Redesigning the ferry travel experience

Baleària, an international ferry company, had equipped their “Smartship” ferries with wifi, cameras for pets and digital keys. They knew they had an opportunity to take advantage of these new technologies to elevate the passenger experience. With many possible ways to use the new technology, Baleària wanted to identify the opportunities that would be most valuable for passengers.

During travel passengers are looking for clear communication about where they are, how to navigate the vessel, and when they reach their destination. Having wifi enabled ships opened the opportunity to improve the passenger experience when people were on the ships, however through research we uncovered that there was also opportunity to support passengers before they boarded and after they disembarked.

The SmartB app, a travel companion, that guides passengers at all times, from the reservation, to arrival at the port, to boarding. The app includes all the most relevant on-board services, from remote restaurant orders, pet control, digital keys for rooms and multimedia cabins.

We traveled on the Smartship ferry to analyze the current travel experience with Baleària before, during and after a trip aboard a Smartship vessel. We also looked at other players in the transportation sector, as well as other sectors that are benchmarks in terms of innovation and experience.

With the learnings obtained, through different co-creation sessions with the different areas involved (innovation, e-commerce, on-board services, call center, etc.) we defined the ideal Smartship experience and prioritized those solutions to implement in the short term.