Hotel Search to Book

UXUI Design

My Role in Travel + Leisure

I worked closely with a senior UX designer on an Agile product team that included developers, a product owner, a scrum master, and a QA engineer. Over a 3-month sprint cycle, we focused on redesigning the hotel search-to-book experience to improve usability and conversion.

My responsibilities included:

Leading competitive research to analyze UX patterns, strengths, and gaps across major travel platforms
Defining design priorities based on these findings—especially around filtering, review clarity, and checkout
Designing wireframes, high-fidelity mockups, and interactive prototypes
Participating in design sprints to rapidly test and iterate on concepts

I also collaborated with the dev team to ensure accurate implementation and supported usability testing to uncover friction points pre-launch.

timeline

4 Months

Role

User Research, Quantitative and Qualitative Data Synthesis, User Flow, Wireframing, Prototyping, Usability Testing, UI Design

My Role in Travel + Leisure

I worked closely with a senior UX designer on an Agile product team that included developers, a product owner, a scrum master, and a QA engineer. Over a 3-month sprint cycle, we focused on redesigning the hotel search-to-book experience to improve usability and conversion.

My responsibilities included:

Leading competitive research to analyze UX patterns, strengths, and gaps across major travel platforms
Defining design priorities based on these findings—especially around filtering, review clarity, and checkout
Designing wireframes, high-fidelity mockups, and interactive prototypes
Participating in design sprints to rapidly test and iterate on concepts

I also collaborated with the dev team to ensure accurate implementation and supported usability testing to uncover friction points pre-launch.

timeline

4 Months

Role

User Research, Quantitative and Qualitative Data Synthesis, User Flow, Wireframing, Prototyping, Usability Testing, UI Design

Design Process

I’ve created a process to have a solid foundation for my work as a designer within different organizations. I’m following the same flow when I’m walking through my case studies in this

Project Context

Background

Our hotel booking platform is designed to provide users with a seamless and efficient way to search, compare, and book accommodations. The platform caters to a diverse audience, from business travelers to vacationers, offering a wide range of hotel options and detailed information to help users make informed decisions.

Goal

Enhance the discoverability and usability of search results by 50% within three months.
Reduce user drop-off rates by 30% in checkout through form simplification and distraction minimization.
Standardize room category presentations for better user understanding.

Challenges

Inefficient filtering and navigation on the search results page
The presentation of hotel information is unclear
Overwhelming information architecture on the product details page
High abandonment rates due to a cumbersome checkout process

PRoblem statement

Users face challenges with hotel booking like complex search filters, inconsistent room details, and a complex checkout process, causing frustration and increased abandonment rates. How might we streamline the hotel booking process to make it easier and more satisfying for users?

HYPothesis

Design Review

I’ve reviewed the current website to evaluate what works and what doesn’t – assumptions from my professional point of view.

Improved visibility and usability of search filters will enhance user engagement and satisfaction.
Concise hotel card details speed up decisions and boost conversions.
Consistent room categories and clear descriptions enhance user understanding and decision-making.
Streamlining website navigation will reduce frustration and improve user retention.
Optimizing the mobile interface will increase mobile bookings.
Simplifying the checkout process will reduce abandonment rates.
Communicating unique hotel features clearly will boost user confidence.
Clear and concise presentation of reviews will enhance user trust and booking likelihood
Providing personalized hotel suggestions based on user preferences will accelerate decision-making.
Clearly displaying pricing details upfront will reduce checkout surprises and increase booking completion.

RESEARCH

What We Learned from Competitors

To understand market standards, identify opportunities for differentiation, and incorporate best practices, I analyzed key aspects of competitor approaches in the hotel booking industry.

KEY FINDINGS

Review Rating Descriptors:

What competitors do well: Use clear, detailed rating descriptors to convey user experiences and property quality.
Our improvement: Improve review clarity with richer language and visual summaries.

Why it matters: Refine descriptor for better user comprehension and add visual to support faster decision-making

Sold-out Properties:

What competitors do well: Clearly mark sold-out listings and offer relevant alternatives.
Our improvement: Highlight sold-out properties and suggest similar options to keep users engaged.‍

Why it matters: Prevent user frustration and encourage continued browsing through smart suggestions.

Room Category Curation:

What competitors do well: Provide in-depth details like bed type, room size, and amenities.
Our improvement: Standardize room cards with clear icons and personalize attributes based on user behavior.‍

Why it matters: Make comparison easier and help users select rooms with confidence.

