Expedia Case Study 2023

Expedia Case Study

Metasearch engine innovation

By Ibtisam Abdalla

start

Index

1.

5.

Background

Qualitative Research

2.

6.

Problem

Stakeholder Management

3.

7.

Problem Discovery: Risks

Solution (MVP development)

4.

8.

Competitor Market Analysis

Quantitative Research

These are quick jumps to each section + subsequent pages

Expedia

Expedia is an online travel agency (OTA) providing full-service travel such as hotel, airline travel and rental car bookings. The run a platform business model operating as travel marketplace. The majority of Expedia's merchant transactions relate to lodging bookings. Ancillary services include (but are not limited to) destination services, cruise and a host of complementary activites related to travel, with sites conveniently localized in 31 countries.

Background

01

Problem

Competitive pressure

We've lost most of our low end-consumers to Airbnb! What should we do?

Expedia is currently dealing with a few issues in since the world has slowly begun to return to a pre-pandemic world.

02

Losing existing B2B customers

Hotels have been dropping off Expedia and moving to Booking.com. Users aren't choosing the other hotel options that we have and are only picking the most popular ones

Challenge:

User retention

03

In this fictional scenario, I am the product manager. Expedia's executive team came to me to discuss a few issues that the company is facing . I will assess the problems, get to the root of the issue(s) and determine a viable solution based on either the executive's proposals or suggest a different solution based of qualitative and quantitative research.

Expedia exceeded at retaining/re-attracting customers during the summer season (Q2 & Q3). However. that has since changed. What happened?

Current State

Expedia Group's current state as an online travel agency (OTA)

Goal: Maintain it's mature position and prevent decline

$3.6 bn

$2.9 bn

$72.4 bn

Q3 2022 Revenue earnings

Q3 2021 Revenue earnings

Gross Bookings (Fiscal year 2021)

8.6% market share Market share significant lower than Booking.com based off of total gross bookings (not revenue)

22% year on year growth. The revenue growth was below Expedia Group Inc 's competitors average revenue growth of 29.56 %, recorded in the same quarter.

Expedia Group sold Egencia to American Express Global Business Travel where Expedia had minority stake in Analysis: Currently not looking to expand business division.

Expedia's Business Model

Platform business model, Travel marketplace + Revenue generated from commission fees

$5.5B

Expedia operates an asset-light, trasaction broker business model facilitating bookings and merchant transactions between travelers and lodging/alternative accomodiation operators. Their business model is split into 3 categories:1. Merchant Model2. Agency Model3. Advertising Marketing They make travel products and services both on a stand-alone and package basis to travelers. They extend beyond being a distribution channel for hotel operators by offering a host of technology solutions, products that include white-label offerings and revenue management tools to guest review insights and marketing services. Many of the tools house-hold name hotel brands offer their franchisees. Although OTA's operate the business model similarly to hotel brands, the difference lies in their transaction models. OTA usually recieve commission only when a booking is made. Hotel brands have a fee structure where hotel franchises pay to use the name and likeness of the hotel brand and pay a royalty fee, a sales fee, a marketing fee, a loyalty fee, miscellaneous fees and possibly initial startup fee. (HotelManagement.net)

Merchant Model revenue

$2B

Agency Model revenue

$700m

Advertising Marketing business revenue

Source: Expedia 2021 Annual Report

Product Discovery: Risks

Before undergoing product development of the features proposed by the exectutives, I need assess 4 critical risk areas. The risks includes:

1. Valuable: is it valuable? Will people buy the product? If product has already been bought, will people continue to use it?
2. Usability: assuming people do use the product because it fulfils a need, can they figure out how to use it?
3. Feasibility: Can we actually build this solution? Do you have the skills on the team, the technology stack available and time?
4. Viability: Can this sustain a business? Is it legal to do and this/compliant with any regulatory requirements? Can we afford to pay for this? Can we get this to market? Do we have the right marketing and sales distribution channels in place to go-to-market?

CompetitorAnalysis

Research: I will begin with a fundamental analysis of the company (Expedia), then move on to analysing the industry and assess any economic considerations to help narrow what market the product team should focus on Company analysis: Need-gap analysis Industry: Porter's 5 forces - a microeconomic analysis Economy: PESTLE analysis - a macroeconomic analysis

Need-Gap Analysis

Action plan to improve: 1 Benchmark current practices against peers and conduct micro and macro analysis 2 Investigate current industry trends to deliver maximum return to the organization + size the potential market 3 Determine whether building a new product will be viable, feasible and useful

"Expedia Group is on of the world's largest online travel companies, yet our gross bookings represent a single-digit percentage of total worldwide travel spending highlighting the size of our market opportunity." - Expedia 2022 Annual Report

Improve

Need to increase revenue (quality sales) to aim for an increase in bottom line net profit

Gap

Products are not personalised enough to their consumers and miss traveler expectations

Target State

Increase market share to double digit percentage within a year (12%)

Current State

Only capturing a small percentage of the overall OTA market

Bridging the gap between the current state and the required state (future ideal situation) by analysing Expedia's internal deficiencies Research: Based on the company business strategy, Expedia is seeking to leverage their brand and supply strength in conjunction with their platform to provide greater services and value to their travellers, suppliers and business partners, and generate sustained profitable growth Insight: At this stage it would be appear that Expedia is seeking to build stronger connectivity and leverage their horizontal network effects (suppliers) and shift towards cross-side network effects (value creation driven between supplier and consumer) and demand-side economies of scale (in the form of network effects for cost savings) + hone down on increasing top-line revenue growth in order to increase their market share

