As designers, we get ideas in unexpected moments. Sometimes during a UI audit. Other times, in the middle of a user interview that’s technically about something else. Ideas come from tension, from edge cases, from curiosity, and often from the quiet voice of a user trying to work around our designs.
Over time, I’ve learned that some of the most impactful product ideas don’t emerge from ideation sessions or workshops. They come from user feedback. The kind you might find buried deep in an open-text field or within a support ticket. The kind you keep meaning to read but never quite get around to.
Now imagine this at scale.
The problem with too much feedback
If you’re working in a large organisation, chances are your product has a feedback loop built into it. Maybe users can rate an experience, leave a comment, or submit suggestions. Maybe your customer service team logs patterns they’re noticing. Before long, your feedback cloud becomes massive. What started as valuable insight becomes noise.
When there are thousands of entries coming in every week, it’s no longer practical to read them all. Even if you do, you’re likely to miss the connections between them. Pain points go unnoticed. Requests pile up. Good ideas get lost.
So the real question becomes: how do we keep track of feedback in a way that still feels personal, useful, and clear?
What if AI helped you do the listening?
This is where AI becomes a practical design partner. Not to replace your thinking, but to amplify your attention.
Imagine feeding your feedback cloud into an AI tool that can:
Cluster comments by recurring themes or pain points
Detect sentiment shifts over time
Highlight anomalies that might signal a growing issue
Suggest which teams should be alerted to specific types of feedback
Instead of skimming hundreds of unrelated quotes, you’re now working with a map of actionable insights. You can zoom in on what’s relevant, sort ideas by opportunity size, or explore user concerns that your current metrics don’t reveal.
The impact on design decisions
For designers, this means your ideas are no longer bound by the scope of your current project. You can start pitching improvements tied to real data. You can spot experience gaps before they grow into frustrations. You can even validate if that little usability fix you’ve been advocating for has a broader pattern behind it.
And instead of trying to convince your team that an issue matters, you can point to actual user sentiment grouped and surfaced by AI.
It also reduces reliance on repetitive A/B testing when AI can personalise content based on user profiles and interaction patterns. That means fewer manual experiments and more contextual decisions that adapt to the user.
A more attentive design culture
AI won’t replace the empathy or intuition that UX brings to a project. But it can help us show up more consistently for our users. It ensures their feedback isn’t just stored. It’s seen. It also allows designers to reclaim time and focus on where we’re needed most: solving real problems with clarity, creativity, and care.
The future of feedback is not more surveys or longer reports. It’s smarter systems that help us listen better, act faster, and deliver with purpose.
Final takeaway
We often talk about empathy as the foundation of good design. But empathy is only possible when we hear what users are telling us. If AI can help us listen more closely, it becomes a tool not of replacement, but of refinement.
Over the past year, the conversation around AI in digital products has rapidly shifted from distant potential to present-day experimentation. As a UX designer, I’ve been reflecting on where AI has the most meaningful impact—not just in novelty features, but in improving user flow, simplifying decision-making, and reducing operational inefficiencies.
Recently, I attended a presentation that explored ways AI could be embedded into customer- and partner-facing experiences. While the projects shared are still in development, they offered a thought-provoking glimpse into how AI can enhance the trip journey from both ends: for the traveller seeking relevance and for the accommodation partner seeking clarity.
This article offers a designer’s perspective on how AI might soon be leveraged to reduce friction, personalise content, and help teams shift away from rigid A/B testing towards scalable, contextual solutions.
Surfacing the right Information, at the right time
Travellers often face a common challenge: too much information, not enough clarity. Whether it’s navigating long property descriptions, scrolling through hundreds of reviews, or trying to understand vague amenity listings, the process can feel more like work than discovery.
AI offers an opportunity to reshape this experience entirely. Instead of relying on static text blocks, property content could be dynamically summarised based on a traveller’s context or previous interactions. For instance, if someone previously filtered by “quiet neighbourhoods,” AI could prioritise reviews or highlights that confirm soundproof rooms or peaceful surroundings.
This allows for better alignment between user interest and property presentation without the need to manage dozens of content variations manually.
On the partner side, many accommodation owners and managers rely on support teams or static documentation to find answers about platform setup, policy changes, or technical requirements. These materials can be extensive and detailed, but not always easy to search or interpret under time pressure.
Imagine a scenario where an AI-powered assistant could guide partners through setup, flag missing actions, and proactively suggest improvements. Rather than scrolling through help articles or waiting on support tickets, partners could ask natural-language questions and receive tailored, accurate responses. For example:
“How do I activate calendar syncing for my second property?”
“Why is my exclusive discount not showing to travellers?”
This not only improves partner efficiency but also reduces dependency on human support teams, particularly during high-traffic seasons.
Designing for personalisation without manual overhead
From a UX perspective, AI provides an elegant workaround to a long-standing problem: how do we serve different users with different needs, without bloating the interface or multiplying variations?
Traditionally, this meant running segmented A/B tests, launching new feature flags, or creating dedicated content versions. But AI allows for on-the-fly contextualisation, presenting the most relevant content to each user without fragmenting the experience. This could mean:
Dynamic property highlights based on user behaviour
Personalised checkout nudges for hesitant bookers
Tailored recommendations during the discovery phase, without forcing users to filter endlessly
It’s not about replacing the role of the designer, but about designing smarter entry points and feedback loops that work in partnership with AI.
New design responsibilities emerging
If AI is responsible for creating micro-content, serving recommendations, or answering help queries, our role as designers begins to evolve. We may find ourselves:
Designing prompt structures and AI inputs
Curating tone-of-voice guardrails for machine-generated responses
Ensuring feedback loops that allow users to flag irrelevant or unhelpful answers
Mapping which touchpoints are better handled by AI, and which still require human nuance
These responsibilities align more with system thinking than static interface creation, and will likely grow in importance as platforms scale their AI usage.
