TALK & PLOT: A Hackathon Case Study on Group Travel Planning

Talk and plot is a hackathon case study by the collaborative effort of the team The Backpacker (6 people). Expanding over an intensive 48-hour work stretch, this hackathon began at checkpoint zero with nothing but only a couple of strangers wanting to work on something and came to a halt at an upbeat ending with some great relationships and oh yes — a plausible solution!

I majorly contributed to making the plan of action, making user assumptions, hypothesis statements, and secondary research

This case study was executed and completed with the guidance of our mentor Anudeep Ayyagari.

We were given a few problem statements and we had to go with one. We choose to go with “Design a feature for a popular travel booking app, allowing a group of friends to plan and book their mutual vacation”

Why this Problem Statement?

• The backpackers felt that a travel app is an all-in-one solution — Travel includes multiple aspects and the users don’t have to rely on multiple services. As a team, we wanted to explore an app that provides a unified solution.
• From an industry point of view, we wanted to take on a challenge which is an obvious truth in the world. A the moment with covid19 under control, it’s an obvious truth that travel has begun in full capacity compelling all competitors to work on it as well, so we believed that working on it would generate an intensified competitive spirit to make the product market-ready before anyone else.
• Since no one in our group has had the experience of working on a travel app before, we wanted to explore this problem statement and work towards it.

Plan of Action

Well, most of time we were planning and iterating our plans with the time we are left with. The only thing we made sure is that we are using the “Design Thinking Process”

This is how we made our timeline and divided the tasks among us thinking “Six people, 48 hours — we will take turns to sleep, turns to work and it should be done.”

Well, nothing worked the way we planned and we just kept on iterating our tasks with time left

1. Understanding the problem statement

To thoroughly understand the problem, it was first vital for us to express what we understood of it. All the members described their understanding, which lead to a group discussion eventually leading us to a conclusive understanding.

Conclusive Understanding

Since the world has begun to open its doors to traveling again, everyone is planning vacations, especially large groups like friends and families. The travel app in the problem statement wants to cash onto this opportunity and create a section/feature solely focused on “planning” the entire vacation for such large groups.

2. Assumptions

Step 2 to begin solving our problem — make assumptions. Our team conducted an exercise where each member wrote down their user & product assumptions. We collected all the assumptions, went through them as a team, analyzed the points, and divided them for the next step.

3. Hypothesis Statement

After analyzing the assumptions. The team conducted another exercise where each member wrote down multiple hypothesis statements. All the statements were clubbed together and divided into specific topics to make the data easier to work with

Final Hypothesis Statement

1. Our hypothesis is that the travel app should have a feature that makes an estimated budget range for the group of users who want to travel together.
2. Our hypothesis is that the travel app would do well with gamification of the entire vacation process and making it more adventurous for the groups of friends going on the vacation, it could increase enthusiasm and level of planning the occurs in such groups. It can be incentivized or the group could be awarded discounts for conducting/participating in activities together.
3. Our hypothesis is that the travel app would require a feature where friends can come together to make groups so that they can communicate and also casually chat and essentially discuss the entire trip together. (Replacement for the WhatsApp group.)
4. Our hypothesis is that the app should provide a list of necessary things that a group should take with them on the trip as per the weather, location, other necessities. Add different categories for different types of places(Where people can just scroll and explore).
5. Our hypothesis is that the app should have a feature assuring the groups of travelers that the covid19 protocols are followed while also urging them to comply with the covid19 rules and regulations that are specific to groups traveling together.
6. Our hypothesis is that the app should have a feature that provides easy and hassle-free cancellation in case the whole group wants to cancel their trip or a few members need to cancel their trip without affecting the entire group.

