Airbnb
Case Study
Improving the Airbnb group booking experience with a group payment feature
Dates
August 2023 — October 2023
Role
Research
Synthesis
Design
Usability Testing
Tools
Google Forms
Dovetail
Figjam
Figma
The Problem
Collecting payment
Trips with friends are fun, but navigating the complicated financials of traveling with a group is awkward and confusing. Currently in Airbnb when multiple guests want to book a trip together, one person has to foot the bill, causing friction and complexity in the payment process. The high cost of booking for a large group makes taking on the responsibility of the cost risky, and can also lead to groups booking less expensive accommodations.
The Goal
Creating and in-app solution
More payments, more problems, With a list of alternative apps for sending and receiving money, it can be hard to coordinate payments from a group of travelers sharing a cost. There is financial risk of being the person responsible for managing and collecting the payment, and a required trust among your travelers.
By creating a feature for users to send payment requests through the app while booking, the financial stress is eliminated. By giving the users an option to split the total cost of a trip while booking and designing a simple extension to the checkout flow, we were able to produce a seamless checkout experience for Airbnb's many users.
The plan
One size does not fit all
We live busy lives and we all have busy (and different) schedules. Main takeaways from conversations with users informed us that they loves a split pay solution. We quickly realized the cost of a trip is considered very differently from group to group. Our interviews revealed that people want to stay together, but there were many complicated equations for determining each guest total. Someone may be paying for a friend, someone else is only staying two of three nights, someone is sleeping on the couch, and no one knows how to factor the cleaning fee into their portion.
The insights from the user interviews gave us confidence that this project addressed a need that could enhance user experiences. We needed to create a feature that was ready for anything. When we synthesized and sorted our data, three options emerged: Split evenly, Split by night, and Custom split.
The Navigation
& Wireframes
A unique flow
We looked at competitors in booking and payment apps for successes, pain points, and opportunities for enhancement. In interviews, we heard about users flipping back and forth between apps to send and receive payment, making it difficult to keep track of who paid who.
It was decided that the Airbnb split payment feature should be a part of the check out experience, but while reviewing the current checkout steps, the already crowded checkout page was too overwhelming for even more information. We decided there needed to be an alternative flow.
We wanted to create a birdseye view of how this new feature would fit into the larger flow. We used the user flow to visualize the movement of the user and ensure that there were no dead ends. Wireframes were used to further develop our ideas and test
The prototype
Putting it together
Once we determined our flow, it was time to put it all together! We maintained the current look and feel of the Airbnb UI and developed our screens to match. We wanted clean design with clear choices. Here, the user can easily choose and set up their payment options.
Start flow
A familiar beginning
The option to split the payment is embedded into the existing flow, offering the user an alternative payment option nested in with the others for a consistent experience. A few simple steps selecting the number of travelers and inputting their information leads to a more personalized experience and easy set up from the start.
Once guest information is input, the user makes a selection regarding how they would like to split the payment for the booking based on their situation.
Split payment options
Something for everyone
Equal Pay option. For simple splits, users can choose to split the payment equally between all travelers offering a simple and straight forward solution to splitting between guests.
Split Manually. Sometimes you just have to get your hands dirty and do it yourself. We know that circumstances vary for everyone. Giving the user the chance to type in their own amounts allows more freedom to choose.
Split By Night. Everyone has a different schedule! After talking to users, we saw an opportunity to simplify the math and allow users to split their cost based on the number of nights each guest would be staying.
continued experience
My Trips and View Price by Guest
We couldn't stop at payment! We saw opportunity to continue the collaborative trip booking experience throughout the app. This could be expanded to shared experiences, chat, photo albums, and more! Here we created a view that included invited guests and opportunities to like and share Airbnb experiences in the area.
Throughout our research, a theme that kept coming up when talking about booking with a group is the high cost. Everyone has a different budget, and we wanted to make sure that no matter what, the cost is transparent. Instead of displaying the overall cost of a night at an Airbnb location, we wanted our users to be able to choose to see the total for each guest. We added an additional toggle option for users to see how much it would cost per person, instead of the total amount for the booking.
The OUTCOME
While working on this project I learned that even if the goal is the same, every user has a different need to be addressed and accommodated. At the start, we figured a simple 'split payment' option would be enough, but after hearing from our users, it became clear that it's not always that easy. In the end, we were happy with our result, but found that it may be a little drawn out, and could be condensed into fewer screens and clicks.
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