AI-powered travel service
Product Designer | Web service
About the project
The project involves developing a web service that simplifies the process of independent travel planning. The main idea is to combine all the necessary functions for organizing a trip in a single app, allowing users to set their travel parameters and receive a pre-designed itinerary. The service also includes the ability to book flights, hotels, and other services necessary for a comfortable trip.
Setting tasks and goals
The project's main goal is to create a convenient and effective travel planning tool that will reduce users' time and emotional burden. To achieve this goal, the following objectives were set:
- Service integration: combine booking functions for tickets, hotels, and other services in a single app.
- Artificial intelligence: use AI to create optimal routes and recommendations based on user preferences.
- User-friendly interface: develop an intuitive interface that makes it easy to set travel parameters and receive ready-made plans.
Research
Сompetitor analysis
Result
Competitor Analysis: Key competitors were analyzed in the following areas:
- Airfare: Aviasales, Yandex Travel, Aeroflot.
- Hotel Booking: Ostrovok, Sutochno.ru, Booking.
- Routes: General analysis of services providing routes and recommendations.
Quantitative Research: An online user survey was conducted to identify preferences when purchasing airline tickets and booking hotels.
- Airfare: Aviasales, Yandex Travel, Aeroflot.
- Hotel Booking: Ostrovok, Sutochno.ru, Booking.
- Routes: General analysis of services providing routes and recommendations.
Quantitative Research: An online user survey was conducted to identify preferences when purchasing airline tickets and booking hotels.
Flights: Key additional options include ticket refunds and exchanges and baggage allowance. Ninety percent of respondents prefer to purchase tickets individually rather than as part of a package.
Hotel bookings: The primary filtering criterion is the availability of meals. The hotel description must include information about essential amenities, and user reviews must be clearly visible. By default, the service offers the best hotels, based on reviews and ratings.
Routes: All destinations should have reviews, booking options, photos, and contact information. A map is also important for easy planning of travel options and transportation options to each destination.
Hotel bookings: The primary filtering criterion is the availability of meals. The hotel description must include information about essential amenities, and user reviews must be clearly visible. By default, the service offers the best hotels, based on reviews and ratings.
Routes: All destinations should have reviews, booking options, photos, and contact information. A map is also important for easy planning of travel options and transportation options to each destination.
Statement of hypotheses
In-depth interview
Result
Findings from the in-depth interviews:
- Information Sources: Users use a variety of channels to collect travel data, such as blogs, chats, Google Flights, and reviews.
- Planning Time: Time spent planning trips varies greatly, from a few hours to days or even months.
- Price Range: Most users focus on a pre-set budget when planning a trip.
- Note-taking Apps: Various tools are used for taking notes, including Telegram, VKontakte, iPhone Notes, Excel, and Obsidian.
- Booking Document Storage: Documents are stored in email, instant messaging apps, iCloud, Google Drive, and sometimes on paper.
- Planning Devices: Users prefer to plan trips on their phones, PCs, or a combination of both, depending on the specifics of the task.
- Persona and User Stories (US): Personas and user stories were developed to thoroughly understand the needs and preferences of the target audience.
Task Flow + Prototype
In the next phase of the project, the key steps of the user journey (task flow) were identified:
- Itinerary entry: Users enter basic trip parameters, such as flight dates, number of participants, destination city, and planned budget.
- Flight setup: Selecting and booking flights based on user preferences and available best deals.
- Hotel selection: Searching and booking hotels based on filters, recommendations, and reviews from other users.
- Route planning: Creating a detailed trip itinerary with recommendations for attractions, restaurants, and transportation options.
- Route detailing: Providing information about each destination, including reviews, photos, contact information, and a map for easy navigation.
Since the data entry stage requires a significant amount of information, it was decided to break the process down into several wizard-style steps. This will reduce cognitive load and make data entry more convenient and engaging for the user.
Result
Design
The web service's design is light and minimalist, emphasizing natural colors to ensure a pleasant user experience and eliminate unnecessary elements. The interface combines flat and 3D graphics, creating a modern and visually appealing look.
Problem
Solution
The main challenge I faced was the need to integrate various services with diverse functionality into a single app. Each of these services has its own unique features that are important to users. For example, features for booking flights are significantly different from features for booking hotels or planning routes, and all these aspects had to be taken into account and integrated seamlessly.
During the user story creation phase, a specific scenario was described, taking into account all the necessary features and characteristics of the service. Based on this scenario, a well-thought-out flow was developed, integrating all key steps into a single process. This allowed for the creation of a user-friendly and intuitive interface that effectively addresses key user needs.
