Product Design Challenge Case Study: Improving Users' Experience of the Agoda App By Introducing Categorical Recommendation

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UXM Community

21 min readJan 15, 2023

A case study about my first product design challenge that I participated in, on 6th January 2023, which was organized by our mentor Anudeep Ayyagari.

📜Context

On 6th January 2023, we had a product design challenge for 48 Hours, organized by our mentor Anudeep Ayyagari with the help of many volunteers, where most of the students from our community participated and took the challenge. In this challenge, we were divided into teams of 9–12 people in a group, where each team got different Travel Applications to work on and each team had a bunch of problem statements for each member to choose from. Each member had to choose one problem statement for themself different from other members of the team and work on them separately. We were given to work in a team so that we could coordinate with each other to share the assets and ideas to build the different features of the same Application and stay consistent in our design. I was very excited as well as nervous at the same time about this challenge and finally, the challenge started after the welcome call from our mentor at 9'o clock.🙌🏻🤞🏻

🚚Deliverables And Expectations

The problem statements were given keeping in mind the real short-term assignments in the companies, to make us ready for the real work scenario. We were expected to work in a Figma file, Everyone would have their separate working page but team members were expected to share the resources that would be needed by other members of the team. We were expected to submit our separate UI solution and prototype and show iterations in our design after doing Usability Testing from 2–5 users. We were also expected to make presentation slides explaining the process and the solution in pointers. We were expected to submit all these things in 48 Hours, for which we were given a timeline schedule to make us do our work on time. This is the timeline that was given to us:

⏳The Problem Statement Brief

Every group got their particular Application to work on, now it was the time to choose the problem statement. After the welcome call, all the team members met in a call and discussed who would be working on which problem statement. After a few discussions and debates, I got my problem statement. I had to introduce the ‘Categorical Recommendations Feature’ in the Agoda App. The most exciting and amazing thing about this challenge was that we could use an AI tool for deriving our solutions😊. Not to eliminate real users, but to do our work more efficiently. So, we were using chatGPT at various stages where our work could become more efficient using this tool. So, I used chatGPT to derive my problem statement brief. Here is my problem statement brief:

Company Name: Agoda
Feature name: Categorical Recommendations
Context: Agoda is a travel booking platform that helps users find and book accommodations around the world. Currently, the platform recommends accommodations to users based on their past bookings and search history. However, we want to explore the idea of providing categorical recommendations to users to help them discover new types of accommodations that they may not have considered before.
Core idea of the feature: Categorical recommendations would allow users to browse and book accommodations based on specific categories, such as “boutique hotels,” “vacation rentals,” or “luxury resorts.” These categories would be displayed prominently on the home page or in a dedicated section of the platform.
Impact on business metrics: By providing users with more options and helping them discover new types of accommodations, we hope to increase bookings and revenue for the platform. We also hope that this feature will help to improve the overall user experience, which could lead to increased customer loyalty and retention.
How it helps users: Categorical recommendations would allow users to easily browse and book accommodations based on their specific preferences and interests. For example, a user who is planning a romantic getaway may be interested in browsing boutique hotels, while a user who is planning a family vacation may be interested in vacation rentals. This feature would make it easier for users to find the types of accommodations that best suit their needs.
Constraints: One constraint to consider is the cost of implementing and maintaining this feature. We will need to carefully assess the resources and budget required to build and maintain this feature. Additionally, we will need to consider the impact on the user experience, as adding too many categories or making it difficult for users to navigate the categories could be confusing or overwhelming.

🤖Assumptions That I Took BeforeHand

After making the problem statement brief, it was necessary to think about how this feature will help the users as well as the business and make some assumptions based on the research.

How this feature will help the users?

Categorical recommendations would allow users to easily browse and book accommodations based on their specific preferences and interests. For example, a user who is planning a romantic getaway may be interested in browsing boutique hotels. In contrast, a user who is planning a family vacation may be interested in vacation rentals. This feature would make it easier for users to find the types of accommodations that best suit their needs.
Category recommendations can help users by providing personalized suggestions for accommodations, activities, and destinations based on their preferred travel style. For example, if a user indicates that they prefer “adventure travel,” the app could suggest outdoor activities and accommodations in remote or wilderness areas. This feature can save users time and effort in searching for places and activities that align with their interests, and help them plan a more enjoyable and satisfying trip.

How this feature can help the business?