A future of one-to-one experiences
The long-term opportunity with AI is not just efficiency, but experience. When implemented thoughtfully, AI can enable unique, context-aware interactions for every user, making digital products feel less like mass-market tools and more like personalised assistants.
We’re not there yet. But for designers, it’s the right time to start asking:
Where are users overloaded with content or options?
Where are support teams answering the same questions repeatedly?
Where can AI improve clarity, not just speed?
By focusing on use cases grounded in real behaviour and friction points, we can begin shaping AI features that meaningfully support both sides of the booking experience.
Recently, I collaborated with a client to help them optimise their online strategy — supporting them in understanding how their data could be used to improve planning, content effectiveness, and ultimately complete more online purchases. Helping clients improve their online presence is rarely just about design; it’s about enabling them to understand their users, their data, and their brand identity.
The client, Lakoi, is a framing shop and art gallery based in the Netherlands, with a rich clientele of returning customers in-store. However, they had maintained an online presence for a few years through their Shopify website (www.lakoi.nl) and platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and monthly newsletters, yet with little return on investment (ROI) online. I wanted to help them understand how they could grow their digital business using AI tools — enabling an insight-driven, efficient collaboration without the need for a full technical team.
Understanding the Challenges
Lakoi struggled to make sense of their analytics; they didn’t know which metrics truly mattered or how their site’s layout was affecting conversions across desktop and mobile. Their branding also felt somewhat scattered, and their content lacked clarity in what it was trying to achieve. Without an in-house analyst or developer, they needed support across strategy, UX, and technical know-how to refine their messaging and digital structure.
Their newsletters were engaging but lacked a logical strategy to drive readers towards making a purchase. While the website generated small business-level traffic, the abundance of content often distracted users, confusing their journey and leading to drop-offs before completing purchases. Visually, the site felt busy, and lacked a coherent user flow that would naturally guide customers towards transactions.
How I Tackled It
I began by exploring the Shopify analytics dashboard, which provides accessible yet powerful data points for small businesses. I reviewed three months’ worth of data (quarterly results), focusing on:
Identifying the best-performing months across seasons
Understanding the most used devices (desktop vs mobile)
Analysing user traffic sources
Highlighting the most visited pages and most common search terms
Tracking add-to-cart behaviours by visitor location
Identifying dead links and 404 errors impacting user experience
All these were crucial indicators of their site’s performance. I compiled the findings and used ChatGPT to help translate the technical results into a clear, plain-language Google Slides presentation, making the insights easily digestible. By connecting related data points into a meaningful narrative, I helped Lakoi clearly see who their customers were and how they were engaging with their online content.
Improving the UX and Content Strategy
Once the analytics review was complete, we sat down to discuss the site’s UX and layout. Data revealed that their customers were evenly split between desktop and mobile usage, meaning both experiences needed to be equally optimised.
We focused on improving:
The header and footer, to make key content easier and faster to find
Removing redundant links positioned too closely together
Refining UX writing to reduce confusion and improve link clarity
Closing the loop between marketing content and purchases — ensuring Instagram posts, newsletters, and blog articles linked directly to products whenever possible
Through AI support, I also advised on improving their tone and visual consistency. Using ChatGPT, I shared techniques for crafting more enticing closing paragraphs that encouraged users to move naturally towards product pages. This was particularly valuable as the client initially lacked experience in closing a sales pitch within their content.
Additionally, ChatGPT helped Lakoi improve their translations between Dutch and English, offering more authentic, contextually accurate phrasing than simple direct translations from Google Translate.
The Role of AI in Enhancing My Workflow
The impact of using AI within my workflow was irreplaceable. It allowed me to optimise my time effectively and maintain productivity without delays that would typically occur without immediate access to developers or analysts.
I wanted to work smarter — not harder — to deliver insights quickly so the client could act fast on improvements. AI filled critical knowledge gaps without undermining my UX expertise; rather, it amplified how clearly and efficiently I could explain and implement solutions.
Whether navigating Shopify settings, interpreting analytics, or making front-end code adjustments, ChatGPT enabled me to maintain momentum, make informed decisions in real-time, and deliver immediate, tangible value. Particularly when adjusting UI components and page layouts, AI provided the technical reassurance needed to execute changes successfully, without waiting for additional technical support.
Results and Reflections
The Lakoi team was thrilled. They not only gained a clearer vision for how their site could better function, but they also felt significantly more confident in managing and growing their online business moving forward.
For me, this project reaffirmed that AI can be a powerful design ally — one that unlocks knowledge and speed when it matters most. Small businesses don’t always require full-scale teams to achieve meaningful progress. What they truly need is guidance, clear strategy, and the right tools to help them succeed cost-effectively.
For designers working solo or without large teams, AI tools like ChatGPT offer a new way to stay resourceful. The key is knowing how to ask the right questions and pairing AI’s insights with your own design intuition.
Curious how you can use AI in your work? Reach out to me over on LinkedIn.
Seamless transition to modern API authentication: Enhancing provider security with token-based methods
Overview
The API authentication modernisation project aimed to enhance the security and usability of machine account authentication for providers partnered with Booking.com. The existing basic authentication method presented significant security vulnerabilities, leading to the decision to transition to a more robust token-based authentication system, utilising OAuth. This change required providers to adapt their backend processes and configuration setups in the Booking.com provider portal.
My role
As the senior UX designer on this project, I was responsible for leading the user experience design efforts, focusing on the provider portal interface. My role included researching user needs, creating intuitive designs, and facilitating communication among cross-functional teams to ensure a smooth transition for providers.
Team collaboration
Project manager: Who oversaw project milestones and stakeholder engagement.
Department product managers: To align the project goals with business strategies.
Developers and solution architects: For technical feasibility and implementation.
Account managers and customer service teams: To gather insights on provider needs and expectations.
Stakeholders
Internal stakeholders: Connectivity teams, compliance officers, and security experts who were crucial in assessing risks and validating the new authentication method.
