Itinerary Feature: Airbnb
The Airbnb Itinerary Planner feature was designed to enhance the travel planning experience by integrating trip accommodations and experience planning into a single, cohesive platform. This feature aimed to address the challenge of helping travelers seamlessly plan and book their entire trip through Airbnb, maximizing convenience and minimizing the need for multiple external resources.
Stack
Scope
Product Design
Problem Statement
The Challenge:
While Airbnb is widely recognized for offering unique travel accommodations, many users remain unaware of its Experiences feature that offers local-led activities and adventures. The lack of awareness and the overwhelming nature of planning a trip led to missed opportunities for Airbnb to fully engage its users. Additionally, travelers often face "analysis paralysis" due to the multitude of options available, making it difficult to make confident decisions without spending hours or days researching.
User Needs:
Users required a streamlined, user-friendly solution that would allow them to plan, book, and manage their entire trip—from accommodations to activities—without having to depend on multiple platforms.
Research
Airbnb is considered a leader in the hospitality industry and peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation. However, it has opportunities to expand its offerings to compete with other industry giants.
In order to better understand how Airbnb can improve their Experiences and user engagement with the feature, I needed to dig into the larger vacation rental and travel industry to gather insights on how Airbnb can broaden its reach into the Travel Booking category of the Mobile Travel App market.
However, I needed to speak to Airbnb users to understand their travel planning process using the platform.
I conducted qualitative research through in-depth interviews with five participants who travel at least once a year and have experience using Airbnb. The goal was to understand their travel planning habits, challenges, and needs.
The user interviews shed light on the varying user preferences when it comes to travel planning and booking. I created two main types of user personas that highlight those differences – namely, individuals who prefer a structured and well-planned trip, and those who prefer flexibility and like to leave room for spontaneity.
Although Airbnb is a top competitor in the P2P accommodations arena, it is closely competing with other industry giants and may need to consider new areas of opportunity
A SWOT analysis of seven popular travel and booking platforms, including Vrbo, Expedia, and Booking.com, revealed that while these platforms offer comprehensive accommodation and/or travel services, they often lack the level of personalization and flexibility that users seek. The analysis also highlighted the growing market trend toward integrated travel experiences.
Process
Considering the varying levels of nuance when it comes to travel planning, I needed to reframe the problem and begin thinking through possibilities.
Based on user insights and using POV and HMW statements to explore possible solutions, I've identified key opportunities to enhance Airbnb's user experience. The primary goals were to:
Increase visibility of the Airbnb Experiences feature in the navigation, and highlight popular nearby Experiences on accommodations pages.
Streamline the planning process by designing an itinerary feature that allows users to research, plan and book accommodations and experiences on Airbnb in an efficient and effective manner.
User Journey Map to empathize more deeply with travelers.
Using research insights from user interviews, I needed to better understand and empathize with travelers, particularly those who use Airbnb to book accommodations and experiences–I created a user journey map that highlighted the user experience before, during and after using the Airbnb platform with an itinerary feature.
Understanding and validating user paths before putting pen to paper.
I created a detailed task flow to gain a macro-level perspective on how users would navigate and utilize the new itinerary planner feature when integrated into the platform and validate user paths to avoid any glaring trouble areas before jumping into the design process. This ensured that the feature was intuitive and aligned with user expectations. The flow focused on key actions such as browsing and adding stays and experiences to an itinerary and customizing trip details.
From mid-fidelity wireframes for visualizing the layout and structure to high-fidelity prototype for testing.
This phase allowed me to evaluate the visual hierarchy and ensure that the UI supported the informational structure. High-fidelity wireframes were then created to refine the design and prepare for usability testing.
Homepage Searchbar
Sticky header tabs, improved accessiblity and an expanded searchbar
The majority of users are not aware of the Airbnb Experiences offering. My first solution is to simply keep the top row visible at all times instead of collapsing it on scroll.
Secondly, to ensure that users can clearly identify the page they're on, is to simply add a visual indicator. In this example, an underline was added below Stays to clarify that the user is browsing the available stays. The current website uses a heavier font weight that is difficult to differentiate.
Finally, I added a new option for the itinerary planner next to Stays and Experiences that allows users to utilize Airbnb’s available offerings more holistically, and allows them to research, plan and book their trip in one platform.
Individual Stay Page
Suggested experiences on Stays pages
Another way to bring attention to the Experiences feature is to simply integrate suggestions on other pages, namely individual stays, that users often browse to while they're planning and booking their travel. Not only would this help users plan their trips by seeing what they can do nearby, but it will bring both Stays and Experiences offerings together holistically, shedding more light on the latter.
Itinerary Page
Bringing it all together
Users need more flexibility and personalization that pre-existing travel packages don’t provide them, yet enough structure that helps them….
I designed the itinerary planner feature in a manner that allows users to curate their experience, while providing them with pre-existing guides (another Airbnb feature, currently only available by Hosts) and recommendations to help remove the legwork of cross-referencing multiple sources or doing too much research that causes burnout.
Testing & Iteration
Performed both moderated and unmoderated tests for a holistic perspective.
We conducted both moderated and unmoderated usability tests with four participants for each test to see how users engage with the new feature. The testing focused on critical tasks such as creating an itinerary, adding experiences, and adjusting trip details. Both test results indicated a learning curve when it came to the itinerary interactions – the drag and drop was not as clear at first attempt.