Introducing a category recommendation feature in the travel app Agoda can help the business in several ways:

Increased user engagement: Personalized recommendations can improve the user experience and increase the likelihood that users will return to the app, book more trips, and spend more time browsing the app.
Increased revenue: By providing personalized recommendations, the app can increase the chances of users booking more trips and accommodations, which can lead to increased revenue for the business.
Improved customer satisfaction: Personalized recommendations can help users plan trips that align with their interests and preferences, which can lead to increased customer satisfaction and positive word-of-mouth referrals.
Better targeting of advertising: The data collected from the travel style categories can be used to better target ads to specific segments of users, resulting in higher click-through rates and conversions.
More accurate customer segmentation: The data collected from the travel style categories can be used for customer segmentation, allowing the business to better understand and target different types of customers.

Before implementing this feature, several assumptions that I made were:

There is a demand for categorical recommendations among our users. The product designer will need to conduct user research to validate this assumption before proceeding with implementing this feature.
Providing categorical recommendations will lead to increased bookings and revenue. Product designers need to conduct user research and data analysis to validate this assumption before proceeding with this feature.
We have the resources and budget to build and maintain this feature. We will need to conduct user research and data analysis to validate this assumption before proceeding with the development of this feature.
Users will be able to easily understand and navigate the categories: We will need to assume that users will be able to understand the categories that we provide and will be able to easily browse and find accommodations that meet their needs.
The categories provided will be relevant and useful to our users: We will need to assume that the categories we provide will be relevant and useful to our users and that they will be able to find accommodations that meet their needs within these categories
The categorical recommendations feature will not negatively impact other parts of the platform: We will need to assume that the introduction of the categorical recommendations feature will not negatively impact other parts of the platform, such as the overall user experience or the performance of the platform.
The categorical recommendations feature will be well-received by our users: We will need to assume that the categorical recommendations feature will be well-received by our users and that they will find it useful and valuable.

👩🏻‍💻Secondary Research

After considering various assumptions and how they will help the users as well as the business, it was time to do some research. I started by analysing the current UI and flow of the App. I found that:

Currently, the platform recommends accommodations to users based on their past bookings and search history. However, we want to explore the idea of providing categorical recommendations to users to help them discover new types of accommodations that they may have yet to consider.
Hotels have their filter inside but the filter doesn’t show good property type options and it doesn’t have a travel style filter, which is attached to the users' emotions and can increase retention if improved.
The current flow for selecting your specific hotel is Select the Hotels Option > Select your place, date and room > Search > Out of the List of Hotels select the preferred hotel or you select after applying filters based on star rating, property name, review score, budget, bedrooms, the room offers, payment options, neighbourhoods, property types, homes and apartments, facilities and room amenities > Hotel details page > See all the different room options to choose from > Book.

Then, I started exploring various categories that can be provided in a Travel App. From the research, I found that there are many categories like hotel types, property types, amenities, travel styles, and locations that are popularly found in Travel App. After studying all these categories and which are the Apps that provide these categories, I started thinking of possible solutions. The ideas that I came up with to introduce this feature were:

Improving the filter that the App already has in the Hotels sections.
Providing different explore categories based on past searches, hotel types, property types, Travel styles, and type of location on the home screen.
Provide all the possible options in only 1 or a few categories on the home screen.

I chose to go with 3rd idea because, from the analysis of the current screens, I felt a need to provide something on a home screen that would propel people into action. I felt something needs to be improved on the home screen which would connect with people’s emotions. Introducing the categorical recommendations based on the ‘Travel Style’ category would be the best option to connect with people’s emotions I thought. Providing all the possible options in only one category that is Travel Style category would be something that will allow users to best serve their purpose for travelling. By providing categories based on travel style people can connect with their travel destination emotionally which will help them to make faster and better decisions.

