Role: UX | UI Designer
Problem Space
Timeline: 24 Hours
Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Data collection offers significant benefits to Airbnb, however there are challenges that can impact both user experience and operational efficiency, including privacy concerns, data quality, and integration.
Team Objective
How might we leverage user data to create a more personalized recommendation engine that suggests relevant travel packages that align with the Adventurous Traveler?
The Solution
Our goal was to focus on providing a seamless way for users to browse experience bundles. To do so, we concluded that implementing a button at the top of the webpage for stays that include bundle options was the most effective way to introduce a new feature without overwhelming users that are used to the current airbnb interface structure.
Users can click on the offered bundles to explore the included add-on experiences. Leveraging Airbnb's current experience layout, our team suggests maintaining the same template but incorporating prominent call-to-action buttons. These buttons will provide detailed information about each experience and clearly display the additional costs, impacting the overall price.
This design aims to encourage users to add more travel package options, driving revenue growth for Airbnb while simultaneously improving customer convenience.
When users click the "Bundle" button, users are presented with properties offering bundled experiences, prioritized by geographical location. The system displays available dates that correspond to the user's selected travel dates, both within the property listing information and in the reservation entry window. A clear "Add Bundle" button is presented before the customer proceeds to checkout.
Secondary Research
As a multidiscipline team, we concluded that in order to create the best product in 24hrs, we needed to focus on a target group. Based on secondary research, we discovered the products largest user groups, age demographic, and common interests.
Milleninals
Aged 25-44
56% of Users
Identify as Female
Young Adults and
Small Families
With key user traits identified, we developed a data-driven narrative and persona to inform our design process. We focused on a popular winter getaway a young adult might plan, selecting a Whistler Airbnb booking as our scenario. Given Whistler's status as the most sought-after Canadian destination for American travelers, and the fact that our hackathon took place in winter, this scenario proved particularly relevant.
Prefer a personalized experience using less online platforms
Persona - The Adventurer
I want to personalize my booking experience and easily find activities that match my travel preferences and moods with less downtime.
Painpoints
It takes too much time when finding and booking travel stays and activities
Using multiple websites for booking is overwhelming
Has trouble keeping track of activities details after booking
To create a personalized search engine, our data science team recommended an architecture that leverages user search history and interests. This allows us to access relevant data and recommend tailored travel packages, improving the planning and booking experience.
Reflections
To kickstart the hackathon, our group prioritized storytelling, understanding that a strong user narrative would be instrumental in our ideation process. We crafted a scenario based weekend getaway to a Vancouver Ski Lodge, which served as a valuable resource for UI imagery. This narrative directly informed our data scientists' approach to developing a personalized search recommendation engine. For UI consistency, we adopted elements of Airbnb's existing branding as a template for our webpages.
Learning opportunities
Our team's initial strategy was to create a mobile version of the Airbnb website, based on our assumption that it would be the most common user access point. However, due to the tight timeline and developer constraints, we pivoted our approach. This experience highlighted the importance of interdisciplinary communication and understanding our limitations.
As designers, we learned the value of iterative testing and adaptation, especially in rapid development cycles. By aligning developer needs with data science insights, we created a presentation that effectively communicated our solution, ensuring a seamless transition for Airbnb users.