app’s quality and reputation, coupled with the customer’s perception of the service offered. Furthermore, the new Mr & Mrs Smith Hotels app has been on the market for three years and still holds its forerunner position.
But IT All Comes Down to People
Our partnership with the Mr & Mrs Smith Hotels team is built on mutual trust and appreciation, which has been instrumental in navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic that severely impacted the tourism industry. Despite being physically distant by 2000 km, we managed to maintain a strong professional relationship, thanks to our commitment to open communication and the bonds of the given word.
Tamara Lohan
“Their willingness to help and effective communication really set them apart.”