After selecting my idea, I started exploring all the possible options I could provide to users based on Travel Style Recommendations. From the research, I found that A “travel style” category in a travel app might offer a range of options to help users filter their search for travel products or services based on their preferred travel style or preferences. Some examples of options I found that might be included in a travel style category could include:
Beach: Options related to beach vacations, such as beach hotels, beach rentals, and beach activities.
Adventure: Options related to adventure travel, such as outdoor activities, adventure tours, and outdoor gear rentals.
Cultural: Options related to cultural experiences, such as cultural tours, cultural festivals, and cultural activities.
Luxury: Options related to luxury travel, such as luxury hotels, luxury rentals, and luxury tours.
Family: Options related to family travel, such as family-friendly hotels, family-friendly activities, and family vacation packages.
Budget: Options related to budget travel, such as budget hotels, budget rentals, and budget-friendly activities.
Romantic: Options related to romantic travel, such as romantic hotels, romantic rentals, and romantic activities.
Solo: Options related to solo travel, such as solo-friendly hotels, solo tours, and solo activities.
Eco-friendly: Options related to eco-friendly or sustainable travel, such as eco-friendly hotels, eco-tours, and sustainable activities.
Foodie: Options related to food and dining experiences, such as food tours, cooking classes, and local restaurants.
Health and wellness: Options related to health and wellness travel, such as yoga retreats, spas, and health and wellness tours.
Art and music: Options related to art and music experiences, such as art galleries, music festivals, and cultural performances.
Nature: Options related to nature and outdoor experiences, such as national parks, nature reserves, and outdoor activities.
Religious: Options related to religious travel, such as pilgrimages, religious tours, and religious festivals.
Nightlife: Options related to nightlife and entertainment, such as clubs, bars, and live music venues.
Special interest: Options related to special interest travel, such as birdwatching, golfing, and skiing.

After exploring different options, keeping in mind that this feature was going to be introduced in the App for the first time and it should not overwhelm the users, I decided to implement only some broad options that the majority of people would prefer while booking. The options that I preferred to implement in the App were:

Family vacations: This category includes options for family-friendly hotels, resorts, and activities that are suitable for travellers with children.
Romantic getaways: This category includes options for couples planning a romantic vacation, such as couples-only resorts, intimate bed and breakfasts, and destinations with romantic atmospheres.
Adventure travel: This category includes options for travellers who are looking for an active and adventurous vacation, such as hiking, biking, and outdoor activities.
Beach vacations: This category includes options for travellers who want to spend their vacation relaxing on the beach, with options for beachfront hotels and resorts.
Cultural experiences: This category includes options for travellers who are interested in exploring local cultures, such as food, music, art, and history.
Luxury travel: This category includes options for travellers who are looking for a high-end, luxury vacation experience, with options for luxury hotels and resorts.
Solo Travel: Options related to solo travel, such as solo-friendly hotels, solo tours, and solo activities
Business travel: This category includes options for travellers who are travelling for work, such as business-friendly hotels, conference centres, and transportation options.

After deciding on the options to keep in the Travel Style Recommendations, I started to search for the Apps that provide this recommendation and took inspiration from them. I found that many Apps provide this recommendation but every App has its way of providing this feature to its users. The conclusions that I got from the research for some of the Apps were:

MakeMyTrip: This travel booking website and app offers a variety of travel styles for users to choose from when planning their trips, including options for family vacations, romantic getaways, adventure travel, beach vacations, cultural experiences, and luxury travel.
Expedia: This travel booking website and app offers a “Things to Do” section that recommends activities and experiences based on the user’s destination and travel style.
Airbnb: This platform allows users to search for accommodations that fit their specific travel style, such as beach rentals, treehouses, and apartments in the city.
Kayak: This travel search engine has a “Discover” feature that offers recommendations for destinations and travel experiences based on the user’s interests and preferences.
Travelocity: This travel booking website and the app has a “Discover” feature that offers recommendations for destinations and activities based on the user’s travel style and preferences.
HotelTonight: This travel booking app has a “Collections” feature that offers recommendations for accommodations and experiences based on the user’s destination and travel style.
OneTravel: This travel booking website and the app has a “Discover” feature that offers recommendations for destinations and activities based on the user’s interests and preferences.

✏️Wireframing

After deciding on the category and researching the other Apps and the solutions that they were providing to the users related to this feature, I started to think about my solution and what would be the flow that I would be working. As I had decided that I would provide the Travel Style Recommendation on the Home screen, I decided to include the home screen, hotel options page and the hotel details page as a part of my flow keeping in mind the time constraint. The idea behind keeping these pages as a part of the flow was that first, the categories would be best for users to discover on the home screen rather than any other screen, as users will be selecting a place from the categories on the home screen, they need to see the hotel options related to their preferred place showing necessary details regarding the particular travel style and the lastly the available rooms having various facilities options and rooms according to the preference of the users. After deciding on the screens that I will be building I took inspiration from various other Apps and designs that designers have posted on social platforms.

