Tripadvisor Vacation Rentals
Background
In 2022, Tripadvisor's vacation rental brands, including TAVR, Holiday Lettings, and Flipkey, collectively generated a substantial 50% of the company's total revenue. Despite this significant financial contribution, these brands suffered from a weak market presence and fragmented user experience. My mandate was to lead the design efforts for these critical platforms, navigating the delicate balance between maintaining existing operations and implementing meaningful, impactful improvements. Over a focused 12-month period, my team and I successfully delivered over 90 targeted UX/UI enhancements, which directly contributed to an impressive $6.5 million in new revenue. Furthermore, the demonstrable success of our work led to a strategic expansion of the team's responsibilities, extending our influence into the Flights and Cars verticals, thereby broadening our impact across Tripadvisor's diverse product suite.
Problem
Tripadvisor had long been recognized as a leader in reviews and experiences, but its vacation rental offerings lagged behind, struggling to establish a strong identity. The various VR brands were disparate and lacked cohesive branding, resulting in low visibility compared to the company's robust hotel offerings and formidable competitors like Airbnb. A critical underlying issue was the outdated nature of the products, characterized by inconsistent design systems and a noticeable lack of strategic investment, leading to a subpar user experience.
Approach
To address these multifaceted challenges, I implemented a comprehensive three-part strategy designed to maximize both immediate impact and long-term innovation:
Appreciate the Past (Audit Past Work): We initiated a thorough audit of all existing vacation rental products, meticulously examining every page and user flow. This involved a deep dive into historical data and past initiatives to understand their successes, failures, and underlying assumptions.
Respect the Present (Deliver Ongoing Experiments): Concurrently, we focused on delivering a continuous stream of targeted experiments and improvements. This agile approach allowed us to address immediate pain points and capitalize on quick wins, ensuring ongoing value delivery. We conducted extensive stakeholder workshops to gather diverse perspectives and align on priorities. To ensure systematic progress, we developed and implemented standardized templates for ticket tracking within Figma and Jira, streamlining our workflow and enhancing transparency.
Look to the Future (Seed Research and Strategy): In parallel, we dedicated resources to foundational UX research, conducting in-depth user interviews to uncover deeper traveler needs and behaviors related to shopping and booking paths for vacation rentals. This forward-looking approach was crucial for informing our long-term roadmap and identifying opportunities for disruptive innovation.
Challenges
The project was not without its significant hurdles. Resource constraints were a primary concern; initially, I was the sole designer, necessitating close collaboration with distributed teams in India and Romania. Furthermore, vacation rental products held a lower organizational priority compared to other Tripadvisor verticals, requiring constant advocacy and strategic communication to secure necessary resources and leadership buy-in. This environment demanded a focused approach on high-impact quick wins while simultaneously laying the groundwork for future, more substantial innovations.
Solution
Our solution involved a dual-pronged strategy. We prioritized and rapidly implemented quick wins, such as redesigning search results pages, optimizing Product Detail Page (PDP) booking modules, and refining filters to enhance usability and conversion. Critically, all new designs were meticulously aligned with Tripadvisor’s updated, cohesive design system, ensuring consistency and a modernized aesthetic across the platforms. Simultaneously, we conducted extensive UX research to uncover deeper traveler needs and pain points. This research was instrumental in shaping our product roadmap, ensuring that it not only addressed immediate fixes but also laid the foundation for sustainable long-term growth and a more compelling user experience.
Outcomes
The impact of our efforts was significant and measurable. Over 90 experiments were successfully shipped, directly generating an impressive $6.5 million in new revenue for the vacation rental brands. Beyond financial metrics, the insights gleaned from our VR research proved invaluable, informing strategic decisions not only within the vacation rental teams but also influencing the Hotels and Plus teams. The demonstrable success of this work ultimately expanded our team's remit beyond rentals, unequivocally proving our ability to deliver substantial impact across Tripadvisor’s entire product suite and solidifying the vacation rental brands as a critical component of the company's overall growth strategy.
