2024 · UX Researcher & Product Designer
Resy Celebrations
A large-party booking feature for the Resy platform
View Live PrototypeRole
UX Researcher & Product Designer
Team
4-person team
Research Methods
User Interviews, Restaurant Manager Interviews, Survey, Affinity Mapping, Journey Mapping
Platform
Mobile App (iOS/Android)
Duration
8 weeks
Overview
Booking for 8+ people on Resy ends the same way every time: an email. Users wait days for back-and-forth clarification on minimums, floor plans, and menus. Restaurants spend hours on coordination they could automate. The Celebrations feature closes that gap.
My Role
Co-lead researcher on a 4-person team. I led the research plan, conducted user and restaurant manager interviews, and co-designed the Celebrations feature concept.
Tools & Methods
- Figma
- User interviews
- Competitive analysis
- Journey mapping
- Affinity mapping
Objectives
Serve Both Sides
Design for restaurants and guests at once — the two sides needed completely different things from the same booking.
Replace Email With Structure
Turn an open-ended email thread into a structured flow both sides could actually act on.
Filter for Real Options Only
Show guests only restaurants that could actually accommodate them, before they reach out.
Live Prototype
Open full prototypeDual-Perspective Research
I interviewed both sides of the transaction — NYC users (students and young professionals) and restaurant managers at three Brooklyn restaurants. This revealed a fundamental mismatch: users wanted instant transparency, restaurants needed structured context before committing. Neither the current email workflow nor the app's hard cap at 6 seats served either side.
Survey Findings
What Users Needed
Minimum spend, floor plans, and sample menus visible before reaching out
One-click confirmation comparable to a regular reservation
Budget filters to compare restaurants without hidden-cost surprises
Confidence that their date won't disappear during email delays
What Restaurants Needed
Event type upfront — a birthday and a corporate happy hour require different staffing and layouts
A structured intake form in-app instead of open-ended email threads
Protection from last-minute cancellations that cost thousands in missed turnovers
“If guests saw pricing and policies before emailing us, that would filter out groups who aren’t serious.”
The Solution
Celebrations is a dedicated section within Resy for 8+ reservations. A filterable restaurant grid surfaces spend minimums, event policies, and sample menus upfront. A structured inquiry form — party size, event type, dietary needs, budget range — replaces the email chain. Restaurants respond through Resy's dashboard, keeping the full loop in-platform.
Research Validation
Design Solutions
Insight 1
We almost didn't interview restaurant managers, but once we did, the problem changed. They weren't refusing large bookings — they were doing work Resy had no infrastructure for at all.
Recommendation 1
Celebrations as a separate mode, not a filter. Large-group bookings are a different kind of transaction, with different information needs and higher stakes for both sides.
Insight 2
Users were reaching out to restaurants that couldn't accommodate them, only to find out 2–3 emails in.
Recommendation 2
Preference-first discovery — event type, party size, date, budget, and vibe collected before any results appear, so every result is already a real option.
Insight 3
People weren't overwhelmed by the process itself — they were overwhelmed by not having the right information at the right moment.
Recommendation 3
Swipe-based restaurant cards showing minimum spend, capacity, and layout previews up front, one option at a time.
Insight 4
“If guests saw pricing and policies before emailing us, that would filter out groups who aren’t serious,” one restaurant manager said directly.
Recommendation 4
A structured booking request replaces the open email — restaurants get full context without needing follow-up questions, and users get a progress tracker instead of silence.
Insight 5
Every manager said the same thing: the email itself wasn't the problem, it was that there was nowhere else for that conversation to happen.
Recommendation 5
A manager dashboard gives restaurants a structured version of the same exchange — accept, modify, or decline without touching their inbox.
Outcomes
What Worked
Delivered end-to-end research: consumer and restaurant manager interviews, a survey, affinity mapping, personas, journey mapping, and a full lo-fi prototype for both sides of the booking flow.
Feedback from professor and class was largely positive on the overall direction.
Areas for Growth
Didn't go far enough in showing how Celebrations protects restaurants from no-shows and last-minute cancellations — understood the restaurant side through research but didn't fully translate that into the design.
The swipe mechanic got fair pushback — some reviewers felt it worked better as a discovery tool than a primary interaction pattern.
Learnings
Designing for Two Sides at Once
This was my first time working on a two-sided problem, and I didn't fully understand what that meant until we were in it. Once the restaurant side came in, almost every decision we'd made about the user had to be reconsidered. You can't design for one without understanding what the other actually needs.