Current Market Share: 8.6%

Identifying Competitors (Competitive Analysis)

Defining the different types of competitors: Direct, Indirect, Potential and Substitute

HIGH

Indirect Competitors

Direct Competitors

Same target customer + Same problem = Trying to solve similar solutions

Direct Competitors:

Same target customer + Same Problem + but Different Product

Indirect Competitors:

Market Commonality

Same/similar target customer + Different Problem aka Peripheral competitors

Substitute Competitors

Potential Competitors

Potential Competitors:

Different target customer + Product solves same core poroblem + but not angled or delivered in even remotely the same way (different product)

Substitute Competitors:

LOW

LOW

HIGH

Resource Similarity

Competitor Website Feature Analysis

Evaluation

(Used to form user interview questions to evaluate previous assumptions)

Similar Capabilities

Poor Capabilities

Best/Unique Capabilities

(Based off of previous reports of user's most valued features)

Core Compentecies

Flexible booking + cancellation policy

Support (chat) / Virtual Agent

Weaknesses

Sustainability

Offers 'Things to do' around the destination location on home page and description page

Offers way to many discounted offers of same hotel on page descriptionProblem: Customer decision fatigue

Yes. But Virual agent not offered until you click on 'Support' button on navigation bar +Highlights hotel property if searched

No. But can filter for 'Traveller Experience' if more inclusive stay preferred

Intent-driven search (top fold) 'Fully refundable' tag placed in hotel option cell but cancelation policy vague and unclear.

Expedia

1, Offers customer review carousel on the top of the fold 2. Clear cancellation policy

Outdated UI + too many options

Yes.But tag is only placed until after clicking hotel option (top of the fold)

Intent-driven search (top fold) Hotels w/ 'FREE cancellation' in bold green within option cell placed top of searched page. Free cancellation cutoff 3 days before booking.

No. Only detailed FAQ pge with contact details

Booking.com

Direct Competitors

1. Video of hotel features 2. Carousel display of price comparisons of other OTA aggregators on hotel description page 3. Solo Traveller vs Couple vs Group Traveller reviews segmentation

'Still looking' pop up CTA to refresh page after clicking on new tab.Problem: annoyance

No. Detailed FAQ + Contact form.

No.

Intent-driven search (top fold) Emphasis on flight booking Offers the ability to filter for 'Free cancellation' on the 'Hotels' home page

Skyscanner (Parent: Trip.com Group based in China)

No. But offers separate help guides for guests and hosts. + Automatic language translation

No.

Website real-estate prioritises host property options 'Free cancellation' for only 48 hours and placed in footer section on the bottom of page

'Airbnb experiences' difficult to find.Too many options on home page

Search icons illustrate desired activity + segment property options based on desired property.

Indirect Competitors

Airbnb

Porter's 5 Forces Analysis (+2 other Market Dimensions)

Bargaining power of buyers

Complementors

Micro-environmental factors to understand the OTA industry and Expedia's current position in the competitive landscape

• Although 66% of online travel bookings made directly on the hotel's website, many people use OTA aggregators to research a destination at least four weeks in advance (StratosJets 2022)
• Millennials prefer convenience = Bespoke solutions from travel agents + 60% willing to pay more for expert solution
• Expedia has a strong brand but it easy to switch to a different brand with lower costs e.g. Booking.com or Google Travel

• Buyer Power: Strong

• Expedia's ancillary product such as Expedia Rewards is a loyalty programme designed improve customer retention and increase booking value - a sort of credit system with many companies in the industry having their own version or something similar
• Complementors: Medium

Threats of substitutes

Competitive Rivalry

• Few substitutes available in OTA industry - No ceiling on maximum profits
• Expedia's plans: Expand existing loyalty programs into one global rewards platform: Increases switching costs
• Threat of substitutes: Weak

• Few competitors - most owned under Princeline or Expedia Group
• Highly fragmented industry -
• Perfect Competition - competing product or services are similar and can be substitutes. Vary based on destination booked
• Constant threat from established players like Booking.com
• Industry Competition: Medium

Threats of new entrants

• 2020: Covid-19 Pandemic introduced unprecedented measures and restrictions on travel
• End of 2022: World headed for an economic recession
• Prevalence of asset-light business component - prospective OTA's must find domestic and international partners (hotels & lodgers) + resources - Building a distribution channel is difficult
• Airbnb appears to be disrupting the real estate market rather than OTA + hotel markets

• Threat of new players: Weak

Owned- digital assets

• Expedia owns and analyses guest data booked through their platform- improves the customer experience
• When used as a discovery tool, Expedia has the advantage of understanding consumer research during the awareness and acquisition phase of the marketing funnel
• Owned-digital assets: Strong

Bargaining power of suppliers

• Large base of suppliers across hotel, lodging, airline and cruise both domestic and overseas.
• Offers marketing and technology solutions i.e. revenue management tools to guest review insights, ad space, white-label offerings
• Supplier Power: Weak

