Design a travel planning Mobile app.
Google- Rohit Kumar
Context:
Many tools exist for travel planning including booking hotels, flights and attractions. Yet they are very disparate and therefore they need lot of work to complete an itinerary. Even though most travellers face the same problem, some are more able to deal with than others. For e.g. typical types of travellers are –
Budget travellers – seeking to travel on a budget, willing to compromise on hotel and travel arrangements
Experience seekers – Travellers seeking new kinds of experiences
Family travellers – dealing with all the issues of travelling with young kids
Young Adults – travelling with lot of flexibility, changing plans on the go
Senior Citizens – they have unique needs
Business travellers – I am ignoring for now, considering that there are existing providers for enterorise providers and if this is my first foray, it would be better for me to learn about the travel industry first.
Of all of the above, the Family travellers with kids seem the most underserved – they have lot of things to juggle and keep an eye on to have a good trip. They are usually pressed for time and struggle with multiple sites tools coordination. Yet they would be willing to pay more to have peace of mind, and avoid the hassle of figuring out a viable itinerary. So assuming I am developing a new app – not relevant to any of my existing portfolio, for a starting point, I would focus on these users. They are a pretty large segment of users and thus seem like a good starting point.
Needs of Families With Kids
User Journey:
With each season, vacation discussions happen –> Ideas solicited from friends, / wishlists / internally – high level research on what might work – overwhelmed by too many things and drop off – re-engage after many days pass – deeper research – narrow down based on budget / attraction – actual booking what to visit, where to stay, how to go around – and the travel experience itself.
Travel Ideas:
1. I need to get some good ideas for travel that works for my family – both adults and kids depending on their age.
2. I want to quickly decide what will and would not work for me – based on what the attraction provides, the cost of travel, good times to visit
Planning & Purchasing
3. I am overwhelmed by how much time I need to spend on figuring out where I should stay, whether it has pools – which my kids like, or whether I can use public transport or not – or what other options are there.
4. I have travelled many times completely surprised by the weather and it has not been fun for my little kids.
5. I want to have a mix of activities – for adults and kids – not to spend days in musuems only.
6. I also want to have a good itinerary – so that I am not taking on too much in 1 day and the places I visit make sense. I dont want to be completely exhausted at the end of the day.
7. I want to get local help at an attraction so that I am not blindsided.
On the trip
8. I am carrying a baby stroller and dont want to have take it down a flight of stairs. or drag it for long. Walking directions are really important for me.
9. I dont want to guess about my transportation – not sure where I can rely on public transport, not sure if I can drive around with my US license and knowledge, or attractions where a drive is needed.
10. I want to be able to reach someone readily to get answers if I am not sure while on the travel
Solution:
Prioritizing the needs above for the solutions, I want to help families with #1 travel ideas, #2 Deciding and #Planning. For now, I will keep On the trip out of scope for a future version.
Market: I will assume my target market is US & Canada to begin with.
Solution:
| Solution (Complexity, Impact) | Recommended | Free / Paid | |
| Travel Ideas |
Guided experience to choose destinations based on preferences, season, etc. (Medium, High)
Wishlist, Friend Recommendations from social networks (Medium, Medium)
Editorial / User reviews of destinations (Medium, Medium)
Immersive 3D tour of attractions (Medium, High)
Sample itineraries and likely budget (Low, High)
|
Y
Y
N
Y
Y
|
Free |
| Deciding |
Refine experience – budget, duration, attraction interests (Medium, High)
Editorial reviews of attractions personalized for families (Medium, Medium)
|
Y
Y
|
Free |
| Planning |
Build PDF itinerary – itinerary creation, visit planning based on preference (Medium, High)
Recommended areas of stay (Low, High)
Recommended public transport options (Low, High)
Required Maps (Low, High)
On call concierge – itinerary (High, High)
Help with purchasing all tickets or equivalent (High, High)
|
Y
Y
N
N
N
Y
|
Free
Paid
Paid
Paid
Paid
Paid
|
Metrics:
Success is people adopting the app for planning travel on a long term basis for all of their travel planning needs.
1. # of unique users creating an itinerary every month
2. # of unique users returning to create itinerary every quarter
3. # of unique users returning to create itinerary every 6 months
4. # of unique users who are paying for the itinerary every month – payment is per trip – based on complexity of trip, number of days, destinations