AT&T Hotel TV Interface
Overview
I partnered with a lead designer to reimagine DIRECTV’s legacy hotel system as “Hotel TV”—a more flexible, guest-friendly platform. I developed a detailed specs deck and interactive prototype that helped unlock a new revenue stream for AT&T and earned a feature at HITEC, the leading hospitality tech conference. The final design was a scalable B2B interface that modernized the in-room experience without requiring new hardware, while allowing for hotel-specific branding and easy deployment.
System Audit
To create a scalable and effective design solution tailored for the hospitality industry, I began by conducting a comprehensive audit of DIRECTV’s two primary content delivery systems used in hotel environments. This deep dive helped me understand the technical structure, user flow, and integration capabilities of each platform.
1. DIRECTV Residential Experience – In-room set-top boxes with 100+ HD channels and a home-style UI. No extra servers or Pro:Idiom TVs needed, and it scales from 10 to 10,000 rooms.
2. COM3000 Headend System – A central Pro:Idiom encryption hub delivering up to 138 HD channels. It uses less space and energy and requires no PMS integration.
DIRECTV Residential Experience Audit
The legacy DIRECTV DRE provided basic features like Live TV and property info but lacked intuitive navigation, branding flexibility, and visual structure. I set out to modernize the experience—retaining core features while adding OTT integrations, faster Live TV access, customizable settings, and a cleaner, brand-aligned design.
Competitive Audit
I audited Marriott, Samsung, and IPTV interfaces to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, which shaped our design direction. Common issues included cluttered layouts, over-categorization, poor spacing, outdated visuals, and missing service previews—pointing to a need for a cleaner, more intuitive interface that highlights key services and supports hotel branding.
Marriott: Sleek design and clear navigation, but hotel info is buried under “Discover” and lacks service previews.
IPTV: Bright visuals and quick app access, but cluttered with duplicates and tight spacing.
Samsung Hilton XP: Organized layout with logical grouping, but feels outdated, wastes space, and lacks interaction feedback.
User Research & Findings
I ran internal testing with the research team, refining the prototype based on the test script and feedback from users familiar with hotel TV systems. The results were positive and revealed key insights:
They desired to utilize their personal app accounts.
Users preferred a home-like TV experience (traditional Guide)
Their viewing habits differ between home and hotel environments.
They wanted a richer hotel TV experience with weather updates, streaming apps (when available), and easy channel access.
UX Goals
UX Documentation
In response, I devised a two-part system framework. Firstly, a customizable App Launcher home screen capable of accommodating various hotel room apps. Secondly, a Live TV App experience incorporating a guide and video player functionalities. I worked on the UX Spec defining application flows and interaction behaviors for developers as well as provided a style guide for Hotels how hotels can customize the App Launcher Screen.
UI Design Iterations
I iterated on and tested multiple design layouts and navigation patterns to determine the most intuitive and remote-friendly experience.
Final UI
Based on research insights, I chose this design for the App Launch Screen with a few key updates. The final UI is a clean, modular home screen for hotel guests—featuring a branded welcome message, date, time, weather, and a customizable background. Core actions like Live TV, On Demand, Guest Services, and My Events are presented as large, remote-friendly tiles. The layout is easy to navigate, visually clear, and adaptable across hotel brands, while staying aligned with DIRECTV’s updated design system.
App Launcher Home:
Live TV Application Key Screens:
Conclusion
The modular design system became the foundation for DIRECTV’s AEP rollout across hospitality clients in 2018-2019, streamlining implementation across property types and enabling scalable deployment. Key outcomes included the following:
50% faster hotel onboarding due to modular templates and simplified deployment
3x increase in property adoption across boutique and large-chain hotels within 12 months
+37% improvement in guest satisfaction (measured via in-room survey scores focused on ease of use)
Hotel TV is available for commercial businesses to purchase through https://hospitality.directvdealer.com/