Secondary Research

After narrowing down our hypothesis statements into 6, we began our secondary research. The team divided itself into 2 parts and work on the two aspects of secondary research simultaneously -

A. DESK RESEARCH — TEAM A

B. COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS — TEAM B

I was in Team A, collecting all the pre-existing data

1. Our hypothesis is that the travel app should have a feature that makes an estimated budget range for the group of users who want to travel together.

https://www.oyster.com/articles/how-to-plan-a-trip-budget-and-split-travel-expenses-with-friends/

• Deciding on a destination first can be tricky since the budget is the main factor that determines exactly what type of trip you’ll be having
• Not everyone can afford the same level of travel and experiences, so establishing a unanimous budget limit sets expectations early. It stops people from feeling pressured to spend money they don’t have. Plus, it’s easier to pick a destination once you know what your budget is
• If someone isn’t able to put down a large chunk of money right off the bat, be sure to agree, in writing, on the length of time they have to pay everyone back.

https://www.livemint.com/money/personal-finance/how-to-set-your-travel-budget-1566913325702.html

• Having things planned gives us undoubtedly peace of mind and also free time. If you already know what tours would you like to take before leaving home, what activities would you want to do or places to visit, you will not waste time agreeing with each other
• Budgets are a boring, yet necessary part of the travel planning process.
• Various kinds of expenses to consider
• Preparation Expenses
• Actual Vacation Expenses
• Emergency Funds
• Plan carefully and be aware of how much you spend each day, and you will have a great time with no money worries!
• “For us, a destination never really mattered, It was just ‘get us wherever our budget could afford to get us.’”

2. Our hypothesis is that the travel app would do well with gamification of the entire vacation process and making it more adventurous for the groups of friends going on the vacation, it could increase enthusiasm and level of planning the occurs in such groups. It can be incentivized or the group could be awarded discounts for conducting/participating in activities together.

https://www.power2motivate.com/news-blog/blog/offering-travel-incentives-to-motivate-work

• according to Incentive Magazine, offering travel is becoming an increasingly popular one these days. Incentive’s Travel 1Q Survey found that 34 percent of business leaders recognize travel as a key way to recruit employees and retain them.
• To formalize the process of using travel to bolster employee engagement, you may want to consider the benefits of using a travel incentive program. Simply driving engagement with more money is one approach, but travel is unique in its ability to create lasting impressions.
• As was noted earlier, 72% of people who earn a travel reward will feel increased loyalty to their company. … Travel incentives offer a great motivational boost, and even if these people don’t win they’ve still improved. A travel perk is used to incentivize or motivate employees or partners.
• Promoting an incentive is all about building excitement, so often the way it is communicated needs to be creating and engaging.

3. Our hypothesis is that the travel app would require a feature where friends can come together to make groups so that they can communicate and also casually chat and essentially discuss the entire trip together. (Replacement for the WhatsApp group.)