PESTLE Analysis

Macro-environmental factors affecting the travel industry

TECHNOLOGICAL

POLITICAL

ECONOMIC

SOCIAL

LEGAL

ENVIRONMENTAL

• Recycling and waste Management policies
• South Africa - as travel destination disproportionately impacted by climate change, the country places a huge emphasis on sustainable travel
• Reducing Carbon Footprint + Development of new campaigns - the Flight Free movement asks people to pledge to go flight free either for the reminder of the year,, Pressure on governments to push policy to curb emissions
• Growing skepticism surrounding the efficacy of carbon offsets and upholding the maximum threshold granted by carbon credit certificates and/or permits obtained from cap-and-trade markets
• Recreation and tourism are
• weather-dependent. As holidays are typically planned in advance, tourism depends on the expected weather and
• will thus be affected by climate change

• Income taxes + Legal and Tax Contingencies
• Occupancy, accommodation tax, sales tax and/or business privelage tax
• OTA (Expedia) pay tax recovery charge to hotels
• Laws regarding Consumer Protection & Advertising Standards
• GDPR (EU regulation for data protection and privacy of EU residents)
• CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act)
• Ensuring consumers have sufficient and clear knowledge on products and services they buy
• Price Parity and Competition Laws
• Compliance - travel brands, esp airlines must ensure compliance when leveraging new tech to improve travel experience - could come at financial and opportunity cost
• Unfair trade practices committed by major OTAs - need to prevent the formation of trusts and monopolies (antitrust)
• Compliance with international Seller Travel Law

• e.g. Emerging Technologies
• API-first or Blockchain integration? Leveraging blockchain technology via
• Web3 in Travel
• Decentralisation and Tokenisation - removing the "middleman"'s high platforms fees by implementing a decentralised, smart contract marketplace (DTravel).
• Token-based loyalty programs
• Cryptocurrency - a risky proposition due to it's volatile nature. Remains a regulatory greyzone which affects Cypto tokens necessary to Web3 applications.
• Tokenising carbon offset credits - controversial

• e.g Growth Rates and Tax Policies
• Increase in ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) related funds for investors. A strategy to avoid investment risk..
• Preferences that are hard to predict in 2023
• Rising Inflation, Interest Rates + Growing Unemployment (less disposable income) - increased price-sensitivity around travel cost increases but 43% willing to spend more money next year (Traveler Value Index, Expedia)
• 90% of travellers want to book sustainable options + 50% willing to pay more - indicating that travel may steer towards becoming a luxury again post pandemic
• Macro focus (size) - pre-Covid, travel and tourism industry comprised roughly 10.3% of global GDP and 1 in 10 jobs worldwide.

• e.g. Population Growth and Demographics
• Value: Loyalty
• huge discrepency
• Australia, US and Canada were really high on wanting loyalty programs and benefits
• Japan and Germany are uninterested
• Price-sensitivity - not looking for the cheapest option but for the best value for their money
• Values + Bookings = Offerings
• Professional Personalisation: Remote Work & Mobility
• Growing overlap of the rental property and travel industry for remote work
• Travelling professionals seek consistency and standarize accommodations for ease of travel bookings (e.g. JetBlue Venture's recent investment of Frontdesk)

• E.g Government policy
• Uncertainty surrounding geopolitical and macroeconomic climate
• Both the memory and the initial impact of the pandemic have
• faded, but the effects on supply chains linger. The war in Ukraine and ongoing COVID-19-related restrictions in parts of Asia serve to highlight persistent supply-side vulnerability. The

• combination of fiscal stimulus in response to the pandemic Fragile supply chains were unable to cope, and the result has been a widespread surgein inflation.

• For the time being, we are probably past “peak globalization,”

Expedia's Global Market Size (2021)

Methodology

The diagram below includes Expedia's current market size. However, the composition of the diagram is segmented based on the revenue opportunity available for the proposed product within the coming year (SOM).

Expedia's Gross bookings: $72.4 billion

Expedia's Gross revenue: $8.6 billion

Revenue margin: 11.9%

Global Hotel/Hospitality Industry: $3.95 trillion

$5.8 trillion USD spent on global travel & tourism

PAM

Online Travel Industry (OTAs): $840 billion

Market share: 8.6% (74.2 / 840) x 100 = 8.6% market share

TAM

$3.95 trillion spent in the global hotel/hospitality industry

$840 billion in gross bookings generated by OTAs

SAM

Travel bookings made through OTA's: 39%

Volume of international traveller arrivals worldwide: 446.2 million 446 x 0.39 = 174 million people est. booking through OTAs 174 x 0.086 = 15 million people est booking through Expedia

SOM

$82.93 billion potential market size available to Expedia just in hotel stays in the next year (taking CAGR into account)

Expedia Retail Revenue: $6.8 billion 6.8 / 8.6 = 79% of revenue from retail travellers Volume: 15 x 0.79 = 11.9 million retail travellers Average annual booking spend per traveller: 6.8 b / 11.9 m = $571.43

CAGR: 10.58% between 2021 and 2027 (forecasted growth of $1.464 trillion)

Frequency: Travelling 3x per year Average booking cart (My estimate): $190 Average booking cart (Tour Scanner): $150

Expedia's Global Market Size Methodology (cont.)