Checkout and Payment Summary:

What competitors do well: Offer full price transparency, including taxes and fees.
Our improvement: Display a detailed cost breakdown and streamline form fields for a smoother checkout.

Why it matters: Boost user trust through pricing clarity and reduce friction by simplifying the form flow.

RESEARCH

Design User Behavior

I leveraged FullStory heatmaps to gain deep insights into user behavior across a span of 90 days, encompassing 90,897 user sessions. This data-driven approach allowed us to meticulously track and analyze how users interacted with elements such as filters and amenities throughout their journey on our platform. By visualizing and interpreting these heatmaps, we identified patterns in user engagement, pinpointing which features were frequently utilized and which were overlooked. This analysis not only informed our design decisions but also provided actionable insights to optimize user pathways, enhance feature visibility, and ultimately improve the overall usability of our hotel booking experience.

Search Filter Usage: Users engage moderately with search filters, highlighting the need to improve their visibility and usability. Enhancing these filters can facilitate easier refinement of searches and help users find relevant results more efficiently.

Insight: Users engage moderately with the search filter, suggesting that while it is used, it may not be immediately visible or intuitive. Enhancing its visibility and functionality could improve user experience.

Feature Click-Through Rates: Analysis shows varying levels of engagement with features like star ratings, amenities, and map views. Notably, 20% of users interacted with the map view, signaling a strong interest in geolocation, while 6.39% clicked on star ratings, emphasizing their role in decision-making. Highlighting amenities such as pools, breakfast, and internet and improving map and rating functionalities can better align with user interests.

Insight: The star rating filter and map view are significant features for users. The 6.39% engagement with star ratings indicates their importance in the decision-making process. The 20% interaction with the map view shows a strong interest in geolocation features, suggesting that users value visualizing search results on a map.

Research

Addressing Pain Point and Frustration

I’d like to understand how many steps it takes for users to complete a booking for a course and if it could be optimised.

KEY FINDINGS

Pain Points Identified:

During the booking stage, users enter their payment and reservation details. The checkout process becomes a critical point where users encounter an overwhelming number of form fields, leading to frustration and potential abandonment.
While browsing hotel options, users attempt to refine their search using filters. However, these filtering options are difficult to locate and use effectively, making it challenging for users to narrow down their choices.
As users explore different room categories, they rely on detailed information to make informed decisions. Inconsistencies in how room features and attributes are presented create confusion, affecting users' ability to compare and select the best option.

Ideation Focus:

Simplify Checkout: Streamline the order by reducing the number of required fields.
Enhance Filter Accessibility: Generate a solution to make filters more visible and intuitive.
Standardize Room Details: Explore ways to present room information consistently across the platform.‍

Task Flow Goal: To find and book a hotel for a vacation getaway in a popular tourist destination.

FInal Design

Search To Book Redesign

As we approached the final stages of our design process, we initiated a comprehensive redesign based on research that highlighted significant improvements needed in our booking flow. Our primary goal was to simplify the booking experience, minimize user friction, and enhance overall satisfaction. To achieve this, we improved the visibility and usability of filters by redesigning their presentation, making them more intuitive and easier to find. This made the search refinement process easier and simplified users' search tasks. We also included room amenities directly in the search results cards and standardized room details for better clarity.

Furthermore, we made review descriptors clearer by introducing simpler language and visual summaries, so that users could make more informed decisions. In the checkout process, we reduced the number of form fields to only essential information and used an accordion-style layout that collapses completed steps into summaries. This allows users to easily review their entries without unnecessary clicks, creating a more efficient and seamless flow.

To build trust and encourage confident bookings, we provided transparent pricing breakdowns that included all taxes and fees upfront. We rigorously tested these changes against the original design to measure their impact, focusing on optimizing key user interactions such as filter usage and review clarity. This comprehensive approach ensured a more streamlined and effective booking experience that aligned with industry best practices and addressed our users' needs.

Browsing the amenities

Users can easily select the most popular filter and view the full range of filters and amenities in an overlay modal. This allows them to refine their search without losing their place on the main page. It enables users to adjust preferences like price, room type, or amenities while staying within the current search results, creating a smoother browsing experience

Using the map

When users hover over a hotel card in the search results or on the map, the hotel’s location will be highlighted, showing its relation to nearby stays and points of interest. This feature helps users quickly visualize the hotel’s position within the area.