After taking inspiration from various designs and Apps already existing, I started building a rough wireframe to bring myself from Ambiguity to Clarity. While building wireframes, I also decided to include the category of ‘Top Destinations in the recommendations for users who want to discover trending travel destinations. I decided not to make huge changes to my design as I wanted to keep my design consistent with the existing design that the app already had while still adding value to the business and the users by making changes in the existing UI or adding some new parts to the design. So, here are my wireframes showing my idea for the Home Screen, Hotel Options Page and Hotel Details Page.

Rough Wireframes Showing My Idea About The Design

🎨Building UI

After building the wireframes it was time to build the User Interface of the design that I had in my mind. I started to create my design by first collecting all the Graphical Assets and components that were needed in the design. My teammates Soundarya Alagesan, Shaan, Ashok and Ram Prasad helped me a lot in gathering those components and Assets for the design. After gathering the Assets, I started building the home screen and decided on the Fonts and Colours that I would be using at various places in my design by looking at the existing screens of the App to stay consistent in my design. And, slowly I also made the remaining screens. As I said, I was not planning to make huge changes in my design, I was just focusing on integrating my feature into the existing design in such a way that it will add value to all the stakeholders. So, here is my design the changes that I made to the existing screens and my reasoning for it.

Existing Home Screen Of Agoda App — Existing Home Screen

My Design Of The Home Screen Before Usability Testing

Changes That I Made on the Screen:
I added a search bar at the top of the home screen where people can directly search the places or they can search by categories that they prefer from all the available categories in this App.
How it benefits the user:
Users want fast results for what they are searching for. Keeping a search bar on the home screen can allow users to get what they want in fewer steps.
How it benefits the business:
By keeping a search bar on the home screen, users can discover the services of the hotels much easier and faster, which can turn into conversion easily
Changes That I Made on the Screen:
I have introduced the categories based on the ‘Travel Style’ of people. The purpose here is to allow the users to make decisions through their emotions and use the services of the company. When allowing users to search for a family vacation destination instead of just Manali, it connects with people and they are more likely to use the services.
How it benefits the user:
It helps users by allowing them to directly search based on the purpose of their trip.
How it benefits the business:
By allowing the users to tap into their emotions, the business can attract more customers.

My Design Of The Hotel Options Page Before Usability Testing

3. Changes That I Made In The Screen:
I added a description of hotel facilities on the hotel’s option page for the users to have more information about the hotel.
How it benefits the user:
Users can compare the hotels based on the facilities and also on the hotel’s options page itself and can make better decisions about the service.
How it benefits the business:
By providing details about the facilities, the users who are looking for better facilities in hotels may end up purchasing the hotel service by looking at it.

I had built the Hotel Details Page as well as a part of the flow but I did not make any changes to that page before usability testing as I did not feel any need to change anything on that screen at that time.

🪄Results After Usability Testing

After completing my design I started to invite people for usability testing, taking feedback from real users was very important for actually validating whether they understood what I had built. Also, it was very important for me to know whether the feature I introduced would help them or not. With the limited time, it was very difficult to conduct usability testing with more number of people. I found two people who were ready to give me feedback on my design. The quality feedback from only two people would still help me to improve my design I thought and I started showing my design. I allowed them to speak whatever they understood or did not understand from the design. Then slowly I started to ask various questions related to each element on the screens, just to get the idea of whether it is adding value to them. And, after taking their feedback and evaluating everything I made the following changes in my design:

My Design Of The Home Page After Usability Testing

Changes That I Made on the Screen:
I added a search bar at the top of the home screen where people can directly search the places or they can search by categories that they prefer from all the available categories in this App. This is the same change I made before usability testing.
How it benefits the user:
Users want fast results for what they are searching for. Keeping a search bar on the home screen can allow users to get what they want in fewer steps.
How it benefits the business:
By keeping a search bar on the home screen, users can discover the services of the hotels much easier and faster, which can turn into conversion easily.
Changes That I Made on the Screen:
After usability testing I found that people were unable to understand what is the deal with Chennai, So I Elaborated on the Deal more appropriately.
How it benefits the user:
It will help the users to understand what the deal is actually.
How it benefits the business:
More customers will start to be attracted if they will understand the deal properly.
Changes That I Made on the Screen:
After Usability Testing I found that users were not getting which prices were showing for the destinations, so I deleted the flight price and took the decision to show them the price once they chose their preferences.
How it benefits the user:
It will not confuse the users, and it will help them to just go through all the options they have without any confusion and stress.
How it benefits the business:
The business will benefit from deleting the prices from the home page, as some users may just want to enjoy more facilities and pay more instead of worrying about the price.
Changes That I Made on the Screen:
The same change that I made before usability testing, I introduced the categories based on the ‘Travel Style’ of people. The purpose here is to allow the users to make decisions through their emotions and use the services of the company. When allowing users to search for a family vacation destination instead of just Manali, it connects with people and they are more likely to use the services.
How it benefits the user:
It helps users by allowing them to search based on the purpose of the trip directly.
How it benefits the business:
By allowing the users to tap into their emotions, the business can attract more customers

