The Curated Platform: Scaling Distinction, Brand, and Booking
Hilton’s luxury and resort properties needed a way to showcase their distinct stories online without sacrificing commercial performance or enterprise support. We redesigned the Curated platform to deliver immersive, high-touch experiences that scale, convert, and stay true to each hotel’s identity.
MY ROLE
I led the design strategy and execution for the evolution of the Curated platform. I collaborated with stakeholders to define the vision, partnered with Engineering leaders to build the business case and secure funding, and established the operational norms and team structure to scale design delivery. I also hired and mentored the design team supporting this work, and contributed hands-on design when needed to drive clarity and momentum.
Custom Sites at Scale
We redesigned and optimized the Curated site experience to support Hilton’s fastest-growing luxury hotels. Our challenge: keep the elegance of custom design while introducing scalable components, customizable branding, and performance-focused features. The result? A flexible, modern platform that boosts bookings without compromising brand integrity.
Elegant Design That Performs
13%
Increase conversion rate after introducing the Shop Form component on Curated pages
31.8%
lift to conversion from redesigned “Check Availability” CTA button on Room Cards
$1M
in quarterly revenue attributed to improvements on Curated’s Rooms and Suites page layout.
These design enhancements delivered measurable business impact, driving increased user engagement and higher conversion rates across Hilton’s expanding portfolio of more than 225 Curated sites. By collaborating closely with the Content Orchestration team, who managed daily site operations with the support and art direction of our design team, we ensured consistent visual quality, brand integrity, and a seamless user experience at scale.
Learning What Converts for Luxury Guests
Our research revealed several important insights about Curated page visitors. Guests expect a high level of visual polish combined with clear and functional design. We found that calls to action were often overlooked due to visual separation and unclear copy. By analyzing tests conducted on both Property and Brand pages, we identified effective strategies that could be applied to Curated, such as sticky components, more prominent and clearer calls to action, and improved filtering options.
Evolving Without Losing the Magic
We focused on redesigning components and restructuring content hierarchy with continuous experimentation guiding our decisions. The replacement of the “Make a Reservation” button with the more adaptable Shop Form led to a 13% increase in conversion. We introduced sticky navigation logic to reduce visual clutter and enhance usability. Additionally, we refined the Room Card layout and tested different call-to-action designs, such as buttons versus links, which significantly boosted user engagement. Throughout this process, we applied the Enterprise brand identity to maintain visual consistency across Hilton’s luxury properties.
