The Background

Airbnb is a platform where people can rent out their rooms, homes, apartments, or other spaces on a short-term basis to guests. It helps guests find places to stay all around the world, from regular homes to more unusual or extravagant spots like castles, treehouses, or boats.

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With over 7 million active listings in more than 220 countries, Airbnb offers a wide range of choices. It also provides experiences, where hosts can share activities like city tours, cooking classes, or outdoor adventures with visitors.

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So what's the problem?

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The Goal

Reduce booking time and decision fatigue by enabling travelers to efficiently compare listings and accurately assess proximity to desired destinations within a single, streamlined interface.

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The Process

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Empathize

I conducted in-depth interviews with 10 participants.

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Interview Questions:

1. How do you typically plan trips on Airbnb? (What steps are taken first)
2. When booking accommodations for a trip, how do you choose the places to stay?
3. What factors influence your decision when booking accommodations in different cities (e.g., price, location, amenities)?
4. What challenges do you face when booking accommodations on Airbnb?
5. How do you currently manage searching for accommodations in different locations? What is your experience with the process?
6. Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the effort it takes to customize dates and locations for a trip? If so, what part is the most difficult?
7. What do you find the most frustrating about using Airbnb in general?
8. Have you ever had to utilize another tool or app to help you during the booking process? If so, which ones, and how did they help you?
9. If you could improve one thing about the process of booking accommodations on Airbnb, what would it be?
10. How important is price comparison across different cities to your decision-making process?
11. How often do you travel to multiple cities in one trip?
12. When planning trips, do you prefer booking everything manually, or would you like some features to automate or streamline the process?
13. How long would you say it takes you to book a trip on Airbnb? (hours, days, etc.)
14. How many cities are you usually visiting within one trip and within what time period? (example: 3 cities in 2 weeks, 5 cities in 4 months, etc.)
15. Is there anything else that you would like to share on this topic?

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Define

Affinity Mapping revealed that travelers face significant friction in two key areas: location clarity and comparison efficiency. All participants prioritized location and price, but struggled to determine distances to attractions and compare options effectively. The booking process was painfully time-consuming (hours to days), forcing users to juggle multiple tabs and external apps like Google Maps. This created decision fatigue and delayed bookings, especially when travelers couldn't easily assess proximity or compare pricing within their budget constraints.

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User Persona

How might we create an all-in-one booking experience that helps budget conscious travelers easily compare accommodations within their budget?

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How might we help travelers like Jessie quickly determine the exact location and safety of a neighborhood and the  proximity to desired attractions so they can make confident booking decisions without having to leave the platform?

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Empathy Map

This empathy map captures what it truly feels like to search for the perfect vacation rental. The excitement of planning a trip quickly turning into frustration as you spend hours jumping between tabs, screenshots, and Google Maps just to figure out if a place is actually close to where you want to go. It shows the emotional rollercoaster travelers experience when what should be a simple booking becomes an exhausting research project.

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POV Statement

I would like to help travelers who prioritize location to better understand listing neighborhoods and their proximity to desired attractions because the current process of cross-referencing multiple tools and websites creates a time-consuming and frustrating booking experience.

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Develop

Brainstorming & Low-Fidelity

With user needs clearly defined, I began brainstorming solutions through initial sketches, conceptualizing how listing comparison, saved searches, and enhanced mapping could be seamlessly integrated into Airbnb's existing interface.

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Deliver

High Fidelity Wireframes

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Prototyping

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Usability Testing

Participants were invited to test two User Flows: A returning user completing a location search prior to booking, and a returning user saving a search and comparing listings.

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Compare button behavior - Users consistently returned to the top activation button instead of using the dedicated lower comparison button, revealing the need for clearer visual hierarchy.

Clickable imagery - Testing showed users expected main listing photos to be clickable links to property pages, prompting the addition of intuitive image navigation.

Enhanced search bar - Upgraded from empty state to automatically display popular local searches, making destination discovery more accessible and reducing user effort.

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Analysis

User testing revealed several critical interface improvements that enhanced usability and aligned the design with user expectations and behaviors.

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