2. Figure out the population of travellers from the global population or industry population (population segementation)

1. How to value the market size? Money vs Volume

• Monetary value ($ or £) e.g. revenue
• Volume (amount/supply)

• How many people actually travel (out of whole population) + (%) age group range
• + How many people actually choose Expedia over another OTA?
• Add or subtract (%) of change in trends/ behaviours depending on given timeframe e.g. 5 year change or CAGR %/rate of return

It's a lot more difficult to estimate booking volume here since I don't have access to Expedia's booking data but based on their 10K report annual report 2021 I have access to the revenue recieved from their bookings. Therefore I will focus on revenue ($/£).

3. Target Customer Segementation (based on hotel bookings division)

1. a. How do you want to size the market? Are there any location constraints?

• Retail (Leisure)
• B2B (Business)

Although Expedia is an OTA and available all around the world due to it's internet presence, It would be wise to focus on an a particular behaviour rather than centralised location e.g. USA since we are bringing a new product/feature to market. Expedia is also headquartered in the US. It would be sensible to assume that they would have a more data and a better understanding of US cosnumer behaviour or changing trends.

In this example I will be focusing on their Retail customers (Expedia's merchant model) and not their B2B customers (Expedia's agency model) as research has indicated that it would be wise to place more focus on their retail customers.

4. Frequency

1. a. (Constraints continued)

• How many time a year do people travel?
• Multiply this by how much the average person would spend, then multiply by volume of bookings to get revenue and convert to poiunds (£) from dollar ($)

• Duration - market size will be limited to one year's revenue
• Age - focus placed on traveller age range between 25-38 as these individuals travel he most based on research

Identifying the Target User/Customer

1. Setting up a screener survey: This is useful to uncover the demographics of potential users and to ensure continuity and inclusivity of all age groups and genders. This was also used to identify which users qualify for user interviews. Conducting user interviews will help to identify their requirements. 2. Conducting user interviews 3. Describing target persona 4. Mapping out user journey The qualitative research i've conducted with identify what the user is looking for in a product based on secondary research. This also includes the reasons a user would or would not use it. The method involves constructing a value test (survey & interviews) to see if they are serious about it.

Qualitative Research: is it valuable?

Identifying the Target User/Customer (Survey)

Screener Survey Questions

Out of Scope

Demographic Questions

Gender - this survey focuses places more focus on an individuals''s behavioural characteristics rather than their gender. Age on the other hand would be relevant in this survey as this helps to categorise participants based off of their generational proclivities. This follows the segmentation technique most notably found through out reports conducted by travel research firms (e.g. Travel Value Index segmenting Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X and Boomers). Open ended questions - this will be included during the user interview stage

• What age group are you in?
• What is your current occupation?

Target Audience Scope

• Age range: 21-65
• Travel Frequency: min 2x per year
• Book travel/hotels online or use online travel aggregators

Travel Questions

• What is your main motivation for traveling?
• How often did you travel in the last year?
• What resources do you use to book your travel plans?

Value Questions

• What social causes are you particularly interested in? Check all that apply.

Survey Results

Values

Demographic

Survey Platform: Google Forms

Participants varied in age. The vast majority were between the ages of 21-24 and 25-34. These age groups would influence the subsequent responses provided in the survey.

It appears that participants are more interested in climate change by a significant margin as compared to the other options.

Travel

Participants reported 'Rest & relaxation', 'Discovering new places' and 'Visiting family and friends' as the main drivers facilitating their travel decisions.

Younger age groups (21-44) utilise online booking platforms and/or direct hotel and airline booking platforms more than their mature counterparts (45-65+)

Mature age groups (45-65+) travel more often within the span of a year.

Customer Interviews

1st set: Interview Questions

Observations (for User Story Map)

2nd set: Interview Questions

Travel Questions

Website walk-through Questions

• Why do you travel?
• How do you go about carrying out research before your next trip? (include TikTok)

• Do you prefer to use websites or apps to book your travels?
• What websites do you use to book your travels?
• Have you used you used any websites that allow you to book flights, hotels, etc. together?

• "One way I try to be sustaininable is by supporting local businesses while traveling"
• "Food is my main concern. I love trying new things and experiencing new cultures "
• "I usually don't know how to find things so I try to use site's like Booking.com to help me out".

• When was the last time you booked a hotel + walk me through that booking process in as much detail as you can.
• How did you find this experience?
• Add'l - Difficulty - what made this experience difficult?
• Add'l - Easy - what made the experience smoother?
• What features did you enjoy the most/least? Why?
• Are there any other features that you tend to use on these booking websites?

Value Questions

• Do you have any social causes that you are involved in or would like to participate in?
• Do you feel you have a social responsibility as a traveller?
• Add'l - Why do you feel this way?
• How does that social responsibility fit into your travel booking experience?
• Add'l = If a company decided to be more social responsible, how would you want that communicated to you/ what would you like to see?
• Add'l = Would your booking experience be improved with [social cause] being incorporated in your booking experience? Why or why not?

Legend

Add'l = Additional follow on question. These questions will be asked to the interviewee to give them a chance to expound on their reasoning

Persona (s)

Name

Hana

Sara

Adam

Mature host/traveler

Luxury traveler (Millennial)

Eco-conscious traveler (Gen Z)

User Persona

Works in corporate and wants to travel this summer to visit her family back home. She comes from a really big family who live in different cities so would like to be able to get around without using public transports.

Adam is a retired culinary chef and has moved to Antigua. He is really looking forward to focusing on his hobbies. He enjoys cooking and wants to be able to teach others the skills he's learnt over the years.

