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Having traveled extensively, I faced challenges when planning long trips that covered multiple destinations and more. Recognizing that other people encounter similar difficulties in trip planning, I decided to take on the challenge and design a feature to address this common problem.
1.5 months
Conceptual project
Research, UX Design, UI Design, Wireframing
This is a feature concept for the Booking.com app, enabling users to envision and book vacations conveniently. This functionality facilitates trip planning, exploring attractions on a map, allows users to add nearby hotels to a flexible plan, and enables booking them all at once, following a detailed schedule for efficient planning.
The current travel planning process involves users navigating multiple platforms such as Facebook, Google, Excel, and hotel websites, resulting in a fragmented and time-consuming experience. The absence of a unified solution hinders users from efficiently discovering, customizing, and booking their trips in one cohesive platform.
End-to-end travel planning for efficiency is the goal. This involves creating a unified platform from exploration to booking, aiming to save users time and simplify the journey.
I conducted qualitative research, interviewing six individuals, involving both current and potential Booking.com users. I wanted to understand their needs and their app usage for planning. After figuring out many ways of how people plan their trips step by step, it became clear that users need to have flexibility in their planning.
I explored travel apps targeting the same audience as Booking.com and noticed a recurring theme of using maps to assist in trip planning. Surprisingly, this emphasis on maps is less prominent in Booking.com.
I began by planning a scenario for a trip with a few destinations, then pivoted to a more extensive journey based on research. The wireframes evolved iteratively, seamlessly integrating existing app screens.
As the application already existed with its established design system, I needed to learn and become familiar with the style guide so that I could modify the feature's screens to blend seamlessly into the entire application
The first job to be done was to integrate a map into the planning flow, which begins with choosing the country to visit and is followed by exploring hotels and destinations within the chosen country.
In light of research insights, users frequently make multiple changes over months of planning. Therefore, I designed an option for easily moving, deleting, or adding stages, even across multiple days.
When a user explores new places to visit, the map shows their location in relation to other destinations already in the plan, aiding decision-making based on distances.
Allowing travelers to complete the entire trip planning and booking in a single step reduces the risk of oversights and provides a seamless, cohesive experience.
I conducted user testing with users from the target audience. After analyzing their reviews, I made a few fixes, but the responses to this feature were very positive.
I had the chance to utilize the UI design skills I acquired that year, uncovering new and interesting aspects that give me a broader understanding of product design, in addition to the in-depth knowledge I already gained from years of experience in UX design.
