Hotel Deals Hub

I initiated a design sprint, co-led by UX research to develop a hotel deals landing page, helping travelers find the best offers across all verticals. The goal was to create a flexible, modular, and SEO-optimized global deals hub that personalized offers for users. This central destination aimed to drive traffic and conversions, particularly by serving travelers who had already booked flights and were seeking hotel deals.

Service

Design Sprint, UX Research, Product Design

Year

2023

Team

Antony Cousin, Jess Melia, Chris Spence

Overview

During my time at Skyscanner, I initiated and led many design sprints, one in particular that I want to highlight is our co-located Sprint between the UK, Barcelona and China. I facilitated this sprint to develop a hotel deals landing page aimed at helping travelers find the best hotel deals across all verticals. The project involved a cross-functional team working through a five-day design sprint process. The goal was to create a mobile-first, global deals hub that would be flexible, modular, optimized for SEO, and use personalization to deliver relevant deals to users.

The landing page was intended to serve as a central destination for hotel deals, with the potential to drive significant traffic and conversions. We recognized an opportunity to better serve users looking for accommodations, particularly those who had already booked flights and were seeking complementary hotel deals.

Problems & Opportunities

User Trust: Users needed confidence in the legitimacy and value of hotel deals.
Navigation Complexity: Users at different stages of trip planning needed different approaches to finding deals.
Deal Relevance: Many users had already booked flights and needed to find hotels matching their existing travel plans.
Information Presentation: Hotel deal cards needed to present the right balance of information to help users make decisions.
User Segmentation: Different approaches were needed for users in the inspiration phase versus those with concrete travel plans.
Competition: The hotel comparison market is crowded, requiring Skyscanner to differentiate its deals offering.

A key strategic question emerged:

"Who is mainly targeted/directed to this page? What stage of trip planning process are they?"

The answer would drive design priorities and feature development.

Process

The Design Sprint

The team followed a structured design sprint approach:

Understanding (Monday): Used Miro to map the problem space and align on the sprint goal. The team identified key areas through expert interviews and affinity mapping.
Ideation (Tuesday): Conducted multiple idea generation activities and sketched competing solutions on paper, followed by dot-voting on winning ideas.
Storyboarding (Tuesday): Defined exactly what to prototype and test, including user journey questions to explore.
Prototyping (Wednesday): Created a high-fidelity prototype focusing on:
- Trust messaging featuring Trustpilot ratings
- Deal categorization (Flash deals, Budget-friendly deals, Last-minute deals)
- Customization options with theme/vibe filters
- Filter and sort functionality
- Hotel deal cards with key information
- Comparison feature for evaluating options
Testing (Thursday): Conducted six 30-minute moderated user testing sessions with participants from key markets (UK, USA, and India).
Playback (Friday): Shared findings with the wider team and discussed implications.

Research Findings

Trust Messaging

Trustpilot (5*) ratings captured user attention and provided valuable credibility
"Always save at least 30%" was the most engaging message
"From trusted providers" helped build user belief in deals
Background beach imagery appealed to users planning beach vacations

User Expectations

Most users approached hotel booking after having already booked flights
Users expected to filter by destination first, not by "vibe"
Seeing mixed locations (Miami, New York, Cancun) within one view felt unhelpful/irrelevant
Price and date filters were essential but missing from the prototype.

Hotel Card Information

Users prioritized price, location, & review score information
Photos, star ratings, number of reviews & discount information were also valued
"Per Night" pricing was universally useful for quick comparisons
Total stay pricing was valuable only when matched to user's exact dates

Implementation phase
Roadmap to success

Following the sprint, the team developed a roadmap for implementation:

March-April (Design)
- Design a new MVP incorporating user testing outcomes
April (Research & Design)
- Conduct second round of user research with the refined design
May (Design & Product)
- Define final MVP with:
  - Quick wins (confidence messaging, pricing & dates, sections)
  - New features (compare or filter functionality)
May-June (Product & Engineering)
- Develop quick wins with hotel team in Shenzhen

Q3 & Q4

Landing page handover from Shenzhen team to Barcelona team
Develop new features with Hotel UVP squad in Barcelona

The team identified key opportunity areas to focus on:

Refine top section to focus on most relevant key messages
Optimize deal categories for appeal and clarity
Create two experience paths:
1. For users with flights already booked: search controls up front
2. For users in pre-exploration/inspiration stage: themed browsing options

Impact delivered

Following implementation, the landing page launched in seven key markets during Black Friday (November 25-December 11) and attracted 331,000 users—representing 6% of total Hotel users during this period, with 11% of all hotel traffic on the first day. The page generated approximately 350 daily bookings, with 80% of engagement coming through mobile web. After Black Friday, the hub was turned evergreen and continues to deliver impact and value to our travellers.

346%

Daily bookings from logged in users increased from
9 to 40 (a 346% increase)

5%+

Hotel price coverage (participation rate) improved from 40% to 45%

24%

Desktop bookings increased by 24% (from 3,000 to 3,700 per week)

350+

Hotel Deals Hub generated an average of 350 daily bookings

Conclusion & learnings

The design sprint approach proved highly effective for rapidly testing assumptions and gathering valuable user insights.

Key Learnings

User context is crucial: inspiration-phase browsers have different needs than travelers with confirmed flights. Journey paths should guide users based on their planning stage
Mobile-first design is essential (80% of users accessed via mobile)
Trust elements with specific savings claims (e.g., "Always save at least 30%") significantly boost confidence
Time-limited flash deals create urgency without frustrating users
Hotel cards must balance comprehensive information without overwhelming users

The project demonstrated the value of rapid prototyping and testing to validate assumptions before committing to development. By focusing on user needs at different stages of the travel planning journey, the team created a landing page that successfully drove engagement and conversions while providing genuine value to travelers seeking hotel deals.