External stakeholders: Key providers whowwould be affected by the authentication changes, and their feedback was essential for refining the user experience.
Project objective
The primary objective of the project was to facilitate a seamless migration for providers to the new authentication method, minimising operational overhead and business disruption. Specifically, we aimed to:
Ensure providers could easily adapt to the new token-based authentication system.
Reduce the risk of errors during the migration process by streamlining the user interface.
Create automation features in areas that would be possible for less manual work.
Improve overall security and user satisfaction metrics post-implementation.
Through this initiative, we anticipated an increase in adoption rates and a decrease in authentication-related support queries, ultimately enhancing the experience for providers.
Problem definition
The primary challenge was addressing the vulnerability posed by the current basic authentication method for providers’ machine accounts. Although no breaches had occurred, we recognised the critical need to proactively improve security and mitigate any risks of hacking or financial loss for providers. From a business standpoint, securing provider accommodations was vital for protecting revenue, maintaining trust, and reducing operational disruptions.
As the designer, I was responsible for ensuring the new authentication process not only strengthened security but also provided a seamless user experience. I collaborated with product managers, security teams, and developers to integrate user-centric solutions into the overall technical framework. My role was pivotal in aligning user needs with business objectives, ensuring providers could adopt the changes without impacting their daily operations.
Constraints
The project had several notable constraints:
Time constraints: We were required to complete research, design, build, and testing within one quarter. This tight timeline demanded highly efficient cross-team collaboration and rapid iteration.
Technical constraints: Many providers had set up individual machine accounts for each accommodation, which meant migrating each account would require a significant manual effort. This posed a major challenge for the providers’ teams and risked delaying adoption of the new system.
Resource constraints: Limited development bandwidth required us to create a solution that was simple and efficient, both in terms of design and technical feasibility.
During the research phase, I led provider interviews and surveys, working closely with the development team to uncover specific pain points around machine account management. These insights allowed us to shape a solution that met technical constraints while addressing the needs of the providers.
Hypothesis
At the project’s outset, we hypothesised that most providers managed their accommodations through individual machine accounts rather than in bulk. This assumption was based on anecdotal evidence and would imply that providers would face the challenge of migrating each machine account one by one, resulting in a time-consuming and potentially demotivating process. How could we automate these tasks better.
I lead the research phase, conducting user interviews to test this hypothesis. The findings revealed that the assumption was mostly correct; providers indeed preferred individual machine accounts, largely due to the limitations in the existing bulk management options. This insight was essential for designing a solution that would mitigate the difficulties of manual migration.
Research and discovery
While owning the research and discovery phase of the project, ensuring that all research efforts were aligned with our technical, business, and user experience goals. My role involved leading the initial research, conducting interviews, synthesising insights, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to ensure the findings were actionable. By owning this phase, I helped shape a user-centred approach that informed the design and development process.
Research method
We adopted a mixed-methods research approach to gather comprehensive insights:
Interviews and surveys: I facilitated user interviews with different types of providers, who manages either hotels, homes, chains, or villas. These interviews helped us understand how providers managed their machine accounts and identified common pain points with the current authentication process.
Persona development: I collaborated with the UX research team to create detailed personas representing small and large portfolio providers, highlighting their specific needs and behaviours in managing machine accounts.
Journey mapping: We created user journey maps to visualise the providers’ end-to-end process in managing authentication for their accommodations. This helped us identify pain points at different stages, from account setup to migration challenges.
Key insights
Several key insights emerged from the research phase:
Manual effort concerns: The assumption that most providers would have to migrate each machine account one by one was validated. This insight refined our understanding of the scale of the problem, especially for smaller providers who lacked the resources for manual migration.
Different adoption rates: Large portfolio providers were more likely to adopt the new authentication method if they had bulk migration options, whereas small portfolio providers needed more hands-on support to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
Usability issues: Many providers reported confusion about how to manage their machine accounts effectively, especially when using the current interface. They needed clearer guidance and automation tools for bulk operations.
Based on these insights, we refined the problem statement to focus on:
Reducing the complexity of the migration process, especially for small providers.
Creating a more flexible and automated solution for large portfolio providers to handle bulk migrations.
Improving the usability of the interface to support the diversity in provider needs.
Problem refinement
My ownership of the research phase had a significant impact on the project’s direction. By uncovering the critical pain points and validating assumptions, we were able to refine the design and development goals to focus on the most urgent user needs. This ensured that the solution was not only technically feasible but also aligned with how different provider types interacted with their machine accounts. Additionally, the research findings helped the team prioritise the migration challenges that would have otherwise delayed provider adoption, contributing to a smoother project rollout within the given timeframe.
Ideation and conceptualisation
Brainstorming and collaboration
The ideation phase started with brainstorming sessions with the team and key stakeholders to align on potential solutions. My role was to facilitate these sessions by structuring discussions around user needs, technical constraints, and business goals. The brainstorming was crucial for surfacing initial ideas on how we could redesign the machine account management process to integrate API token-based security.
Approach
I prepared visual aids and wireframes to support ideation, helping participants envision the new process and offer suggestions.
To gather diverse input, I also presented the wireframes during design critique sessions with the UX community. Their feedback helped refine the wireframes with broader perspectives on usability and flow.
Wireframing and prototyping
After solidifying the initial ideas, I transitioned to creating wireframes in Figma. These wireframes outlined the core userflows for creating, managing, and migrating machine accounts, along with potential outcomes (success states, error states, and empty states).
Process
I iteratively developed the wireframes, incorporating feedback from the project manager and the team, as well as insights from the earlier brainstorming sessions. I ensured the wireframes reflected the complexity of different user types (small vs. large providers).
I shared sneak peeks of the designs and gathered initial thoughts, but scheduled formal feedback meetings with the team and the UX community to validate the designs more thoroughly.
