Clarify Before You Build

Modern hoteliers use visual use cases align teams before you build.

How do you know what to build?

In hospitality, teams can spend weeks talking about systems, integrations, and workflows without ever putting anything on paper. Everyone leaves a meeting with a slightly different picture in their heads. That’s how projects drift, expectations get scrambled, and expensive fixes become inevitable.

The solution is simple:

Draw the picture first.

Before a single vendor demo. Before a systems conversation. Before anyone says “integration.”

A visual use case forces alignment. It reveals the hidden assumptions. It makes sure every team is solving the same problem, not five different versions of it.

What a Good Visual Use Case Looks Like

Let's map out a visual use case.

1. Define the experience: You want to offer your guests a world-class experience when they visit with their pet.

Want to create a memorable moment for guests with a pet?

2. Determine:

   • The starting point (guest, staff member, or triggering event)-

     • Triggering event- Guest books hotel room and adds pet information. (System: CRS sync to PMS)

   • The actions taken by hotel staff:

     • On day of arrival

       • Front desk checks pet deposit, prepares amenities, pre-blocks room in appropriate pet-friendly room, checks pet deposit, and prepares amenities. (System: PMS)

       • Housekeeping delivers pet bed and water bowl (inventory) and dog treats (retail) to room and changes status in system (System: PMS, POS syncs to PMS)

     • Upon arrival

       • Valet/Butler greets guest and pet (System: PMS)

       • Front desk greets guest and pet, validates pet information in system and updates with any new information, provides pet chew toy amenity (retail outlet), and changes status in system. (System: POS syncs PMS sync to CRS)

   • The systems involved- CRS, PMS

   • The expected output- list each field in each system and how it flows through the systems

   • Who uses that output and why- validate that hotel staff have the information when they need it and know what to do with it

   • The “success condition” - Guest and pet acknowledged, amenities provided on time, room type is correct, pet fees are correct

   If you can describe your project in this format, you're already ahead of 90 percent of teams.

Why Hotels Need a Visual Use Case

Hotels are complex ecosystems. PMS speaks one language. CRS speaks another. Marketing, operations, and finance often follow their own maps. When you try to launch a project without a shared picture, you’re building on shifting ground.

A visual use case does three things:

1. Creates shared understanding - Teams finally see the same flow, the same guest path, the same handoffs.

2. Exposes gaps before they become issues - Nothing hides on a page. Missing steps, unclear owners, confusing routes all become obvious.

3. Accelerates every conversation that follows - Technical vendors, integrators, and internal teams can work faster and more accurately when the goal is visible.

Start Simple

Before you bring in vendors or IT, gather your stakeholders and ask the only question that matters:

“What do we want the guest or staff member to experience?”

Then draw it.

Once the picture is right, everything else becomes easy.

CLV Takeaway

We make complex projects clear before anyone lifts a finger.

Because clarity is the foundation of every successful build.

Ready to build and execute on visual use cases?

Book a Consultation