https://landbot.io/blog/whatsapp-travel-hospitality-use-cases

• When it comes to travel, that convenience translates into personalized services, immediate answers, up-to-date and a sense of control…All that is delivered by a channel where the users feel at home, no matter how unfamiliar their environment.
• When the internet empowered people to look up information on their own, planning holidays became a largely independent venture. Traditional travel agencies lost a great deal of their value for customers.
• The more options travelers have and the more they jump between devices to find these options, the more anxious they are the harder it is to commit to a decision. Instead of losing time navigating through menu options or filters, travelers can voice their requests with your bot or agent using natural conversational language and receive the results they are looking for instantly.
• Users can choose hotel deals via SMS, Facebook Messenger, or WhatsApp after sharing details like city, dates, and budget preferences with SnapTravel’s chatbot.
• Companies were reluctant to exchange and pass sensitive personal information via channels that lacked end-to-end protection or made payment authentication difficult.
• From searching for top sights, guided tours, thrilling local activities to the best restaurants, bars, clubs, and cafes, digital travelers leave little to chance. After all, nobody wants their long-awaited holidays spoiled by mediocre experiences.
• Asking for traveler’s basic preferences, your WhatsApp bot or agent can recommend (and even proceed to book) tailored activities, things to do, and places to eat in the chosen destination.
• You can use the channel to go the extra mile and answer questions before they are asked. Send users tips on things to do, food to try, or even cultural rules to be aware of before and during their trip… WhatsApp allows you to share images, gifs, locations, weblinks, and videos giving a free hand to your creativity.
• Thanks to the end-to-end encryption, WhatsApp enables you to send and receive sensitive documents and information such as invoices, payment details, passport copies, copies of rental agreements, liability disclaimers, proof of age, and more.
• Design a simple FAQ bot that answers the most commonly asked questions. Taking an example from the use of WhatsApp in eCommerce, you can use the FAQ bot as a first touchpoint. The bot will either answer the query or classify it to be sent to the right live agent for handling.
• You can use your WhatsApp Business API integration to send travelers real-time reminders about schedules and rules (luggage, dress code, etc.) or send them inquisitive messages to remind them to cancel on time or confirm their attendance.
• WhatsApp is a handy platform to send boarding passes as well as any other kind of e-tickets. The best part is that if your customers have a problem, they don’t need to go online looking for a way to get in touch. All they need to do is reply to the number that sent that ticket.
• Upon purchasing flight tickets, KLM creates a private group for the traveler. Once the traveler clicks on the invitation link, he or she becomes the admin of the group and can invite family and friends to receive updates about her flight.
• Such a group is gold for parents whose child is traveling alone.
• User experience doesn’t end with hotel check-out or the plane landing at its destination.
• Post-trip or post-flight services are as important as first impressions. Perhaps even more so the main reason customers get in touch with you after the adventure is over is to submit complaints.

5. Our hypothesis is that the app should have a feature assuring the groups of travelers that the covid19 protocols are followed while also urging them to comply with the covid19 rules and regulations that are specific to groups traveling together.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0256486

• The world tourism industry is facing the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic. Tourists’ travel risk and management perceptions are crucial matters in their decision to travel destinations during the ongoing uncertainty of the Covid-19 epidemic.
• Tourists’ travel risk and management perceptions can influence their psychological behavior for travel to destinations
• Tourists will avoid visiting destinations if they consider it risky
• Having a crucial concept of travel risk during the Covid-19 pandemic, this study has paid attention to exploring and evaluating the tourists’ travel risk and management perceptions associated with the tourism attractions.
• When such safety measures are excessively strict, they can have negative impacts on developing the tourism industry
• The effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the tourism destination, tourists’ behavior, and their preference is irrespective of district or nationality
• The travel behavior of people changes at the individual level due to the Covid-19 pandemic in the globe
• It is difficult to change the transportation pattern in the public areas and crowded public transits in the country. Articles reported that bike or ride-sharing services could be alternative to more crowded transit options in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic
• The availability of different transportation options within the country can help tourists to decide to visit their desired tourism places
• People use technology for travel-related purposes such as booking holidays, offering instant vendor feedback, and comparing travel destinations, which lead to reducing travel risk and management perceptions.
• The Covid-19 pandemic has made people conscious of hygiene and safety.
• The potential tourists are generally like to seek destinations’ safety and hygiene, cleanliness, established infrastructure, and high-quality medical facilities during the Covid-19 pandemic

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590198220301664

• There was a significant shift from public transport to private transport and non-motorized modes.

https://academic.oup.com/jtm/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jtm/taab147/6369825

• A sudden increase in population density due to incoming tourists2 or mass congregation due to social, political, or religious reasons can worsen
• Now, in the wake of the overwhelming second wave throughout India, ‘revenge travel’ — or an urge to travel after being under restrictions for an extended period of time — is a term increasingly being used by the media to describe what has been observed in Manali, Darjeeling, and other popular tourist destinations.
• Amongst visitors at least, responsible mask use and observing social distancing norms could have important effects in mitigating the risk of transmission.
• Conditions on travel could also play a key role, for example with potential visitors only being eligible to travel if they can show evidence of a recent COVID-negative test.