Additionally, I collaborated with our UX writer, to ensure that the UI copy was clear, concise, and aligned with the new flows. This helped ensure a unified experience between design and content.
Feedback loops and refinements
To ensure the designs were practical and user-centric, I engaged in feedback loops from both colleagues and providers. The Booking.com team provided technical insights that guided revisions, ensuring the wireframes were feasible and secure. Meanwhile, feedback from the UX critique sessions offered insights on the user experience and usability improvements.
Impact of feedback
The feedback sessions helped refine the userflows, making the migration process more straightforward, particularly for small providers who were intimidated by the scale of the migration.
Suggestions from the UX community led to improvements in the error and empty states, ensuring they provided actionable guidance instead of just technical explanations.
Based on input from the provider tooling team, we adjusted the migration flow to allow bulk actions for large portfolio providers, reducing the manual effort required.
Prototyping and testing
Once the wireframes were in a solid state, I developed high-fidelity prototypes in Figma. These prototypes were used to simulate the actual experience for stakeholders and gather additional feedback before final implementation.
User testing preparation
I collaborated with Giulio to create a discussion guide for the upcoming user testing phase. This document helped us focus on the critical areas of the flow that required validation.
The prototypes and flows were shared with our UX writer again to ensure that the content would resonate with the providers’ needs.
Final outcomes
The ideation and conceptualisation phase culminated in a set of high-fidelity wireframes and prototypes that:
Simplified the machine account creation and migration process for all provider types.
Integrated comprehensive error handling and success messaging for a smoother user experience.
Incorporated feedback from multiple rounds of internal and external reviews, ensuring alignment across the team.
My proactive approach in gathering feedback loops at different stages of the design process enabled us to address challenges early, resulting in a more robust solution. This process not only strengthened the final product but also ensured that our design would meet both business goals and user needs efficiently.
The project concluded successfully, ahead of schedule, with the majority of key milestones completed in just over two-thirds of the original timeline. This accelerated progress allowed the development team to commence the build phase earlier than expected, with a detailed spec sheet outlining every phase of interaction. By ensuring that all phases were well-documented and signed off, I eliminated any ambiguity or missed steps, significantly reducing the need for follow-up questions and enhancing the team’s efficiency. One of the critical outcomes was securing alignment between the project manager and leadership regarding the build priorities, ensuring that all phases were clearly mapped to support a smooth and successful launch.
In preparation for the launch, I worked closely with the customer support team to develop FAQ documents and answer any potential questions from our providers. This proactive approach ensured that our 700+ providers had access to comprehensive resources, which facilitated a smooth migration process. The impact was immediate, with over two-thirds of our provider portfolio completing the migration in the first quarter following the launch. Providers with more complex setups, particularly those managing larger accommodations, understandably took longer, but the overall feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Providers expressed satisfaction with the ease of use and appreciated the level of support offered during the transition, allowing them to return to their business operations with minimal disruption.
Reflecting on my role in leading this project, I recognise that the success was largely attributed to a vigilant approach to process management and a clear understanding of what success looked like from the outset. By gaining the trust of my peers and leadership, I was able to guide the team through meticulous planning and execution, ensuring that all aspects of the project were aligned with our business goals. Additionally, I leveraged the expertise of key roles across departments, which allowed me to anticipate challenges and address them proactively. This holistic approach not only ensured the timely delivery of the project but also cemented strong relationships with both internal teams and external stakeholders. The experience reinforced the importance of cross-functional collaboration and adaptability in leading successful projects.
As designers, we excel at expressing thoughts and emotions visually. However, when it comes to verbal communication, it can feel like navigating a minefield of nerves and disappointment. How do we master the skill of conveying our ideas effectively to colleagues and leadership, especially when facing key stakeholders?
Interviewing colleagues from different job roles within Booking.com allowed me to learn how they’ve pitched ideas in the past or what key areas they’ve always found useful to know when ideas are pitched to them.
Let’s start with the basics
Let’s face it: pitching our own ideas can be daunting, especially if confidence isn’t our strong suit. So why not practice hone our skills by presenting ideas from leadership to our team for buy-in as a starting point?
“A good designer is a problem solver and a storyteller”
This is a key requirement in being a good presenter. Often, we need to illustrate an idea in a way for others to easily understand what the project is about and why they should care about it. It requires us to start by doing a lot of research on the subject, becoming an expert at it before trying to explain it to others. Don’t be afraid to ask questions from the project owners: Why are we doing this? What evidence do we have? Why is it needed for the business? It’s okay to look silly sometimes with your questions if it leads to better understanding the subject instead of blindly following vague directions and trying to convince others to support the project.
Because it comes from leadership like a micro-funnel method, which would be very important because you’d have support from them with the idea already. You’d have an opportunity to practice rallying the rest of your team to understand the issue and get buy-in from them. If you rally the rest of the team with you, they will feel like they are being included in the process and discussion to make it their own goals and projects as well. So you’ll have to collect the research shared with you and present it in a way for them to understand it better. This will allow you to learn which methods work best for others to understand your thoughts and ideas.
Challenging leadership’s ideas
Start by getting involved from the beginning, read up on the project in detail, review all available research, data, and resources shared with you, highlight all useful information found, and always look at it from different perspectives/personas. By familiarising yourself on the subject as best as you can, you should be able to highlight with ease new opportunities that leadership might not have considered and change their path in how to tackle the project.
Now that you’ve collected all your findings, map it out in whatever software/tool you feel most comfortable with. Just map out the concept to help you clear your mind and show others what you are thinking, what your analysis process was, and why you might be suggesting a different approach to their project. But make sure to be clear of what your pitch is, being that it’s a concept, and not a vision or solution. Keep it still an abstract idea (a general notion). But always remember to back your arguments with facts and numbers because without them, your storytelling will always be challenged by others. But stay fair and never explain your arguments in a critical way.
In your concept mapping:
List what they want to do as a business.
