about expedia
Expedia Group is an online travel company that operates a range of travel booking websites, including Expedia.com, Hotels.com, and Vrbo. It provides a platform for users to search and book flights, hotels, vacation rentals, and other travel services.
Expedia Group also offers tools and services for travel agencies, property owners, and other partners to manage and market their travel-related offerings. Overall, it facilitates travel planning and booking for individuals and businesses, connecting travellers with various accommodation and transportation options worldwide.
Background
In the existing flight booking experience on Expedia.com, travellers are faced with an overwhelming array of fare upgrade options but lack clear, upfront information about what each fare tier includes or excludes. This lack of transparency hinders decision-making, contributes to a low upsell rate of approximately 18%, and increases servicing costs due to restrictive fare choices.
Objective
"Enhance the flight booking experience by transparently communicating fare differences, while also strategically promoting the advantages of upgrading the fare.
The goals are to simplify decision-making, increase upsell rates, and provide travellers with more flexible and enjoyable fare options."
immerse & frame
Experience Audit
1
2
Lack of transparency:
Our existing design doesn’t clearly communicate the inclusions and exclusions of a fare on FIS. We are also not transparent about the benefits of a non-restrictive fare class. (Add-ons, Service through Expedia, Change/cancel etc)
3
High Cognitive load:
The long list of fares displayed upon clicking the Upgrade CTA makes the traveller question their decision and diverts their attention from the intended upsell. This doesn’t just confuse the traveler but also causes extreme cognitive load.
Action v/s Result:
In certain use cases, the UI doesn't generate intended results. Such as, for roundtrips the traveller clicks to upgrade a single bound but it ends-up upgrading both.
Traveler painpoints
4
Unable to communicate the value proposition and provide comparison:
Through the current upgrade nudge on FIS the traveler isn’t able to understand what they’d get for their money by upgrading in a single view.
5
UI pattern:
The UI component is easily skipped due to subtle UI treatment / patterns.