UI Experiences, VRBO!
Early 2020: Halt
Late 2020: Resume
Early 2021: Pause
Mid 2021: Pivot
Late 2021: Pause, again?
2022: Surprises Loading
With the roller-coaster-like revolution, the world is undergoing there have been some massive changes in how we live, work, breathe, everything. We have been consuming content online like never before with our experiences mean way more than they did a couple of years ago. Brands are facing a tough time providing a larger online presence, changing business goals, basically just staying relevant. To be able to provide customers an experience, even before they enter a store or purchase a product over the internet. Wait, is that even possible? Yes, through a brand’s website, and it's UI UX.
The UI and UX for companies in different industries have different goals. Talking about the traveling and hospitality industry, most users would want a simple, informative, quick hassle-free experience. A company that does exactly this is VRBO.
What is VRBO?
VRBO is an American vacation rental online marketplace originally known as Vacation Rentals by Owner or VRBO. VRBO has been a leading competitor as a brand that specializes in the vacation rental home business since the beginning of the market. With exponentially growing competitors like Airbnb, VRBO has struggled to hold onto its top spot.
VRBO’s website
VRBO’s website has a color palette of blues and whites, giving it a simplistic, clean design look invoking feelings of trust, calm, and loyalty. The images of families smiling through their travels show a simple user-entered aesthetic representing a story – that of the brand. The website design is created keeping in mind the primary target audience — millennials and boomers. The pages load quickly and are very clear providing information that does not confuse users.
The website also provides users with well-defined landing pages since users spend an average of 10 minutes on a website. The features are similar to those of other rentals but the ones that stood out for me are:
Trip Board: VRBO’s website provides group travelers with the opportunity to choose a rental in an easy and fast way for everyone through custom VRBO Trip Boards. On the boards, the group can like and save their favorite properties in one place, then share their Trip Boards with everyone in their travel group and invite them to add comments and vote on their favorites.
Virtual Tours: Interactive virtual tours are available in the photo carousel on select listings on VRBO’s website. Through this users can explore the layout, amenities, and rooms. A 360-degree tour helps users feel confident that they’re booking the perfect property.
Travel Trends: Through this page, users can find the latest information, surveys, and trends created by VRBO highlighting travel topics like top destinations for families, or important accommodation admontites to millennials. This helps travelers with the information they should keep in mind before choosing a destination, rental home, and travel guides in general.
VRBO’s Mobile App
Through VRBO’s mobile app, users locate the features on the navigator bar at the bottom of the screen. The well-defined categories make the process of finding the perfect rental home faster as one can scan and search immediately without having to deal with pop-ups and complications while using the app. The content is organized in a clear matter making it perfectly adaptable for the mobile version, the easy-to-use checklist filters, return to main explore listings, makes the app convenient. The in-app exploration includes features where users can access maps, video tours, host profiles, and featured hashtags on the listing profile. Through rental customizations, a user can toggle between the owner and user profile, they can customize their stay with quick check-ins, host recommendations all in the app.
My Experience:
As a first-time user of the VRBO website, my experience had been great. The website was created keeping its target in mind, the purpose, brand voice, and business objects were seen as well. The clean, simple designs, muted colors, and user-centric images and features give out a feeling of warmth, trust, and confidence. The website speed seemed to be all right but based on customer feedback it could use some improvement. The overall design was responsive. I would give the VRBO UI a 4 on 5 stars, what would you?