Share the overview of how you might change the flow, if done so.
Write down your main concept pitch.
Share the actual problem that they are overlooking.
Share the research to support what the problem is.
Share a journey map according to what that could implicate if improved by your concept.
Basically, focus on telling a story of what is in your mind versus showing solutions and mockups. Let them process the information and not get distracted by visual endresults.
Pay attention to their common responses and behaviors. If they don’t usually listen to the qualitative or quantitative data findings and just go with what they want to build, then don’t try to push for their buy-in yet. Try to discuss with other colleagues about your idea and try to build a group support method if more and more people believe this could be a better solution when returning to approach leadership.
Note: If the project, vision plan, or report were created in a Google slide, leave some questions on the key slides that concern you. The company environment should always encourage people to ask questions.
Pitching your ideas
Now, if you’ve got some experience and a bit more confidence in pitching other people’s ideas in your team. At this point, know your colleagues who have to buy-in on your ideas, if you know they are very numbers, analytic data, or experiment tooling driven. Work with that, since they base a lot of their decisions on those methods. Even though there isn’t any one fixed method of sharing your findings, you can always use Google slide presentation or a one-pager Google doc. Your goal isn’t to have a final polished presentation with concrete insights. Start by just writing a business case (or audit), depending on what phase of the project you are in. For example, if you are just starting from scratch and there isn’t an actual business case created, then start writing it before even thinking of designing/building anything.
Write down the subject.
What are the answers we want to get while developing the strategy?
How is it linked to the company and department priorities?
What is the expected outcome?
What is the expected investment level? (spend and full time employee needs by craft)
Don’t go any further than this until you get official buy-in, make sure you’ve put your facts and numbers very clearly from research in your business case document. Same for why this would be important with support from your qualitative and quantitative findings if available. A nice-to-have if you feel comfortable with is to include what the first step looks like in what we would need to move forward. Like an audit might need to be done and see what more findings could come out of it.
“It’s okay if you historically have never been strong at standing up, or advocating for yourself, saying what you think or are feeling about certain projects or things. That personal challenge just requires time and practice to grow.”
Try to not use “I” sentences within your arguments because that creates a biased opinion within the discussion. Think like a designer and structure your sentences around “What do we know about these users? What are they trying to do here?” Try more in speaking the user’s language if it is about a user’s problem.
We need to make others understand that just because we are within a certain craft role, that it doesn’t mean we cannot contribute to business ideas. So do not feel defeated if your attempts don’t always succeed at first. If we want to continue growing in our career, we need to learn to master our craft and product management altogether. This additional skill set will allow the individual to really understand the deeper problem we are trying to resolve and the impact that the problem will have on the business.
One method in learning is to ask for teachings from other project managers that you look up to and ask them to tell you what are the key facts that matter to them when an idea is being pitched to them. But don’t just respond that numbers and data are what drives pitches, but also explain how to use those numbers and data in a pitch. Doing this will help you understand what they want because at the end they are the face of the business.
Knowing when to stop pushing
One path that you could be doing next is to scale it up, if you still believe that a business issue is being overlooked by the project solution. Reach out to the next potential level, above your current point of contact. But always keep communication professional and polite, be transparent and include them in the conversation to discuss higher level roles. You just want to hear someone’s specific opinion on the matter to see if all potential areas have been thought through. You might even ask them if they would like to participate in that meeting, to avoid secrecy or feeling left out.
Also, always keep in mind that if it doesn’t get buy-in today, it doesn’t mean it will never happen in the future. There is always a right time and place for everything, some buy-in could take a quarter, semester or year until it’s the right time to see it your way. There could also be other external factors out of your control as to why your pitch might not work at the moment, so never take it personally.
“Sometimes you’ve got to remind yourself to beat the river, not the rock.”
Sometimes when you’ve done everything you could, just don’t try to wrestle with it and choose your battles for your own mental health because you can’t battle every single challenge and let go of some of your ideas. Staying aware of the situation is always important, to look at it and ask yourself if it is worth fighting for it. And keep in mind that sometimes leaders are in their position because they are good at what they do. It is their decision at the end of the day, they probably still welcome your feedback, but don’t doubt too much on their vision.
Conclusion
Perfectionism has its place, but so does pragmatism. Throughout the journey, ideas may morph and evolve. What matters most is the end result’s alignment with the original objective. Collaboration is key; no project belongs to a single individual.
So, choose your battles wisely. If the project aligns with principles and objectives, weigh your passion against other priorities. Take a breather, reassess, and remember: persuasion is a craft honed over time. Success may not come instantly, but with persistence, your ideas will find their moment.
In spearheading the design of new pages within the Booking.com connectivity hub platform, the primary objective was to empower our connectivity partners with accurate and timely metrics, aligning seamlessly with my role as a senior UX designer. This initiative aimed to address critical gaps in our ability to positively influence the Booking.com programme and connectivity track goals for 2024 and beyond. The overarching goal was to enhance partner performance in key areas such as API adoption, booked room nights (ABRN), open bookable listings, and gross additions. This project serves as a testament to my ability to plan and lead design activities for complex products.
Strategic vision and leadership
Cross-functional collaboration
Product strategy and planning
The areas of impact this project would had brought to the business
THE PROBLEM
The project addressed a historical gap on two fronts: firstly, the absence of a clear, accessible set of actionable insights for our partners hindered our ability to steer their business effectively. This not only impeded our capacity to drive business growth through our partners but also led to missed opportunities for performance improvement. Secondly, our partners, especially those without account manager support, perceived the metric improvements we shared with them as solely benefiting Booking.com’s business growth. To overcome this challenge, I undertook the task of designing pages that not only presented data but also educated partners on the business impact of improving these metrics. This approach aimed to help partners enhance their own performance while contributing to our overall success. In my role as a senior designer, I not only addressed the core problem but also tackled the perception issue among partners without account manager support. This showcases my ability to manage stakeholder expectations up to the director level.
