AI Search for Travel
Bringing back the concierge experience in travel search with Generative AI.
TL;DR
The current search experience is very linear. Customers need to know dates, destinations, and guest count to start their search journey.
As a UX Design Intern, I created a North Star vision concept for how AI technology can help users start their travel search flexibly and receive more personalized results. The vision was adopted by senior leadership and was included in the future's scope experience roadmap.
About Expedia
My role
UX Design Intern
Collaborators
Product Manager, Content Designer, Senior UX Designer, Machine Learning Engineer
Timeline
May 2023 – August 2023
Travel planning can be complex and time-consuming.
Since post-pandemic, people's travel motives and needs have changed drastically. Therefore, the product needs to adapt to these changes in order to stay relevant to current travel trends.
Recent traveler trends.
At least 50% of travelers are open to destination inspiration.
Undated travel searches are up 30% year over year.
Travelers spend a lot of time deciding on a destination: ~2 weeks on mini-breaks and ~4 weeks for longer holidays.
Travelers frequently adopt a Search --> Rest --> Search-some-more approach.
Travelers are exhausted from doing all research.
Planning a trip involves a complex and often exhausting research process. Travelers often navigate a maze of dispersed information across various online platforms – Google search, travel blogs, social media, and review sites, etc.
This fragmented research process can overwhelm travelers with information overload, impacting their decision making process and causing them to feel research fatigue.
Evaluating existing AI products and travel websites.
I conducted a comprehensive analysis of existing AI products and travel websites to identify their strengths and weaknesses. The key insights were:
Many AI products lack clear user interaction guidelines, limiting effectiveness.
Advanced tools like Microsoft Copilot excel at providing timely, contextual assistance.
Current AI trip planners often overgeneralize user preferences, reducing personalization.
Specifying travel destinations early in the search process significantly improves pricing and availability accuracy.
These findings highlighted opportunities where Expedia could leverage AI to enhance user experience while addressing common pain points in travel planning.
Noteworthy: Expedia.com currently sits in the quadrant of fixed way of searching
Finding the sweet intersection between travel and AI.
AI offers targeted solutions to enhance the travel planning experience. By implementing these capabilities, Expedia can streamline user journeys, increase customer satisfaction, and ultimately drive revenue growth. Below are the key opportunities:
What can AI do and how can it help with travel?
Personalized search experience.
CAPABILITIES
AI can analyze user’s search history and past travel behaviors to understand their preferences.
BENEFITS
AI can analyze user’s search history and past travel behaviors to understand their preferences.
Detecting and understanding nuances.
CAPABILITIES
AI can understand the nuances of a user’s search query even when it’s phrased like “snowy penguin” or “beach getaway”.
BENEFITS
Users can freely express their trip needs mimicking how they’d converse with a travel agent.
Highlighting key details.
CAPABILITIES
AI can summarize and highlight facts about the destinations.
BENEFITS
It saves users time and effort in doing pre-travel research and allows users to make informed decisions.
Reducing the travel search journey for travelers.
In order to provide travelers with a concierge experience, one of the key questions we must solve is – HMW give travelers a search experience that allows flexibility and expression when discovering their next trip?
The new search AI search journey.
Let's explore AI could transform Expedia's future travel search experience.
Open-ended search with AI.
The open-ended search field on the landing page allows travelers to express their trip needs freely.
Highlights:
User Autonomy: Allows travelers to express trip needs freely.
Conversational Tone: The question "What kind of trip do you want to take?" provides clear context and purpose on what is expected of the traveler.
Visual Guidance: Small width of the search input field serves as a subtle visual cue guiding travelers towards constructing concise search queries.
Help users understand what to search while building confidence.
Headings serve as an education piece for users interacting with new technology while connecting the users to examples.
Highlights:
Enhances self-efficacy: By seeing examples, travelers feel more confident in their ability to use the AI feature.
Learning through association: Travelers can connect the sample search queries (headings) with concrete instances (examples), strengthening their understanding and expectations.
Progressive disclosure: This structure allows users to scan headings for relevance and dive deeper into examples as needed, preventing information overload.
Inspire travelers with trip destinations.
Essential details to help travelers plan.
The drop down banner offers insights on the selected destination, highlights popular activities, and recommends travel dates to inspire travelers.
Highlights:
Curiosity Trigger: Brief summaries may encourage further exploration and engagement.
Time-Saving: Reduces the need for extensive independent research.
Cognitive Efficiency: Summarizes essential details, reducing cognitive load and decision fatigue.
Personalized stays by experience type.
Stays are categorized by trip type to give a more personalized experience.
Highlights:
Experience Type: Users can quickly identify with experience types that align with their desires or aspirations, making the selection process feel more personal and relevant.
Heuristic Decision-Making: Experience types serve as mental shortcuts, allowing travelers to make quicker decisions based on their travel motivations rather than sifting through individual options.
Design concepts inspired the AI Romie feature and helped shape Expedia's AI usability heuristics.
My design concept is now a key driver in shaping Expedia's experience vision roadmap for future developments. In addition, I spearheaded the development of AI usability heuristics for the team. The team continues to evolve these principles, constantly striving to create an great user experience between the intersection of AI and travel.
Expedia's AI usability heuristics.
Communicative
The AI should communicate to the user its intent, feedback loop, and ways of use.
Anticipatory
The AI should ease the burden of the user having to specify exhaustive parameters.
Privacy
Respect the users’ privacy and personal information such as health and accessibility.
Agency
The user should have the agency to control their individual needs.
Trust
The user should feel confident with the information they consume.
Learnings
To navigate through the uncertain aspects of the project, I collaborated with my colleagues to define the project's boundaries. I also arranged one-on-one meetings with my manager and other team leaders to better understand what was expected of me within the next three months.
Understand my impact and role
I aimed to grasp how my project connected with my team's ongoing efforts. This insight helped me see where I fit in with other product teams and how my contributions could influence the product's future direction. I also documented my design concepts thoroughly to facilitate a smooth handover at the end of my internship.
Get feedback early and often
During my internship, I chose to focus on making steady improvements. I started with small design ideas, even though I had limited knowledge of the product, and regularly sought input from my colleagues. Using this feedback, I refined my work and demonstrated my commitment to being a team player.
Get to know other teams
During my ten-week internship at Expedia Group, I actively engaged with diverse teams worldwide. This approach not only expanded my professional network but also provided crucial context for my project. By learning from different departments, I gained a holistic view of how my work fit into the company's broader objectives.
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