Wants to travel this summer but since learnt more about being eco-conscious. She is afraid of causing harm to the planet

Description

Age

23

35

61

Location

Manchester, UK

New Mexico, US

London, England

Retired

General Partner

Occupation

Marketing assistant

Pain Points

Not enough sustainable options

Cost of living increasing

Travel stress

Book sustainable travel

Goal

Ease of location navigation

Generate recurring income

I will be focusing on Hana going forward in this case study

Photos source: Pexels

User Journey Map

1 week prior

Arrival/Stay

After

2 months prior

LEAVES REVIEW

READS REVIEWS

LOCATES ACTIVITY TO DO

DISCOVERY/RESEARCH

ATTENDS ACTIVITY

HOTEL/ FLIGHT BOOKING

CHECK WEATHER + RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

STAGES

1. Receives email reminder asking them to rate their activity experience
2. Leaves a negative review on Expedia under activity details page
3. Decides to not reconmmend experience to a friend in the future
4. Future: friend visiting same destination asks about local activities in the city

1. Chooses original booked activity to attend
2. Get's taxi to local place to visit
3. Pays for activity but realises it's not local
4. Leaves early as the activity is not what they had expected.
5. Tries to find other recommended activity the hotel local had mentioned but can't find much info online about it

1. Finds activity but unsure about sustainability quality but books something anyway.
2. Asks hotel about the booked activity and other sustainable activities around the area
3. Looks up details recommended activity location, distance, sustainability rating

1. Searches reviews from creators on TikTok
2. Looks at places friends have recommended (via Instagram, Facebook, etc.)
3. Reads reviews under 'Things to do' on Expedia or Google reviews to try to find other sustainable travellers

1. Begins to research travel plans on phone
2. Looks for flights online
3. Researches hotels/accommodations
4. User decides on criteria for date range, destination, # of travellers

1. Uses Google to research activities around the area
2. Searches for WiFi spots around the area (needed when exploring) + downloads offline map
3. Finds a few activities but unsure about sustainability quality

1. Browses travel website
2. Compares prices and book hotel + flight using different websites/ travel aggregators
3. Books flight, then books hotel.

ACTIONS

JOURNEY MAP

Lots of due dillegence to carry out but makes booking eventually

EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE POSITIVE (HIGHLIGHTS) + NEGATIVE (PAIN POINTS)

Clear site structure + information, detailed

Unsure of where to find local restaurants/ activities

ONSTAGE ACTIONS

Begins to feel excited about possible options

Too many options and unable to find a sustainable hotel option . Books anyway.

Realises activity was not local so might not be sustainable

Can't find any sustainable actvites.

Activity was not sustable enough to justify expense

• Home page
• Search bar
• Flights page
• Hotel page

• Worth of mouth
• Social Media

• App or Mobile website
• Banner ad
• YouTube ad/video
• TikTok video

• 'Thinhs to do' page

• Email
• Word of mouth
• Reviews on Expedia

• Reviews on Expedia
• Social media

TOUCHPOINTS

INTERNAL PROCESSES

Personalise search to offer reccomendations depeding on needs

BACKSTAGE

Language barrier between the traveller and local

EXTERNAL FACTORS

Scattered information

Time of the year affecting availability/deals

Search algorithm differs on every website

Stakeholder management

Gaining stakeholder buy-In with influence from the planet centric design framework

Here you will find: 1. Build vs Buy Analysis - deciding whether to build this new feature or product or whether to outsource it. 2. Decision of whether to build or buy based off of prior research 3. Product Requirements Document (PRD) - details the who, what, when, why and how of the product development process. This also includes examples of how user requirements will be implemented and to who on the team they will be allocated.

Build vs Buy Analysis (setting Product OKRs)

Build

Outsource (Buy)

"Risk management is absolutely fundamental to the business. It would be crazy to outsource it."

Most likely have all of the Engineers and Technical staff needed to build the product but can take a while to build and get hotels on board

An ESG framework will guide the direction of ESG reporting, but will not provide a methodology for the collection of information, data, or the reporting itself. Frameworks are useful to use alongside ESG standards, or when a well-defined standard does not exist.

Many ESG frameworks are market comparison tools. They don't help with identifying what is the overall mission of the company. What makes a hotel eco-friendly? Travellers are too smart. Expedia would greatly benefit from a proprietary standardised model to avoid vague messaging.

Better access to resources and data already collected by ESG providers on ESG relate initiatives and standards. Expedia won't have to reinvent the wheel and could probably get the new initiative up and running a lot sooner

Not deemed it appropriate to create a feature that shifts the hotel's environmental rating on to the consumer. Traveller's eco-friendly practices vary and can introduce a ton of rating problems, if left to traveller speculation and biases. However, they can travellers can get involved through surveys to figure out the next policy practices to implement. That way traveller voices are accounted for.

However, outsourcing the creation of the initiative (e.g. to a management firm) may lead to increased variable costs down the line depending on data usage.

Based on research, it is important to consider the benefit this would have on Expedia's 'Package' deals since it's their revenue driver. Expedia eco-friendly travellers are already intent-driven travellers. Providing a seamless travel research experience will increase traveller confidence with Expedia

Operational costs may arise if ESG initiative results in a larger product needed to be built in the long run if a simple feature cannot be implemented. Outsourcing this may result in charges and fees that were initially out of scope.