Problem-solving and innovation
Stakeholder management
Educational design
MY APPROACH
My approach centred on delivering both depth and breadth of actionable insights. Collaborating with a UX writer and researcher, I conducted insightful brainstorming sessions with key stakeholders within the company, a pivotal step reflecting my role as a senior designer contributing to the overall track strategy. Together, we meticulously mapped out the content strategy, ensuring each metric was distinctly understood within the context of our business goals. This collaborative process involved crafting a narrative for the project, showcasing my adeptness in building consensus between teams and stakeholders. Subsequently, I conducted user testing sessions targeting a diverse range of partner segments, including those in our top and lower tiers, within hotel or home segments, and managing either a single system or multiple company systems. These sessions not only validated the design and narrative but also affirmed the creation of a user-friendly, self-service tool for our partners.
User-centric design
Strategic collaboration
Agile methodology
THE IMPACT
The overall outcome was uniformly positive. Partners, spanning from top-tier to lower-tier, within hotel or home segments, valued the additional data points. This positive result effectively showcased the impact of my work, surpassing expectations. The design seamlessly catered to partners handling single or multiple systems, illustrating its scalability. Following the launch, notable improvements were observed, including increased accommodation availability, reduced churn, and closed properties, underscoring the effectiveness of the newly implemented steering metric pages. This success highlights my proficiency as a senior designer, adept at navigating organizational complexities and contributing to larger, more intricate product features.
Positive outcome and exceeding expectations
Scalable solutions
Organisational proficiency
MY CONTRIBUTION
My involvement ensured the alignment of the project with business objectives and timelines. By incorporating a research process, I validated our hypotheses, ensuring the solution resonated with user needs. This strategic approach yielded positive responses directly from our target audience, highlighting my ability to transform insights into innovative features. The final solution not only addressed the initial problem but surpassed expectations, resulting in increased accommodation availability and reduced churn. My profound expertise in the connectivity track, coupled with my leadership skills and understanding of design systems, played a crucial role in delivering a high-impact solution and adhering to business objectives and timelines.
As the senior UX designer leading the connectivity partner programme project at Booking.com, my primary goal was to enhance our engagement with third-party partners, commonly referred to as providers. The focus of the project was to transform our existing point-based system, historically rigid and challenging for smaller providers, into a more flexible threshold programme. This initiative, a cornerstone of partner interaction, centers around key metrics crucial for partner growth and optimal service for their connected accommodations, often referred to as clients.
Make it easier for everyone to experience the world through technology
— Connectivity partner programme mission
The programme plays a pivotal role in our ecosystem, with providers ranging from large-scale businesses to smaller enterprises specialising in unique system software. The challenge lay in the historical structure of the programme, where the point-based system posed difficulties for smaller providers in achieving meaningful engagement. These smaller providers, integral to Booking.com, play a vital role in ensuring the seamless integration of our tools within their systems, enhancing the experience for their connected accommodation clients and contributing to a diverse range of offerings.
Recognising the limitations of the existing structure, my approach aimed to create a more inclusive and adaptable system that accommodates the diverse needs of our partners.
Business impact
Design strategy
Understanding customer needs
The connectivity partner programme of 2022, where it was based on a point system
THE PROBLEM
The historical point-based system, while effective for large-scale provider partners, presented challenges that hindered the engagement of smaller businesses. These challenges, which included smaller accommodation portfolio sizes, fewer regional or international clients, or having different business objectives then the standard provider, prompted the need for a transformative solution. Following comprehensive user research, strategic discussions, and leadership approvals, we made the strategic pivot towards a threshold programme.
The primary goal was to address the limitations of the historical system and create a more inclusive programme that accommodates a diverse range of partners, including those dealing with home or hotel properties and specialised software providers. This transformation aimed at providing flexibility for all partner types, enabling them to actively contribute and progress within Booking.com’s connectivity tier levels. This shift was instrumental in allowing each partner to undertake activities throughout the year, forming the backbone of our platform. In doing so, we ensured that partners of all sizes could contribute to a diverse array of high-quality offerings for our users and their accommodations.
Understanding customer needs
Communication and stakeholder management
Org complexity
MY APPROACH
Understanding the diverse partner landscape, I initiated a value proposition session with key stakeholders to define partner segments, including Hotel, Home, Specialised, and Direct to Home provider types. This segmentation allowed us to set realistic and feasible targets for each category.
The segments:
Hotel segment Partners that support accommodations that specialized in the large hotel industry, including chains.
Home segment Partners that are focused in supporting accommodations that offer full property rentals and are dependent of seasonal calendars.
Specialised segment These partners business focus are not about booking, but about providing their accommodations to be able to maintain their business profile like messaging, content and reviews.
Direct to home segment These home partners are different from the other type of home segment partners since these partners are in-house owned. They solely build all their system for their own accommodations. Which makes them the clients and the owner of their own business.
The next step involved a collaborative brainstorming session efforts with data scientists to explore alternatives to the point system, ensuring a realistic and feasible focus for each. Through whiteboarding user flows and exercises like “crazy 8ths,” we devised a threshold system tailored to each segment’s metrics and goals. This would create fairness and engagement across all partner segments. This comprehensive approach was essential for garnering support from stakeholders and ensuring that the redesigned programme would meet the diverse needs of partners, including individual segments like Home, Hotels, Direct to home and Specialised provider types.
Design strategy
Innovation and complexity
THE IMPACT
The implemented solution featured progress bars with two-step points for each metric, ensured fairness across all segments allowing partners to progress from Standard to Advanced and Premier tiers. The success of the user-friendly approach result was measured by monitoring key indicators post-launch.
