Google Travel Suite
Research and idea development for my final major project
Introduction
Design challenge: create an integrated system using existing Google tools for travel planning
With the world becoming increasingly digitalized, the travel sector is no exception. Recent studies show that 82% of all travel bookings were made online (CMO.com staff, 2019). In fact, the global online market for travel is predicted to be worth around a whopping $818 billion in 2020 (Bolchinova, 2019). While there are countless sites and tools for traveling, few consider the planning process beyond accommodations and transportation bookings as a critical phase of a trip.
After investigating travel planning apps currently on the market, I saw an opportunity in designing a suite in which the tools can be used in conjunction for a more optimized experience. My goal for the project is to create an integrated system using existing Google tools for travel planning seeing as many travelers already use such tools. As a digital giant, Google has mammoth hold in the travel industry as well as many other sectors. I want to leverage its current tools to create a more compelling planning experience
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Secondary Research
I began my research by looking at profiles of travelers, primarily for North America, as that region has more data available and is more relevant to me personally. Sources indicate that Millennials, generally defined as those born in the 1980s to mid-1990s, are currently the highest drivers for growth in the travel industry. Millennials are likely to spend more money on traveling compared to other groups, with nearly a third of those polled planning on spending $5,000 or more on upcoming vacations. This group also travels the most out of any group, at an average of 35 days a year (Expedia Group Media Solutions, 2017). With this information, I decided to make Millennials my target audience for my project.
With my target audience set, I began an investigation of users’ digital behaviors when planning and booking their trips. Wendy Burk, the CEO of a travel management company called Cadence, remarks, “If our industry is going to remain relevant, we need to adapt to technology to stay within reach of the Millennial traveler demographic. They are online, on social media, and always available […]” (Fromm, 2018). Digital interaction plays a role from the very start of a trip: 42% of Millennials reported that social media was a key influencer in their travel decision-making. 1 in 3 of those surveyed create digital collections as means for research or inspiration; one consumer says, “I collect and save all my travel ideas with bookmarks and sometimes I might see something and think about pinning it to Pinterest […]” This group is more likely to consult multiple sources and digital ones, such as travel agents, expert opinion websites, review sites, blogs, and travel forums (Expedia, 2016).
Millennial users are constantly searching for convenience in their booking/planning methods, whether it is the ease of access when using their smart devices or automated services. All-in-one appears to be commonly requested feature: “If the app could integrate all my travel plans such as my hotel bookings, my flight bookings, [and] any other trouble booking such as train journeys or inland flights – that would be very useful, so I can just go to one place and look at what I have got on next” (Expedia, 2016).
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Moreover, there’s a growing demand for personalization all sectors, including travel services. 57% of US travelers want brands to tailor services for a more personalized experience, with 36% willing to pay more for such services (Think with Google, 2017). With that said, evidence supports that Millennials are opting to receive heightened personalization in exchange for access to their data, as only 1 in 4 are unwilling to share their data (Expedia, 2016).
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Next, I studied frequently used digital tools for their UX and interaction design. TripIt is a popular travel-planning app, with over 13 million users. I downloaded the app to see what it was about.
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Upon opening the app, a new user must make an account. After going through the email verification process, there is a sample itinerary which works like a how-to guide for those new to the app. Unfortunately, users can only add plans into the itinerary, which doesn’t fit my (and I’m sure many others’) style of traveling. It’s effective in placing all your bookings in one place, and the ability to add in directions from one place to another is a great feature. However, this is suited for someone who has all his or her plans set but realistically, when one travels, he/she won’t have such concrete plans for everything. This app doesn’t take into account a more exploratory way of traveling, and neither does it include space to organize research although there is a section to add “notes.” One thing to note about its interactivity, I felt the date selection was good and bad. The scrolling style is fit for mobile, but a more visual display using a calendar would be more successful.
I also downloaded the Expedia app, which is more aimed towards bookings, but has some “things to do,” which includes local activities for a location search. A trip is built through the app when the user has booked an itinerary through Expedia only, which is very flawed as it limits to only bookings made through Expedia.
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Similarly, the now-discontinued Google Trips app was centered on building an itinerary based on bookings, but did have suggestions for activities, food, and “saved places,” a pinning feature that I find to be especially handy.
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I began a deep-dive exploration of Google Drive and the apps that I want to use as a part of my design.
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I mapped the experience of how one would commonly approach planning a trip based on planning methods of travel bloggers and others I’ve spoken with.
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Throughout the process, users are performing travel research and consulting multiple digital sources prior to completing a booking. The chart below shows the factors that contribute to the user’s decision when performing an action.
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Having done those design exercises, I came up with a list of questions to structure the interviews.
I used this list to begin with and followed up with more detailed ones based on the responses:
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Please go through your travel planning process, beginning with deciding on a travel destination
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What is your approach to planning a trip?
