About

Challenge:
Stay competitive in a hyper-crowded market (Booking.com, Expedia, Trivago) by delivering value to a wide range of traveller needs, without a big research budget

Client:
HotelsCombined

My Role:
Lead Product Designer

Key Outcomes

Micro-interaction friction was costing conversions

The booking calendar already performed well, but small interaction issues were creating friction. I brought in the original developer to advise on technical constraints as we worked through solutions together.

Testing the existing experience

I gave users simple tasks on the existing calendar, then compared the experience to leading competitor apps to find better patterns.

Ideation & testing

Book a trip from the 8th to the 13th.

Branding became the differentiator that pure UX couldn’t

I redesigned the home screen and Member’s Account, drawing on market analysis and the traveller-type workshop (see next section) for ideas.

The account evolved from a single profile page into a small suite of booking tools — wish lists, saved searches, and more. For the home screen, I brought in the polar bear mascot, since branding was one of the few real differentiators in a market where most competitors offered near-identical functionality.

Travellers needed more than one-size-fits-all accommodation

The app didn’t speak to specific traveller types—couples, families, solo travellers, and others—making it harder for them to find the right accommodation, and harder for key pages to serve every type’s needs, without budget for formal focus groups.

Defining the traveller types

Market scan

I researched industry leaders and travel sites to identify the five main traveller types and their most common names: Solo, Couples, Family, Group, Business.

Understanding their specific needs

I reviewed feedback and comments across 40+ travel sites, industry sites, and blogs to find the language travellers actually used to describe their needs.

Mapping needs to features

I mapped traveller needs to our hotel features, to surface relevant filters and recommendations by traveller type, then designed and A/B tested several filtering approaches.

A no-cost in-house workshop replaced the research budget we didn’t have

Team workshop exploring traveller type needs

I gathered staff representing all our traveller personas and ran a workshop mapping the journey—from planning, to searching, to booking, to arrival—with each person talking through their own experience as they mapped it.

Focusing on search results

I asked the group to review competitor search-results pages, rating each with a happy, sad, or neutral face for a fast read on what worked and what didn’t.

Insights into wireframes

The collective insight shaped wireframes for a refined booking journey, covering the key needs shared across traveller types.

Across the calendar redesign, traveller-type experience, and home screen and account redesign, the combined effort delivered a 4.5% increase in bookings and a 400% increase in new customer accounts in the first few months — a meaningful result in a market dominated by Booking.com, Expedia, and Trivago.