Source: planetcentricdesign.com

Research and time required to understand each hotel's environmental policies would slow down the feature's time-to-market. This is why a quick standardised model, analogous to a in-season campaign, proposed by Expedia would be the most apt given the current context.

Build: Considering the macroeconomic context, it would be in Expedia's best interests to introduce a standardised sustainability initiative, comprised of a set guidelines and criteria detailing what is considered within each rating level.

Build: Value-add for Expedia

01

Aligning consumer values with consumer prices can lead to increased profit for Expedia's B2B partners

02

Both leisure travellers and B2B lodging partners benefit from this new standardised model

Since carrying out the research, I realised Expedia's executives shouldn't focus on worrying about low-end customers. Instead it's understanding where the customer's value's lie. Considering the macro-economic climate, leisure travellers would be more willing to pay a slight premium for sustainable travel even with the imminent recession that lies ahead.

03

Can lead to an increased demand (cross-side network effects)

04

Client interest's will be maintained as this initiative will be an opt-in invitation. Hotelier's and lodging operators are given the choice whether or not to be included. May result of an increase in potential earnings as traveller's are willing to pay more for sustainable travel. This includes the opportunity to position their green listings as a luxury experience

Explain here the benefits

Basic Product requirements document (PRD)

May 2023

Target Release

Goals and Success Criteria

• North Start Metric: Percentage (%) of positive reviews after completed trip

• Business value or growth is being limited by neglecting the need to adopt sustainable practices
• North Star Metric

• Travellers will be able to book eco-friendly travel based off a standarised criteria by being able to filter hotels based of a 3-tiered model
• (Designs linked in subsequent slides)

User experience

Problem

A mobile app benefit (feature) that allow travellers to be able to:

• filter and book for eco-friendly hotel accommodation

Solution

• Based on competitor analysis from previous slides, there are currently no competitors implementing this same feature. Although some competitors have pledged to sustainability initiatives (Booking.com)

Competitor analysis

• As a user, I want to be able to search for sustainable travel locations without having to do so much research
• As a user, I want to be able to travel without feeling guilty about hurting the planet

Use cases

Key features and releases

Release phase 1:

• filter and book for eco-friendly hotel accommodation
• filter to find local activites in the area

Value Proposition

We help travelers create memborable, authentic experiences by traveling with purpose

• No customer rating system as this could encourage bias of eco-friendly rating

Out of scope

• Primary persona: A leisure traveller who is becoming more eco-conscious
• Secondary persona: A traveler who is very eco-conscious and wants to make the most out of their business trips

• Created to ensure team and key stakeholder alignment and answer any pressing concerns

Questions and decision tracker

Target personas

User stories and requirements

Example UI

Release

Feature

User story

Requirement/s

As a [user], I want to be able to find eco-friendly hotel

• User can filter for eco-friendly hotels via the filter page on the app

May 2023

1. Eco-friendly filter

(Designs linked in subsequent slides)

• User and host can search and host activities via a dedicated two-sided marketplace in the app

As a [user], I want to be able to find sustainable activites around the area

2. Local activities filter

July 2023

(Designs linked in subsequent slides)

Solution / MVP development

Identifying the solution incorporates different frameworks with influence from elements of The Hook Canvas

Here you will find: 1. Affinity/User Story Map - designed to organise user stories in an incremental and iterative way 2. Jobs to be Done - a framework used to translate user stories into actionable statements that guide the design or build of the next product or feature 3. Value vs Effort - this is a feature prioritisation matrix used to identify which of the 'actionable statements' will be the most impactful project to take on next for the team and company.

Affinity Map/User Story Map

USER JOURNEY

Things to do when travelling

General reason for choosing Travel

Gen Z/ Millenial user behaviour

Ease of booking

Pricing choices

Values

Iteration

Genz/Millenials usually price averse but will to pay a little more to be sustainable

Users are willing to pay more for travel if it aligns with their values

Gen Z/Millenials feel the effects of climate change are immenent and want to experience the wold before it's too late.

Users usually begin research on the phone but move to the website to book travel

(MVP)

Users try to be sustaininable by supporting local businesses while traveling

People search for flights during their free time a few months beforehand

Users of colour enjoy to travel but are afraid of how they would be percieved locals

Users enjoy trying new food and experiencing new cultures

Users would love more features from booking platforms that help with navigating the travel destination

Users rely on reviews to help them choose their travel

Users love to use social media apps like TikTok to research their destination

Form new connections despite how short-term they may be

PRIORITY

Users would travel a lot more if they knew how to find places a lot easier

Users travel to find themselves and get out of their own routine (be able to rely on themselves)

Booking on 3rd party platforms makes cancellations more difficult

Users value flexibility both in finding cheap travel and cancellations

Users don't like having to decide on many options - confusing

Users prefer: Skycanner = flights Booking = hotels

Users prefer to travel with friends instead of family

(time)

Users feel they could be more socially conscious but don't know how to quantify their contributions

Foreign exchange students need more help to move around the country

Gen Z users travel for the experience and be able to tell stories (main character)

Users travel mostly for pleasure and personal reasons

Mature travellers travel more for leisure

Remote work

Increment

Jobs to be Done Framework (Hana)

The Customer Job Statement

...hotel accomodation...

...so I don't feel guilty when I travel

...find...

...an eco-friendly...

As a user I want to...