The results were transformative:
Increased participation and open bookable listings
Positive satisfaction survey scores
Higher partner engagement throughout the calendar year
Reduced support tickets and hand-holding tasks for account managers
Think customer first: You alway think of how the platform and its experience can add value to the user and involve all the relevant stakeholders to get their input. Succeed together: You are involved in most of the initiatives surrounding connectivity hub and are clearly able to spot opportunities on the multiple touch points across the platform.
— Peer feedback
I also implemented a profile modification window, allowing partners to adjust their segment alignment within a specific period, preventing potential exploitation. The new analytics dashboard reflected reduced support tickets, longer partner engagement, and more frequent visits every month. These tangible outcomes demonstrated the effectiveness of the redesigned programme in addressing partner pain points and promoting sustained engagement among a diverse partner segment community.
Design creation
Org complexity
MY CONTRIBUTION
My proactive leadership, collaboration with stakeholders, and adherence to timelines played a pivotal role in the successful launch of the redesigned connectivity partner programme. Leveraging my expertise as a UX designer and connectivity knowledge, the initiative not only effectively addressed partner pain points but also made a substantial contribution to Booking.com’s profitability. Post-launch success was quantified through metrics, including notable increases in overall business growth, satisfaction survey scores, and active providers. The results surpassed expectations, with enhanced participation, streamlined support efforts, and positive engagement metrics. Beyond numerical achievements, this success stands as a testament to the programme’s positive impact on the diverse provider partner community, ultimately improving the user experience across the platform.
Goal of the project was to make it easier for property owners to find the right portfolio of technology solutions to grow their business. By putting customers first and using our proprietary data to generate a curated list of recommended providers, properties can make an informed decision. The idea behind this project was to make it easier for different property types (hotels, homes, chains, etc…) to find the right provider (channel manager, property management systems or revenue management systems) type to grow their business with. We want to recommend providers with a demonstrated history of strong business performance and early API adoption – all while respecting property needs and explicit choices.
THE PROBLEM
According to our annual partnership survey, around 50% of the participating properties were interested in a connectivity provider and expected advice from Booking.com to assist them to pick the right one for them. This made me realise that there was a huge property need in the market.
Thus, I planned an in-depth property owner interview to follow up on these needs. The most important learning was to understand properties’ expectations from Booking.com. Properties saw our platform to be the top expert in the accommodation industry and that meant we had tons of data and knowledge of all the providers collaborating with us. Many of our property owners didn’t have a main source of reference in understanding the difference between one provider and the other. Therefore, properties were heavily relying on friends’ recommendation, word of mouth, Google searches or just trying out as many trials as possible from different providers. That was extremely time consuming, but the biggest challenge for property owners was that they still couldn’t make a confident decision on their search towards the right provider.
MY APPROACH
Currently in the property renting industry, there is nowhere available an intuitive platform/tool for property owners to learn about all the providers across different countries. Therefore, at Booking.com, we have the opportunity to be the first one that provides property owners this platform/tool.
One great learning from property interviews is that the property type is a main factor when it comes to picking the right provider. Property owners are looking for providers that have advanced experience in their property type. For example, a home rental property will pick a provider specialised in holiday home rental services.
Another factor is the presence of local customer service. Properties prefer providers that offer support in their locations and languages. On top of that, reviews from previous or current properties are essential. In the reviews, property owners would like to have screenshots of the management tools and its features. These details are crucial for their decision making.
Onboarding
New and experienced properties needed help understanding the potential use of all types of providers and our Booking website just like any other platform across the internet, wasn’t providing a single source of truth to reference for properties on all the available possibilities.
Contextual advice
Once all property owners understood what to look for in a provider, we needed to provide a logical list of results of providers best suited for each property type, where the provider would offer services that would be specialized in the property business growth, location, scale, flexibility with services and needs.
Discoverability
Next step was to conclude the journey by providing a complete profile description of who the provider is, what they offer and how to connect with them.
This enabled the product managers to set timelines when to test each topic in our sprints plannings. We needed to first move backwards and build the foundation to improve the profile pages (discoverability), then move towards the provider selection (contextual advice) page where we list all potential candidates and then complete the project by creating a complete library of resources (onboarding) to help properties make better decision in who to connect with.
THE SOLUTION
My extensive knowledge of all the available data we were collecting on the providers, helped break down the profile experiments. I created variations of the profile page, by updating the content with current data that was being shared with properties and testing its improvement with increasing connection requests by properties. Once that was completed and showed no increase in customer support requests and observing no spike on the connection requests between properties and providers, I moved on to start connecting new missing details from the providers.
To resolve the process of property owners going through social media channels or word-of-mouth processes, I started creating a process in building a review system on providers by properties. This helped properties get relevant insights from their own peers in the same industry. All these improvements showed increased connection requests by building a richer profile description of the providers.
While the discoverability topic was being completed, I took the opportunity with the help of our data scientist to map out the metrics to use when listing provider ranking. We validated the improvements of the matchmaking recommendation ranking through multiple phases and I followed up with a brainstorming session with key stakeholders across teams to agree on which categories to use. This led to creating a Google Sheet table that was pulling our data and rules, so they can be first shared internally with the product managers to test and refine the bugs or results.
Once this action was performed a few times, we ran an experiment with our old provider selection list and compared randomized results with our new algorithm ranking. This showed positive results, when comparing the length of connection of properties with providers between both pools. The properties that connected through the ranking results stayed connected longer while the properties who connected through the randomized results would switch or cancel their connection after a month or two. So these findings help me confirm that the algorithm was working better and concluded the contextual advice topic.
On the onboarding topic, I re-wrote all of our existing documentations and with the help of internal resources and discussions with key stakeholders, I was able to visualise what properties should look for when choosing a provider. When the onboarding phase was validated through property interviews on ease of understanding, 9 out of 10 properties were able to explain what was each type of provider and which features a provider could offer when selecting them for their business. Afterwards, we ran an experiment with a wider audience of properties and tracked the increase in connection requests to providers and switches from providers with limited features to others that provided a wider variety of functionalities.
