Colo

Overview

This is a project that I am working on as a student with General Assembly’s User Experience program.

Problem

In this scenario, I’m a UX consultant for an enterprise that specializes in providing design and technical solutions to travel and transportation agencies. One of the company’s larger clients—a late-stage venture (similar to GetYourGuide)—has reached out, seeking a handful of design solutions.

Based on customer surveys and market research, the client has noticed that their users regularly struggle with researching and coming up with personalized itineraries that are consistent and reliable in terms of quality. It is also difficult to keep track of multiple itineraries alongside transportation logistics. Another interesting finding is that this problem exists regardless of the travel group size (e.g., a family of five, a department of 15, a company of 85, and so on).

User Research

Goals

From this research, I want to learn the following: 

• Identify how people use technology to help organize transportation information while traveling.

• Identify how people use technology to help organize itineraries while traveling.

Target Audience

Research Method

User Interviews

• Total number of interviews: 5

• Estimated duration of interview: 15 - 30 Minutes

Recruitment

Recruiting method: I reached out to various Facebook groups and various Slack community groups that I am involved with. 

Recruiting cost: $0.

Timeline

Feb 24 at 6 pm: Danielle H - Family of 7, travels with +30 People.

Feb 24 at 6:30 pm: Paola - Travels solo, with friends and husband.

Feb 28 at 4 pm: Sarah - Travels with friends and husband.

March 1 at 11 am: Toch - Travels with friends and husband.

March 5 at 11 am: Danielle - Travels with sister and parents.

Objective

To understand the pain points of creating itineraries and arranging transportation logistics while traveling.

Enticing Questions

• Do you travel?

• Do you do activities when you travel?

• Have you ever used a travel agency?

• Do you use apps while traveling?

• What are your thoughts about travel agencies?

• Would you ever use a travel agency?

• Do you use any apps that keep an itinerary for you?

Engaging Questions

• Where did you go the last time that you traveled? 

• Tell me about the experience you had the last time you used a travel agency?

• What was the process like the last time you planned a trip with activities?

• Is it important to you to have all members of whom you’re traveling with to have their activities and logistics shared or organized in some way with one another? Why or why not?

• What apps, platforms or websites do you use to organize logistics, activities, itineraries, and communicate with all members of your travel party?

• What is the most frustrating part to you when it comes to planning activities while traveling?

• When it comes to logistics while traveling, what is the most frustrating part to you?

• What apps or websites do you use when researching activities for a trip, and why?

• Tell me about how you enjoy the pace of your trip. Do you like things planned in advance or do you like to do things spontaneously?

• During your last trip, what was the process like of coordinating itineraries when traveling with others? What worked well and what didn’t?

• What would a travel agency need to do in order for you to use them for your next trip?

Behaviors

• Recommendations are trusted the most. 

• Flexibility and easy cancellation policies are valued. 

• There is so much information that researching can feel overwhelming. 

• Google docs, Google Cal, Excel and Email are the common platforms that organize communication and travel plans. 

• One person usually plans the trip and shares the info with all other members, this puts more stress on the person to communicate the plans that they spent a lot of time coordinating. 

• Having amenities accessible in the selected location are useful to not have to pack extra items and also to not have to search for nearby stores that may not have needed items. 

• Local/ novel experiences are preferred over touristy busy ones. 

• Sharing the cost of items with all party members can be a challenge. 

• Coordinating the timing of activities takes a lot of effort. 

• Having all details for options are preferred rather than having every detail mapped out ahead of time. 

• Having a connection with a local person makes the experience much more memorable. 

Quotes

• "In Europe, lots of cities have transportation but not in the U.S."

• "I hate reading all of the reviews, it feels overwhelming and time consuming. The planning part feels frustrating."

• "It is horrible to try to find a house for everyone (spends +15 hours searching) since there are so many platforms to look at, Vrbo, house on a beach, Airbnb, etc"

• "Keeping things organized is the hardest"

• "Usually it's one person booking overall, the first part is trying to confirm the logistics of where or when for flight and planning"

• "Finding a hotel or an Airbnb in the location you want to be in is hard"

• "Sometimes it is hard to know if you're getting the best deal, hard to know if you're getting ripped off. Also hard to know the price difference in other countries."

• "Should we walk to dinner or take a cab, I don't want to waste time."

• "It would be great if it was easier to find out what is going on in a city when you are traveling there and to easily see the pricing of the events"

• "A travel agency seems so outdated because so much information is online"

• "The perk of the agency is that it gets you tickets that are hard to get otherwise"

• "The person doing the whole tour makes a big difference, if they have a personal connection it changes your own experience. It is the little cultural elements."

Likes

• Likes traveling with others, even while solo traveling, being part of a group from an agency is preferred. 

• Likes being recommended things to do on a trip. 

• Likes to plan a trip around a special event. 

• Prefers that everything for a trip is organized and doesn’t take much time to plan. 

• Likes to have some things planned but wants options for transportation, and activities. 

• Likes to easily communicate and share trip info with all party members. 

• Likes when activities and lodging are central and are easy to walk to or use simple transportation.

• Wants to feel safe and knowledgeable about rules/ customs. 

• Likes getting the best value. 

• Likes to have a local part of the cultural experience.

Dislikes

• Does not like spending hours researching activities for a location. 

• Feels overwhelmed with the amount of platforms to choose from when booking things for a trip. 

• Frustrating to keep communication and trip info organized. 

• Does not like to have every element of the trip pre-planned. 

• Does not like wasting time trying to get to activities or figuring out the best route of transportation.

Persona

Problem Statements

What I learned

By conducting User Research, I was able to discover some interesting findings.

4/5 Participants that were interviewed do not trust or think that Travel Agencies are worthwhile.

5/5 Participants feel frustrated and overwhelmed during the research and planning phases of their trips.

5/5 Participants use some hybrid form of apps, platforms, and tools to communicate and organize all trip itineraries and travel logistics.

Through my competitive analysis, I learned that the majority of travel agency-style apps and booking sites do not have 24/7 customer support.

I also learned that none of the competitors allow a user to preplan their entire trip with customization of travel dates, interests, lodging and transportation.