KAYAK Points Feature
Confident travel starts at KAYAK.
A feature enhancement to the Kayak mobile app that allows users to search travel accommodations in point and mile values.
Background
Kayak is an exceptional travel search engine that combs through numerous travel websites simultaneously to offer a comprehensive selection of options.
Currently, Kayak's search results only showcase price information, while neglecting alternative payment options that may be available for flights, hotels, and other travel accommodations.
With the rising popularity of credit card points and airline miles as payment methods for travel expenses, Kayak has ample opportunity to broaden its price aggregation tools to encompass these options.
Time Frame: April 2023 - May 2023 (80 hours)
Program: DesignLab UX Academy (Academic Project)
Role: User Researcher, UX Designer, UI Designer
Methodology: Design Thinking
Problem: How can I maximize the use of my points when booking travel accommodations?
Nowadays, many people have several different accounts that contain their accrued credit card points and airline miles.
Each account has its own portal to book travel accommodations that the user must book directly through to spend their points.
Users often have to manually compare the cost in points for the desired flight or hotels across all accounts, which can be very tedious.
Solution: A new KAYAK points feature
A new feature to the travel app KAYAK will:
allow users to link their credit card and airline rewards accounts.
enable the user to view the points required for travel options alongside the price.
display the points available in each of the user’s rewards accounts.
EMPATHIZE
EMPATHIZE
Research Objectives
Determine the current processes of people looking to book travel accommodations.
Gain insight into the various payment methods users have to book travel accommodations.
Identify current pain points users are facing with price aggregation tools.
Identify elements of other price aggregation tools that make them more popular and widely used.
Research Methods
User Interviews
User interviews were conducted in order to gain an understanding of real-life user experiences of using a price aggregation tool like Kayak.
I interviewed three different users with varying levels of experience with price aggregation tools.
Competitor & Secondary Research
Market research was conducted in order to learn about the current resources out there and determine what is working and what is not.
Secondary research was conducted to learn about the travel industry and the various payment methods available.
Competitor Analysis
Research Findings
1
The current methods of using credit card miles and/or airline miles are very tedious, as the user has to visit two or more sites if they would like to compare the value of a flight.
2
Users want to be able to view all their point and mile balances in one place because they often have multiple accounts and find it hard to keep track of all of them.
3
According to a 2019 Travel Credit card study by NerdWallet, 65% of people said they would use their credit card points to purchase travel expenses.
4
Currently, no major price aggregation tools (Google Flights, Travelocity, etc.) display credit card points or airline mile values with their search results.
DEFINE
DEFINE
Establishing Goals
Meet Micah and Arthur
Based on the insights I gained from the user interviews, I was able to create two different user personas that represent the behaviors, pain points, and goals of potential user types.
IDEATE
IDEATE
Feature Ideation
The next step is to conceptualize possible features based on the previous research findings that would be applicable to this platform.
Information Architecture
After analyzing the feature prioritization list, I was able to create a site map. I wanted the platform to be easy to use and familiar to use, so I took inspiration from current sites on the market.
PROTOTYPE
PROTOTYPE
Low-fidelity Sketches
I first started sketching out the existing key screens from Kayak’s current mobile app. I then made some changes based on how the points/miles feature would integrate with the current screens.
Wireframes
I then digitized these solutions into mid-fidelity wireframes and added screens, where needed, to align with the task flows.
Visual Design
The KAYAK app does not have official style guidelines available online, so I recreated the typography and color palette to align as closely as possible. I also recreated their existing icons and components to use for my UI screens.
High-Fidelity Screens
The final step of the prototype phase was to incorporate all the visual design elements into my wireframes and create my first iteration of high-fidelity UI screens.
TEST
TEST
Usability Testing
Each usability tester was given the following scenario and corresponding tasks:
Scenario: Imagine you are a KAYAK user who would like to book a roundtrip flight from LA to Honolulu from May 16th - May 23rd using credit card points. You are a rewards member for the following programs: Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, and United Mileage Plus.
Tasks:
Indicate that you would like to be able to compare flight results in points/miles as well as monetary value.
Connect your reward programs to your KAYAK account so that you are able to compare the point/miles value for all your accounts.
Order the flight search results by cheapest value in miles/points.
Purchase the LAX to HNL from 8:35 AM on May 16th to 8:45 PM on May 23rd reservation using your Chase Ultimate Rewards points.
Testing Results
The usability tests were very insightful in terms of what elements worked and what didn’t:
All participants were able to complete each of the tasks with relative ease and understanding.
The users felt delighted by the way all reward accounts were directly connected to the KAYAK account
The usability tests showed that there were no major elements of the UI screens that needed to be modified
FINAL SOLUTION
FINAL SOLUTION
Connect Reward Accounts
When the user first begins their flight query, they will be able to switch on the option to view results in miles/points. Once that feature is switched on, they will be able to connect their reward accounts so that the search results will include the mile/point values of the user’s reward accounts.
Search Results Page
The search results page will include the mile and/or point values of every reward account that the user has connected to their KAYAK account in addition to the monetary value.
Sort Feature
The sort feature allows the user to choose whether they would like to sort by monetary value or Miles/Points.
Purchase Flight with Points
Once the user decides which reservation they would like to book, they have the option to purchase the flight using points or miles. The link will take the user directly to the reward account portal, where they will able to spend their points balance.
Project Takeaways
This project was my first attempt at adding a feature to an existing application, and it allowed me to creatively solve a problem using an existing design system. The research portion of this project was one of the most important parts because it highlighted how prevalent the need was for simplifying booking travel. If implemented, I believe that the feature I created would be widely adopted because of the current gaps in the market for price aggregation tools. Given more time and resources, I would have made the following additions/improvements:
Added a task flow of booking a hotel and other travel accommodations
Explored other possibilities for connecting reward accounts since connection manually can be tedious
Include a method to purchase a reservation with a combination of dollars, miles, and points.
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