The main objective was to create a customised design thinking toolkit for traditional hotel managers to apply it successfully and drive innovation in their hotel chain. Furthermore, this study aimed to identify the factors preventing innovation in the traditional hotel industry, and how can a customised version of design thinking be conceptualised and visualise to maximise its adoption with traditional hotel managers. Traditional hotel chains may lack the resources and expertise to innovate, posing a threat to their market survival.

This study used design thinking as a research methodology. It went through the five phases of the design thinking process to understand the challenges faced by traditional hotel chains adopting innovation, identify design thinking concepts suitable for hotel managers, and design a customised version of design thinking to support them. Semi-structured interviews with general hotel managers and design thinking experts were conducted to deepen the understanding of the problem and define the user needs.

Findings revealed that the lack of budget, time, size of the organisation, financial risks, fast pace of technology evolution are barriers to innovation in the hospitality industry. Also, findings showed that the knowledge of design thinking is low in the hotel industry. In addition, design thinking experts suggested a list of factors to successfully implement design thinking in an organisation. The findings led to the creation of the Design Thinking starter kit. It offers an entry point to design thinking and provides guiding principles, recommendations, and a set of tools adapted to hotel managers' knowledge to successfully apply design thinking. The starter kit aims to generalise the use of design thinking in a traditional hotel chain context and support hotel managers or innovation managers to adopt innovation. It provides a concise compilation of effective and adaptable techniques that can assist a design team in a hotel to embark on their design journey.