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What tools, especially digital ones, do you use to assist your planning process?
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How much preparation do you do in advance vs. at the destination?
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How important is the ability to collaborate in trip planning?
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To what extent would you like tailoring in your planning/booking services? Also ask about data privacy usage and if user is willing to share past booking activity and interests.
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What can streamline your planning process?
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What would make your current planning process more convenient?
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Are you willing to pay for a highly convenient service?
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What do you like about using these tools?
Through these questions, I want to explore the main objectives of the users when they use digital tools to plan a trip: what does research and preparation look like, what is critical information, what makes the products they use good or bad? Here are a few examples of my interview notes.
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Additionally, I asked members of a travel Facebook group and Reddit users in the Travel Subreddit to share their personal planning methods and was able to receive some informative responses.
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Based on the information collected from my interviews and other responses from travel community members, I made a chart noting key observations. I created a section to note the purpose for using Google apps, Word docs, or Excel spreadsheets to organize research and planning, and a section to list the information people tend to include in their planning.
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I subsequently created a chart showing my insights and the opportunities driven by those insights. The brainstorming for interactions are listed in bullet points underneath the main opportunities listed on the right column of the chart. I’m beginning with these opportunities to work with for now, as each opportunity can lead to several interactions.
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From my opportunities column, the key words I’ve identified for designing interactions to meet user needs are: simplify, visualize, make seamless, and make accessible.
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I generated a persona to better emphasize with my target user when designing the system to help guarantee that my design is human-centered as I can relate back to the persona during each part of the process.
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Primary Research
I believe I’ve successfully fulfilled the aims of my research at this stage, although there is more contextual research to be done to insure that my project reflects the principles covered by HCI design.
Idea Development
As this module was used to plan out some interactions before beginning to prototype, the deliverable is the record of my idea development as well as some rough wireframes and annotated screenshots.
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To begin with, there must be some sort of differentiation from an ordinary document. After looking through the navigation options, it was most intuitive that indicating the doc would be for travel planning purposes would best fit under the "Tools" section. It would make sense for it to be placed between dividers on its own. The images below show where the option for the doc to be a "Trip planning document" would go for Docs and Sheets.
Then, I began mapping out interactions based on the "Insights and Opportunities" chart shown in the above section.
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I started with the first opportunity, which is to simplify the process of beginning a trip logistics doc by easily creating a customizable scheduling template. Users would find the option under "Insert," then select "Schedule."
A "Schedule editor" would pop up on the side, users would be prompted to enter their travel dates, the time format: by hours or time of day, and other additional options.
After users select their options, the customized schedule would appear. Of course, it could be edited as usual.
The side bar UI for this design is derived from Google's own use of the side menu, as seen in several functions, such as inserting charts in Sheets, Dictionary, "Linked Objects," the "Explore" feature in Docs (see below).
The look of the schedule/itinerary is modeled after many of the ones that were shared by my interviewees and web users who responded to my request to share travel planning methods (see below). The template would be fairly minimal but would rid of the effort needed to copy, paste, and revise from another doc. It would at the very least be a skeleton that can be further customized for personalization. The schedule's appearance can be further developed when I prototype on Adobe XD.
Another opportunity is for users to find information with more convenience. This was mentioned by several people from my user interviews. Using the "Explore" feature (which currently does not perform this), users would be able to easily find the information and drag it onto their itineraries without needing to open up a new tab to perform a search. This way, users don't need to open new windows or tabs and can better stick to their task flow.
Say a user types out "Mall of Asia hours," as he/she is hoping to find out the opening hours for a place, it will become underlined.
When the user double clicks on the underlined term, the "Explore" side bar will pop up and provide the search results. The user can click "Insert" and the information will be added onto the doc.
The information appears, the side bar closes on its own, done! No need to leave the tab.
Along with this opportunity, users could also add the suggested time for an activity as a block onto their schedule.
When the user opens the "Explore" tab to search for information on a specific attraction or activity, it will show an overview of the average amount of time spent there on a card. The user can loosely drag from the card out onto the schedule and it will apply as a block.
Many users tend to create lists during their planning process, yet there is no function for creating a checklist. This is one of the easier problems to solve, yet it alleviates hassle as users don't need to format a checklist. Below are some examples of checklists from users.
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Highlighting is one method of indicating that an item has been been brought or an activity completed. However, that becomes confusing as highlighting can also be used to emphasize the importance of an item. Especially if many people are collaborating, highlighting can be the cause of confusion, whereas a checklist with a checkbox has a more distinct connotation. Highlighting while on mobile is also difficult compared to ticking off a checkbox, making this the clear better option. When questioning a few users, they responded that it was too much effort to insert a checkbox for each item. Here is my idea for this opportunity:
The user would go to "Insert" and locate "Checklist." Once again, it would pop up on the right. Users can type in how many items they want on the list and submit it by pressing the checkmark.