THE IMPACT
My lead on this project fulfilled the need for easy accessible, relevant and trustworthy information for the properties. Creating a single source of truth for properties, helped reduce the amount of effort and time they spent to do proper research and enabled them to compare providers before selecting the right one. Because in the past the information sources were scattered and not always trustworthy, with matchmaking I was able to optimize the properties time spent in finding a provider, increasing their trust on Booking.com knowledge and expertise.
My initiative helped fill the gap of knowledge regarding tools and capabilities for properties. However, besides helping property owners to select the right provider, I enabled Booking.com to play a stronger role for less experienced properties, helping them to understand which features they need to look out for, for their specific business.
An important aspect of this project is the incremental business value this can bring to Booking.com. With the choice of the right provider, properties can increase significantly their revenue which creates a win-win situation for both properties and Booking.com.
MY CONTRIBUTION
Because of my experience in understanding what were the missed opportunities and pain points of properties, along with the business goals to increase connections between properties and providers, I was able to provide an improved management tool to increase connections for new and experienced properties to use and get all stakeholders to agree on its need and positive impact to our properties. Our connection requests increased by ~3.5% since its release and our follow up research proved that connected properties have been more satisfied with the recommendations of which provider would best suit their property type.
The homepage of Booking.com extranet provides an overview of the business performance for our property partners. It also serves as an entry point for actions upon the different aspects of their business. Part of the homepage experience is to guide partners to manage their operations, understand their performance and identify opportunities to improve their business. Homepage answers “What’s my current business situation?” in an important summary format.
THE PROBLEM
At Booking.com, our partners were seeing three different homepages depending on their property types. It would contain operational notifications, business opportunities, product promotions, performance data and B.com promotions in an unstructured format. The reason was because we had more than 20 teams working on a single topic. Without a proper restructuralization, it was getting more difficult for these internal teams to maintain one useful product for partners.
The homepage was the 2nd most visited page (excluding login) on our property admin site. However, according to our traffic data, the majority of the partners would skip the homepage and jump to other pages right away. By doing this, they missed out on tons of business insights, opportunities and lacked understanding of their own performance.
The usage of this page was super low. The structure of the info on this page was also very complicated, because it aimed to target all types of property owners by showing them different versions of the homepage (owners, experts, novices, professionals, entrepreneurs, you name it). Our goal was to transform the homepage as a partners’ daily task operational guide, and the place where they view insights of their business improvement.
MY DESIGN THINKING
I led this project by rebuilding the extranet homepage to provide a better experience for our partners, because there were more than 20 teams adding their products in the homepage. My job was to set up the right base and maintain consistency across all products, because partners didn’t care about what happened behind their screen. They just needed one intuitive and useful homepage.
But before reaching a solution, I deep dived into our traffic data and other behavioural data to understand why our partners skipped the homepage. I brainstormed with all relevant teams running products on the homepage to understand their target segments and how they defined partners with their products. This exercise helped me prioritise the features of the homepage in the later solution stages.
I also audited and synthesised previous research. From my analysis, I realised that our partners wanted the homepage to be relevant, customisable, actionable and informative but also unique to their business. Thus, the top requirements were to display to the homepage an overview of the partner business with B.com and serve as an entry point for all actions within the different aspects of their business. Based on these requirement, I helped my team redefined the problem statement and agree on a final proposal with the stakeholders from the relevant teams.
As a next step, I planned a four day design sprint with the key stakeholders, to ideate on the problem. We reflected around the idea of providing a more scalable, easy to use and easy to maintain homepage experience for our partners. We explored this by running an exercise to understand, ideate and test ideas with partners based on the following challenge:
How can we enable/empower partners to have a clear overview of their business through a homepage experience that is relevant, actionable and easy to use, while being scalable and effective for our product teams who work on it.
There were 3 takeaways from this design sprint:
A shared definition about what is the homepage and align teams around it.
Identify possible areas of improvements considering the different type of users beyond the accommodation type.
Prototype ideas and test with group of partners to define next steps of our homepage.
I documented the outcome of the sprint, reviewed and aligned with stakeholders followed by defining product roadmap with my product manager. I also did a UX and technical audit (cover all the states of the homepage, desktop and mobile), defined product features, and both qualitative and quantitative testing to make sure our launch of the new beta version.
THE SOLUTION
During the session, I came up with the idea of adding our content in two separate tabs for ‘Operations’ which would have their daily activities (checkins, checkouts, guest reviews and messages) and ‘Performance’ which would show key business metrics with B.com in a snapshot.
Even thought we had multiple personas and segments using our site. I wanted to avoid offering a customisable structure where they could turn on/off blocks based on their preferences. The reason was that long-term, it would have created missed opportunities for our partners and our internal teams to provide helpful insights to our partners business improvements when needed. My interest was to create a better grouping in our content to be accessible through a simple click away when needed. I also helped in creating guidelines and tips for our internal teams to follow when adding new content within the homepage.
THE IMPACT
The homepage redesign brought positive impact for all partners from all segment globally, such as home and holiday rental, big globe hotel chains like Hilton. We used quantitative way measuring the impact. The primary metric was customer service inbound. Accommodation service tickets per property per day was conclusively non-inferior. I also looked at our critical business metric, net revenue of bookings, which showed an increasing. The satisfaction feedback with the new page (collected through quantitative experiment) was positive. I expected the engagement to be higher at the beginning due to the novelty effect. But I was seeing twice as much interaction with the new homepage, measured in unique events per homepage session in Google analytics.
MY CONTRIBUTION
This was a hyper scale project with a great amount of stakeholders. As the lead designer, I successfully designed all user flows and rebuild information architecture. I did an excellent executive work including building a consistent interface, delivering all working files to developers to secure the quality. I kept updated all our related teams at B.com by sharing learnings and giving presentations. I contributed in building the homepage product guidelines for teams to maker sure we deliver to partner one useful product.