Product or process

Customer self-identificator

Direction of improvement

Contextual clarifier

Person or thing using the product or process

(What is the situation where this job occurs)

(How would they describe themselves)

(More or less of something)

(What is being improved)

(What or who is being affected?)

Feature Prioritisation Matrix (Value vs Effort)

Quick wins - do first

major projects - plan & schedule

Map of hotel click to see videos reviews of hotel

High Value

Two-sided marketplace - incorporate connection with locals to drive tours & experiences

Voluntourisn: Feature to connect both travellers and locals with existing local evironmental projects on 'Things to do' page - working with Indigenous communities

Prioritise hotel's with cleaner travel policies

Filter: be able to filter results to find eco-friendly options

Thankless tasks

Fill ins

Chat room on the 'Support' page to quickly ask others

Low Value

Recommend local restaurants after booking

Recommend local restaurants/local providors/local operators on 'Things to do' page that are close to public transportation or hotel

Greener travel: recommending LEV and EV cars for closer locations rather than plane e.g. rec on booking confirmation page after hotel booking (e.g. (Manchester to Liverpool)

Increasing tourism in natural spaces

Low Effort

High Effort

Chosen Feature

For this MVP I have opted to build a product that allows our target persona Hana be able to book a sustainable hotel for her next trip via Expedia app

1. Provides the traveler ability to book sustainable travel with purpose

2. Product based off of a standandardised approach

Expedia Group is incredibly mindful of their 'Search and Sort Factors', highlighting their commitment to deliver the best service to their travellers and lodging operators. Hence, the new sustainability feature is placed after the filter button, strategically placed to accommodate both the travellers preferences and Expedia's B2B partner interests. According to Expedia's 2022 Annual report, the sort order for the hotel 'Stays' is largely influenced by what they are paid for regarding a particular listing. For instance, the higher the fee paid by a hotel, the more likely that hotel listing will be placed higher in the marketplace. The offer strength and guest experience will also impact a lodging operator's sort order.

4. Maintains the integrity Expedia's merchant and agency models

3. Allows lodging operators to price at a premium

App Map: Information Architecture

Steps taken prior to producing this map

This is usually done for medium-larger projects but I wanted to do this to better understand the information architecture before embarking on product prototyping

1. Heuristic evaluation - go through the website and look at how it's currently experience by a typical user + collect as much assets and information that the client currently has on hand
1. evaluating the current flow of information
2. map out how the customer would move around the website
2. Content auditing
3. Data Analysis - if client has access to data I would look at page traffic, time of the traffic, customer demographics, drop-off rates at each section, etc.
1. Tools can include - Google Analytics, Mixpanel
4. Competitor Analysis
5. Customer Persona
6. Sketching - Miro

Why build a feature for an app:

1. An app can optimize for last-minute, fast bookings
2. Atlas Venture’s Jeff Fagnan commented that “the major driver is how easy it is, the device factor has changed travel in itself,” – noting that the ease of booking has been the central reason for the shift towards mobile devices. Consumers now have the ability to book a last minute flight, a hotel, and an Uber to and from the airport in a matter of minutes on their smartphone – a trend which is only accelerating.
3. Where as a website is used more as a discovery tool during the initial research process (upstream of the user journey)

User Flows: Interaction design

The three tasks chosen would highlight the main feature functions that the app would provide for the user

• Filter: be able to filter results to find eco-friendly options- rating filter meets standardised criteria
• Two-sided marketplace
• Upselling an eco-friendly car option after booking a hotel

Chosen User Flow: Eco-friendly hotel (Hana)

Wireframing

Forming & Testing a hypothesis

This stage will determine the hypothesis, success metrics and how long the product team is willing to wait to obtain the necessary degree of confidence to validate this feature and initial assumptions. This team will need evidence or statistically significant proof depending on the amount of data supplied. The product team must: 1. Establish success metrics for the team(s) to measure (product, marketing, sales, QA etc.) 2. Form and test a hypothesis for the MVP 3. Identifying areas of improvement for V2 and beyond

Quantitative Research

Success Metrics

APP METRICS

Product Goals: Ideally, we would want to see a decrease in churn and quantify the moment when value is realised by the user (completing the key action)

Percentage (%) of people who left a positive review after completing a trip per month

North Star (focus):

L1 metrics (Primary)

Revenue (data collected by Sales team)

Activation (B2B partners data collected by Marketing team)

Engagement (Users data collected by Product team)

Theme/Impact: Revenue Growth

COMPLETION

(Activation) Percentage (%) of email campaign sign-ups in 3-months/ Existing hotel or lodging partners

Average booking (hotel) price

(Engagement) Percentage (%) booked hotels/ month

Primary/Sign Post:

Primary/Sign Post:

Primary/Sign Post:

Company Goal: Increase market share by driving sales

L2 metrics (Secondary)

ACTION

ACTION

Number (#) of hotel Pages viewed /per searches or bounce rate

Number (#) eco-travel filter applied / month

Time to sign up

Questions to validate in a two-sided marketplace: 1. How many hotel or lodging operators sign up? 2. Is the new filter streamlining the search experience to increase bookings? 3. Is the average hotel booking price increasing?

(needs to decrease)

(needs to increase)

Explanation: For other products, you would want users coming back consistently e.g. DAU of a social media. However for travel products, you want to decrease the amount of usage for the product so customers are immediately led to purchase .Rather than measuring length of usage, one should test for key actions taken by user such as a decease in bounce rate.

