Timeline
Platform
Role
Client
Research & UX/UI
Personal Solo Project
10 days
Background
Airbnb has become a leading platform in the global travel industry, boasting $9.9 billion in revenue and 7.7 million listings in 2023—a number that continues to grow annually. Despite its success, users often struggle to choose the best accommodation.
Research shows that UK travellers compare an average of 10.9 rooms before deciding, making the selection process the most time-consuming aspect of the booking. During this phase, they spend 160 minutes on OTAs and 95 minutes on hotel sites. This highlights a need for more efficient ways to compare listings directly on Airbnb.
Challenge & Opportunity
While Airbnb offers a wide range of properties and a user-friendly interface, it lacks a feature for easily comparing multiple listings, making the decision-making process time-consuming and frustrating. Since many travellers rely on other platforms to compare options, Airbnb risks losing bookings to competitors.
The challenge is introducing a comparison feature that makes it easier for users to evaluate different listings, simplifies the room selection process, reduces decision fatigue, and enhances the overall user experience on Airbnb. This will help users find the perfect place to stay with ease and confidence.
RESEARCH
01.
Secondary Research
People spend a tremendous amount of time booking their holiday accommodation.
#1. Heavy reliance on OTAs
100% of Holiday rental guests check an OTA before making a travel purchase. For them, Airbnb is a crucial resouce to find a place to stay.
#2. 39 days of planning time
Travelers spend over a month planning their trips, whether for holiday rentals, flights, or accommodations. This shows how crucial it is for them to have all the right information to make well-informed decisions.
#3. Higher content consumption
Holiday rental guests(Airbnb target users) spend about 511 minutes looking at travel content, 116% more than other travellers. Travellers are spending 160 minutes on OTAs and 95 minutes on hotel websites.
#4. Time-Consuming Comparison
U.K. travellers usually compare about 10.9 rooms before choosing. 45% of Japanese travellers answered that selecting accommodation is the most time-consuming part of holiday planning.
Product Review
*Reference:
https://partner.expediagroup.com/en-us/resources/research-insights/path-to-purchase
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000144.000017857.html
The user reviews highlighted the need of room comparison tool on the Airbnb.
User Interview
Users face time-consuming and error-prone room comparisons, along with challenges in balancing preferences for group travel decisions.
- Interview Goals
- Analysing Interview
- Quotes
- User pains
- User Needs
Competitive research
Improving comparison and group decision-making helps Airbnb stand out from competitors and better serve its users.
- Findings & Opportunities
#1. Lack of decision-making support
None of the competitors offers decision-making support on the wishlist. Expedia has a comparison tool, but it's on the search page, so users unable to compare their favourite rooms.
Airbnb has a significant opportunity to introduce a comparison tool to stand out from the competition, address a common user need and foster decision-making.
#2 Needs of further support for group travel
Airbnb and Expedia include voting features, but my user interviews revealed that the existing voting features don’t provide enough support for group decision-making.
Enhancing Group Travel Support beyond basic voting features provides more comprehensive tools that facilitate smoother and more influential group decision-making.
DEFINE
02.
Defining the problems
Created 2 “How Might We?” statements for ideating solutions effectively.
User Persona
My persona, “Mina”, is a detail-oriented and cautious traveller who values making well-informed decisions.
StoryBoard
Here is Mina’s current hasslefull processes of booking accommodation for her holiday.
IDEATE
03.
Ideating Ideas
Explored solutions and ideated 9 ideas through Crazy 8 and brainstorming sessions.
Evaluating Ideas
Using eight criteria from the persona’s pains and needs, I evaluated those ideas with feasibility and impact.
Selecting Solutions
Selected two high-impact solutions and planned concept testing with wireframes.
Wireframing
04.
Wireframing
Potential Solution A: Side by side Comparison+Percentage
Potential Solution B: A vs B Comparison
Lo-fi Testing
05.
Lo-fi testing
A vs B Comparison was preferred by user for its simplicity, fun and easy decision-making with confidence.
- Goals
- Analysing results
- Insights
- Key Takeaways & Next Actions
HI-FI PROTOTYPING
06.
USABILITY TEST & ITERATION-1
07.
Test Tasks
Results
I received positive feedback, but with a 67% task success rate (2 errors), there's room to improve usability.
Iteration
#1. Start Comparison
#2. Selecting User Type
#3. Invitation Flow
USABILITY TEST & ITERATION-2
07.
2nd Test Results
While task completion rates improved by about 50%, I found 4 areas that need further development.
2nd Iteration
#1. Start Comparison
#2. Invitation Flow
#3. Highlighting Differences
#4. Enhance the result screen
FINAL DESIGN
09.
This fast-paced 10days sprint made time management a challenge and a great learning experience.
While I effectively managed my time during the research, define, and ideate phases, the design phase highlighted areas for growth, particularly in interaction design. The pressure to complete within a tight timeframe underscored the importance of improving my design skills to produce high-quality work more efficiently.
Despite the time constraints, I successfully conducted two cycles of iterations, which helped refine the product and provided valuable insights.
This experience reminded me how important it is to keep sharpening my skills and adapt quickly to fast-paced environments.
Take away