My Design Of The Hotel Options Page After Usability Testing

5. Changes That I Made In The Screen:
I added a description of hotel facilities in the hotel’s option page to the users for more information about the hotel related to their particular preferences. This is the same change that I made before usability testing.
How it benefits the user:
Users can compare the hotels based on the facilities and also on the hotel’s options page itself and can make better decisions about the service.
How it benefits the business:
By providing details about the facilities, the users who are looking for better facilities in hotels may end up purchasing the hotel service by looking at it.

My Design Of The Hotel Details Page After Usability Testing

6. Changes That I Made In The Screen:
After usability testing, I realized the users do not just want to see the reviews but they want to see the latest review, as old reviews may not add much value to them. So, I also decided to mention dates with the names of the reviews.
How it benefits the user:
It will help the users to make decisions more appropriately.
How it benefits the business:
It will increase the loyalty of customers for the business if they are well informing the users about the services.

7. Changes That I Made In The Screen:
In the previous map the location of the hotel was not highlighted so I highlighted the hotel’s location to make it easy for the users.
How it benefits the user:
From the usability testing, I realized that users were finding it difficult to relate to the places as the current location was not highlighted, so highlighting the hotel, will help them to make better decisions.
How it benefits the business:
If they get the idea about the map more clearly, and when they see the popular places to visit near the hotel, it will increase the loyalty of customers and can also attract new customers.

8. Changes That I Made In The Screen:
I highlighted the previous price with the discounted price so that the users stay informed about the discounts and it makes them happier.
How it benefits the user:
A large number of users like it when they get discounts on any product or service. So, displaying the cancelled prices may make them more satisfied.
How it benefits the business:
Usually, when users see discounts on any product or service, they are more likely to purchase that service than the normal price. Which helps the business to attract more customers.

The Usability Testing got me various insights, the changes that I implemented and some of which I didn’t implement. The feasibility of the current status and resources and the time constraints in which I was doing this project were the major reasons I did not implement huge changes in the App. The overall conclusion from all the feedback I got was that the users liked the recommendations that I introduced, and they also gave a positive response to the search bar and the facilities details I showed to them. But, they want the important details to appear in the App in fewer steps and they want the elements on the screens to be displayed in the simplest way that can make sense to them easily.

The final presentation that I submitted after doing all this work was looking like this:

The Final Presentation That I Submitted In This Challenge

And, this was the last prototype of the solution after usability testing that I submitted:

The Final Prototype Of The Solution After Usability Testing

🔭Future Scope Of The Design

This feature can be a lot more improved in the future in the long term with more research details and time. Maybe more categories can be added to the recommendations, the recommendations may have more precise and to-the-point information below them. Other pages in the flow may also provide more details regarding the specific category in the hotels. The whole App can be designed keeping in mind various emotions of the people related to the travel.

📖My Learnings From This Project

I learnt the important lesson to finish the given work on time. I was very sick due to continuously working on this project and I couldn’t do as I expected from myself, but still, I am happy that I could deliver what was expected including this case study. Another important lesson that I learned was to manage my time efficiently. I was planning everything beforehand and was able to deliver the results. I also learnt that in a real company, there will be both long-term as well as a short-term projects, we always have to be ready to work on both types of projects and learn to scope down at various stages. We can’t take the work that is not feasible in the given time.

Finally, I would like to thank my mentor Anudeep Ayyagari for providing us with the opportunity to learn the needed skills in the industry through such a challenge and all the volunteers who put in their hard work for creating all the necessary assets for this challenge and organizing this challenge. I would also like to thank all my team members for helping me and providing me with some of the assets that I used in my design.

Thank you for taking the time to read my article till the end… You can connect with me on LinkedIn…
My LinkedIn Profile Link: www.linkedin.com/in/payal-talekar-472a73246