Homepage/Stays searchbar
Specialized searchbar for the itinerary planner
During testing, users found it confusing to have the option to create an itinerary in the Stays search bar. For the final iteration, instead of integrating the new feature into the preexisting search bars on the Stays and Experiences screens, the ability to create an itinerary is now available only when users select the "Create Itinerary" option in the header. This way, users can enter their criteria, create the itinerary and continue browsing, adding to their itinerary and planning their trip.
Stays page
Imrpoved Stays page accessibility
On the individual stay page, users expressed difficulty reading and seeing the content of the "Things to do" section below the reservation card. These UI elements were inspired by the cards that appear on a user's Trips page when they have an upcoming trip booked. With user concerns in mind, the second iteration presented larger cards that span the full column width which allows room for larger images and text.
Additionally, when prompted to add this Stay to their itinerary, users did not notice the itinerary button immediately. For the second iteration, I increased the size both buttons to span the column to improve both visibility and accessibility.
Itinerary page
Easier planning with recommended Experiences and Sites
During testing, users suggested that they would still find it challenging to research or know where to start when it comes to planning a trip to an unfamiliar place. By incorporating pre-exisiting capabilities available on Airbnb, I've integrated more comprehensive recommendations for Experiences at their destination, as well as highlighted sights of interest that could help them with their planning process.
Users can also use the map to interact with the icons to see how far the Experiences or Sites are from each other or from their Stay, get a quick snapshot, and add to their itinerary.
What Experiences?
Most people associate Airbnb with accommodation booking and thus not many folks knew about their experiences, limiting the insights gathered for finding a solution.
This led to an unexpected but subtle design decision to highlight Experiences by keeping the navigation visible at all times on the homepage, as well as the Stays and Experiences pages.
Main feature
Create Itinerary
While users explore Airbnb's robust offerings, they can avoid overwhelm or multiple open browser tabs by creating an itinerary directly in the Airbnb platform. Using the familiar search bar UI that is present for both Stays and Experiences, users can navigate to the Create Itinerary tab, add their search criteria in the search bar and click Create. Once created, users will see recommended Experiences and Sites based on their search, and the more they add to their itinerary, the more specific the recommendations will get based on their saved Stays and locations.
The goal with the new itinerary feature is to both promote Airbnb's underused Experiences feature, and make travel planning easier for users, all in one platform. However, users can opt to add links from other websites to their itinerary, if they choose to, making it a flexible option if they need more customization.
Highlight 1
Recommendations and Explore Map
In addition to the "things to do" suggestions that users can explore once they book their trips on the Trips page, users can now see suggested activities, experiences and sites before they book their Stays or Experiences to help them make more informed and confident decisions. Users will see suggestions for things to do on individual Stays pages as they look for their ideal accommodation, as well as on their itinerary page where they can see Experience suggestions at the top, and popular sites at their location via the smaller cards further down the page.
Users can also explore the map directly to see what Experiences and Sites are available near their saved Stays!
Highlight 2
Plan and Customize
Once users have everything of interest added into their itinerary, now they can start planning their trip in more detail. Users can choose to keep their itinerary flexible by keeping it as is, or they can customize it by adding new sections, or planning by day.
Users can also add notes to each saved item, create checklists, update the headings of each section, drag and drop to move items around, delete items, or search and add new Experiences, Stays or Sites directly into each section. Additionally, users can see hours of operation and add pricing (if adding items from outside of Airbnb) to help them plan and budget directly in the platform.
Finally, users can add tripmates to the itinerary to plan together, and share and split expenses.
Interact with prototype
Package Deals to Flexible Planner
At first, the problem was the lack of awareness around Airbnb’s Experiences feature and the goal was to find solutions for that. After speaking with a variety of users, it became clear that it would be a challenge to serve each person’s unique circumstances and preferences with my initial solution – travel packages and deals.
Most users need flexibility and efficiency when it comes to planning and booking for travel, which pre-made packages do not offer. Airbnb has most of what users need to successfully plan an enjoyable trip – it just needed a way to bring it all together for users in an organized and adaptable way.
Future Opportunities
Hire a Professional
Allow users who don’t like to plan their travel to hire a Trip Designer to create one for them.
Personalize
Suggest experiences based on the user’s profile and previous bookings.
Build Confidence
Allow users to filter through reviews on stays and experiences so they can feel confident with their choices.
Foster Community
Allow all users, not only hosts, to create guidebooks using their itinerary planners to share with other travelers publicly.
Two in One
Consolidate Airbnb’s online and in-person experiences and refine the filters to help users find what they need on one page.
Optimize Route
With the help of AI, help users improve their itinerary by optimizing their routes and save some time when traveling from one place to another.
The Itinerary feature successfully addresses initial challenges by providing users with a centralized platform for planning and booking their trips.
Integrating the planning process into the Airbnb platform enhances the overall user experience and positions Airbnb as a more comprehensive travel solution. This integration is expected to drive higher engagement rates and increase bookings for both stays and experiences. Focusing on user needs and integrating key features into a single platform not only improved the planning process for travelers but also increased the visibility and usage of Airbnb’s Experiences. This project demonstrates the value of user-centered design in creating features that enhance both the user experience and business outcomes.