The checklist appears with checkboxes ready to be checked off, and the user simply needs to type in the items and a title for the checklist.
One opportunity for the Travel Suite would be to have booking info imported onto the planning docs. This is actually already a standard for most itinerary related apps, and this must be implemented to meet user expectations. The problem is how to link the booking info. Apps like TripIt has users forward their booking emails to a TripIt email address to have the info imported, or link their emails and the app will automatically sort out the booking related ones to have the info added. The first option seems reasonable, but still bothersome, and the latter seems to lack in security, even if it's a trusted feature. My take on this function is to utilize the side bar pop up once again and connect to the email inbox (this would be automatic if users use gmail), which will only show all booking related emails.
The user would go to "Insert" and locate "Import bookings." The side bar will appear and if the user already uses gmail, the email inbox will already show but if not, the user will be prompted to login.
The user would select which bookings are relevant to the trip doc and loosely drag it onto the doc, and it will automatically be applied to the itinerary.
Perhaps there could be a setting to create an alert for the booking, or that would be defaulted and the user could double click to remove the alert.
One of the most wanted features for any travel related service from my secondary research was personalization; users want products to cater to them. Most of the interviewees responded that they would allow their data to be used if it was able to provide suggestions specifically for them. This design is geared toward this demand by collecting data on past behaviors: restaurants, activities, etc chosen to find other similar ideas. This feature would be found under the Tools menu, and it would be listed as "Enable smart suggestions," similar to the "Enable autocomplete" function shown below.
It would pop on the right side again, showing different categories for suggestions for the detected destination.
The user can choose the category, and then the suggestions, shown with basic information, will appear. The user is then able to drag the selection onto the itinerary as with the other functions.
The list will update to show other suggestions and will keep adjusting based on the user's preferences.
As users are using several Google tools in conjunction with each other, it would make sense that they could work together to achieve certain tasks. For example, users often use Docs/Sheets along with MyMaps for trips to have itineraries and maps with destinations pinned. A feature that would provide great convenience would be the ability to import locations from a map onto the itinerary or vice versa.
This feature would be found under "File," then "Import/export locations."
Then the user could choose to import or export. In this case the user will choose to export the locations from the itinerary onto a MyMaps map. The selected locations would be highlighted and the user would click "Submit" once he/she has finished.
Then the user can choose to create a new map or add to an existing map.
The locations would be exported on a map shown on the sidebar, and the user can choose to view it on Google Maps to see the entire map. The "View on Google Maps" button is modeled after the one shown below that is used within the "Explore" tool to open to a new tab.
While Google Docs work well for users on the road, Sheets do not as they cannot be scrolled only vertically. However, it appears that many more users choose Sheets to create their trip plans. With this, I've decided to add a feature that would condense a Google Sheet into a summarized page to be easily accessed while traveling.
The user would be able to choose which tabs to include, and then the summary will be generated to condense the content from Sheets. The user has options to either email it or export it to be used elsewhere.
References
Brar, S. (2018) 10 Steps to Interaction Design (IxD). Available at: https://uxdesign.cc/10-steps-to-interaction-design-ixd-6abe778cb8b8. [Accessed 7 February 2020].
CMO.com Staff. (2019) The 2019 State Of Travel & Hospitality. Available at: https://cmo.adobe.com/articles/2019/5/2019-travel-collection.html#gs.x8wmom. [Accessed 30 January 2020].
Expedia. (2016) Millennial Traveler Report: Why Millennials will shape the next 20 years of travel. Available at: https://www.foresightfactory.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Expedia-Millennial-Traveller-Report-Final.pdf. [Accessed 19 January 2020].
Expedia Group Media Solutions. (2017) U.S. Millennial Travelers are Relaxed, Romantic and Embrace #YOLO. Available at: https://advertising.expedia.com/about/press-releases/us-millennial-travelers-are-relaxed-romantic-and-embrace-yolo. [Accessed 19 January 2020].
Fromm, J. (2018) How Are Millennials Using Travel Technology? Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jefffromm/2018/07/31/how-are-millennials-using-travel-technology/. [Accessed 19 January 2020].
Johnstone, D. (2017) Travel and tourism is all about designing great experiences. Available at: https://afterdigital.co.uk/blog/travel-and-tourism-is-all-about-designing-great-experiences/. [Accessed 19 January 2020].
Think with Google. (2017) Available at: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/data/2018-travel-statistics/. [Accessed 19 January 2020].
Vieira, T. (2020) The 6 design principles of Don Norman. Available at: https://uxdesign.cc/the-6-design-principles-of-don-norman-6f11c724b787. [Accessed 7 February 2020].