Testing & Deployment: How I would test this feature if implemented

Feature testing

Usability testing

(I acknowledge that I do not have access to any historic data or Expedia's preferred method of testing features, however this is how I would test my hypothesis given my limited resources)

Test type: Randomised A/B test Test environment: Live Test subject: Travelers Medium: Expedia mobile app Duration: 1 month Goal: Building flexible architecture & minimise tech debt Segment: (Travelling to) Asia Pacific and the Caribbean (most popular summer destinations)

Usability test 1: Remote Research participants are shown a paper test mockup (mid-fi wireframe) or convert the mockup into a clickable powerpoint slide. I will then ask to interact with it or gain feedback using A/B testing (not design-based research) technique. Usability test 2: Make changes and test UI again with larger group

Test Plan

We've observed an increase in hotel page views, which is causing a decrease in bookings from users. Our data suggests this problem is affecting 20% of Expedia's traveling partners and is costing our business How might we build on the travel experience for the traveler so that Expedia can generate more sales?

Problem statement

We've assume the following about our user, solution, or the context of the problem:- users are becoming incredibly eco-conscious which is preventing them from traveling - more and more users are looking to book their travel on mobile

Critical Assumptions

We believe that by introducing a new filter where one can find eco-friendly hotels, it will decrease the amount of hotel page views and ultimately increase Expedia's top-line sales revenue within one year.

Hypothesis

Success Metric/ Lift Target

If the test experience results in 15% increase in positive reviews compared to our control experience (no eco-friendly filter), we'll know we're successful at addressing the problem

We're not willing to sacrifice a decrease in average bookings for that month (based on historical data), and we will stop the test if we observe it causing those impacts

Stop Metric

We're comfortable with results that indicate at least 95% statistical significance across our successes and stop metricsWe can then compare the effectiveness of the two test versions by comparing the booking rates in version A versus version B.

Statistical Significance

Sample Size

We need the following sample size in each experiment to have confidence in our results: 57000 (considering avg booking conversion rate for OTAs at 2.5%)

How to I would improve the MVP in the future for V2:

1. Keep iterating until an increase in revenue materialises as expected or product-market fit if new insight is found. 2. Increase the amount of survey participants 3. Conduct more tests e.g 3-5 usability tests instead of 1. Including changing the testing environment 4. Focus on creating feedback loops so you're always in the know by identifying key qualitative feedback and cross-reference it with many channels across the organsation (alongside quantitative feedback)

Go-to-Market (Consolidated Summary)

based on the research collected above, it would be in Expedia's best interest to...

Problem: Executive's assumptions, my questions 1. Market: root cause analysis, target customer segments, needs (problem you are trying to solve), market size, trends 2. Competition: market share, intenal vs micro vs macro (context), how can this product differentiate from the competitor or how is Expedias new UGC feature different from Airbnb's? Any ancillary considerations (support to the organization)? discovery phase, competitive analysis template 1+2. Solution(s) & PRD 3. Sales process: PLG? Sales Led? or Hybrid? 4. Manifesto: strategic narrative, positioning, value propsition, messaging 5. (Marketing) Broadway show: inbound, outbound, ads, social 6. Collect data + iterate

Iterate & repeat until product-market-fit is found

Thanks

Thank you for taking the time to learn about my project.

Sources

• Expedia Group 2021 Annual Report
• Expedia Traveler Value Index Report 2021
• Expedia Traveler Value Index Outlook 2022
• European Travel Comission Annual Report 2021
• HotelManagement.net (2018), "Why hotel brands should really be scared of Expedia"
• Forbes.com (2017), "Marriott And Hilton Stay Ahead Of The Sharing Economy, Proving That Airbnb Is Not The Uber Of Hotels"
• StratosJets.com, "Over 60 Online Travel Booking Statistics (2022)"
• Blog.realestate.cornell.edu (2017), "Frenemies: Is Vertical Integration The Answer To OTAs?"
• PhocusWire.com (2022), "Video: Expedia Research Uncovers Disparities Between Travelers' Desires and Industry Preceptions"
• JetBlue Ventures (Medium) (2022), "Why we invested in Frontdesk"
• JetBlue Ventures (Medium) (2022), "Web3 in Travel"
• Resonate.cx Expedia Australia and New Zealand Case Study
• Hothouse.substack.com (2021), "Travel will never by the same again"
• Steelkiwi (Medium) (2021), "Developing a Travel Aggregator Like Expedia"
• HospitalityInsights.com (2021), "An asset-light approach to hotel tech"
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, "Key Economic Sectors and Services"

Market sizing

• Statista (2022), "Global tourism industry - statistics & facts"
• TravelPerk (2022), "60+ online travel booking statistics & trends"
• World Travel & Tourism Council (2022), "Travel & Tourism Economic Impact 2022"
• The World Factbook (CIA)
• Access blog (2022). "Travel and Tourism Statistics: The Ultimate Collection"
• Xola (2022), "2022 OTA Statistics & Trends"
• Zippia (2022). "25 HOTEL INDUSTRY STATISTICS [2022]: HOSPITALITY TRENDS AND MARKET DATA"
• TravelTech (2022), "Phocuswright Report: The Critical Role of Independent Distribution in the U.S. Travel Industry"