Traveling is one of my favorite ways to experience new ideas—and spot where things could work better. On a recent trip, I used Booking.com to book my flights and accommodations. While the site featured some AI-powered tools, they didn’t feel particularly useful or intuitive, which sparked an idea: how could AI actually enhance the travel booking experience?
To explore that question, I ran a self-initiated AI Design Sprint™, a method developed by 33A in Denmark. Over two weeks, I mapped out friction points at Booking.com, researched relevant AI capabilities, and prototyped a more helpful experience. The result was a refined concept that blends design thinking with practical AI integration.
First, I mapped out a customer journey to visualize the current state of the service and identify friction points. The journey reflects the perspective of a solo traveler planning a trip across five countries, expecting diverse, filterable options and seamless itinerary organization.
| Search | Evaluation | Booking | Pre-Trip | Post-Trip | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goal | Discover a wide range of stay options for each destination across five countries. | Compare accommodations across different cities for comfort, value, and reviews. | Secure bookings with flexibility and clarity on policies. | Organize trip details and access information quickly while traveling. | Reflect on experience, leave feedback, archive or re-use travel history. |
| Actions | Enters Booking.com, sets filters (price, ratings, room type). | Views property photos, reads user reviews, compares ratings, saves favorites. | Selects free cancellation, checks for additional fees, enters traveler details, confirms booking. | Reviews itinerary in app, downloads confirmations, sets reminders, contacts hosts. | Receives email prompts to review stays, reflects on pros/cons, considers rebooking. |
| Thoughts | “I need options that match my budget and style in each country.” | “Are these reviews authentic? Is this place worth the price? Can I walk from the station?” | “Is this refundable? What’s the check-in process? Am I booking the right nights?” | “Where am I staying next? Can I check in early? Do I need to print anything?” | “I’d love to help others with my review. Will I get anything for this effort?” |
| Emotions | Curious, hopeful, slightly overwhelmed. | Analytical, cautious, slightly anxious. | Focused, slightly tense, relieved after confirmation. | Excited, occasionally stressed if info is hard to find. | Reflective, satisfied if the trip went well, slightly disengaged. |
| Pain Points | Reapplying filters for each destination; limited ability to view multi-destination planning. | Inconsistent review quality; difficulty comparing saved listings side by side. | Confusing cancellation policies; lack of clarity on total cost upfront. | Itinerary view lacks cohesion across stays; messaging system fragmented or unresponsive hosts. | Review fatigue; no clear reward or reuse of past booking insights. |
| Opportunities | Introduce multi-city itinerary search and reusable filter presets across sessions. | Improve review credibility signals; add comparison tool for shortlisted stays. | Standardize cancellation language; show final cost breakdown earlier in the process. | Unified itinerary dashboard; proactive messaging prompts; offline access to all bookings. | Gamify review system; provide “smart rebooking” suggestions based on prior preferences. |
Booking.com has launched AI-powered solutions to make discovery more intuitive, such as smart filters, review summaries, and the AI Trip Planner—a conversational model that responds to open-ended questions and generates tailored suggestions. However, I believe there is an opportunity to create a more connected travel experience by building a concierge-like companion that supports customers at every stage of their journey.
As a traveler, I value having access to recommendations and a variety of options, but I also appreciate simplicity—I want my trip details to be well-organized and easy to access. The goal of this project is not just to design an interface that customers can use, but to create a tool that truly works for them.
I explored AI capabilities to determine where they could deliver the greatest value throughout the journey. Later, I evaluated top five ideas and defined a focused solution concept.
GenAI has a high potential to reduce cognitive load and assist customers because, trained on datasets, it can align with how we decide and act. The question is how to make it empathetic and adaptive to each person, as the current AI Trip Planner, but more personal. I focused on ideas to make assistance ubiquitous while respecting people’s decision habits.
Then, I compared the impact and effort required to implement each idea. I chose to prototype AI in the Bookings & Trips section because it represents a logical evolution from the AI Trip Planner and supports the customer’s itinerary without disrupting the flow on other pages.