6. Our hypothesis is that the app should have a feature that provides easy and hassle-free cancellation in case the whole group wants to cancel their trip or a few members need to cancel their trip without affecting the entire group.

https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/90-people-want-govt-to-frame-travel-booking-refund-policy-survey-121080800554_1.html

• As many as 90 percent of people in a survey carried out to assess issues faced in getting refunds for canceled travel bookings, including flight tickets, in the wake of COVID-19, want the government to formulate a pandemic-specific cancellation refund policy.
• “As many as 95 percent of citizens believe that the current policies of the airlines, railways, or hotels are not in consumer interest and 90 percent want the government to come up with a travel booking refund policy till the time the COVID pandemic is on
• Based on the survey results, the best-case scenario could be giving people the option of either giving a refund within a week and 20 percent amount to be deducted as processing charges, or a refund within a month and only 10 percent amount to be deducted as processing charges or no refund but a voucher for full amount issued which can be used towards future travel within two years, it said.

B. Competitive Analysis

The second part of secondary research was conducted by Team B, research of all the competitors that are in the travel industry — their features and complaints in relevance to our hypothesis -

Competitor #1 — TripAdvisor

Competitor #2 — Thomas Cook

Competitor #3 — Make My Trip

Competitor #4 — OYO

Competitor #5 — Clear Trip

Competitor #6 — GoIbibo

Competitor #7 — Trivago

Competitor #8 — Airbnb

Competitor #9 — Yatra

Competitor #10 — Booking.com

Competitor #11 — Treebo

Competitor #12 — Expedia

5. TARGET USERS

After collecting data through secondary research, we went through more articles in order to define our target users. Based on the sources, we came to the following conclusion -

SOURCES — https://www.condorferries.co.uk/travel-statistics-by-age-group#:~:text=What age group travels the most%3F,35 vacation days a year. https://www.thewanderingrv.com/travel-statistics-by-age-group/

For our primary research, we found a few participants who agreed to talk to us about their travel experiences. So to ask them relevant questions, the team prepared a questionnaire that was used by every member to conduct the interviews.

A. Questionnaire

1. Ice-breaking questions

• Age
• Occupation
• Demographics

2. When was the last time you planned a group trip/vacation before?

• Who was it with?
• Where did you go?
• How did you go?
• How was your experience?

3. What factors influence you when you plan a group trip/vacation?

4. How did you plan your budget before planning the group trip?

5. How much was the difference between the budget before all of you planned the trip and the amount you spent after the trip?

• Where do you feel all of you spent the most money, more than what you expected to spend?

6. Did you ever take part in group activities and games while on a vacation?

• What was the activity?
• How was your experience?

7. Did all of you you ever interact with local people and make friends with them when you were at your last vacation destination?

8. Where do you mutually plan your trips? Do you use any apps to discuss your trip plan?

9. Did all of you prepare a checklist for your last trip?

• If yes, where and how?
• What kind of items did you list on the checklist?

10. Did you travel as a group during the covid pandemic?

• How was it different from traveling before covid?

11. When was the last time you canceled a group trip? What was your experience like?

B. User Interviews

User 1

User 2

User 3

User 4

Hypotheses Validation

Ideation

While the next step for our team was to do a deep data analysis, we figured out that our problem statement may not require it. So based on our hypothesis validation, we proceeded to ideation. In ideation, we decided to ask the ‘HOW MIGHT WE’ questions to generate solutions.

How Might We?

We noted questions and then brainstormed the solutions for every single question.

1. How might we create a budget range for a group of friends planning to travel together?

2. How might we provide a way for communication between the group of friends who are planning to travel together?

3. How might we assure safety to groups of friends traveling together during COVID times?

4. How might we make cancellation easier for people traveling together in a group?

Defined Solution

To go ahead with our process, we analyzed all the solutions and then landed on one solution to work on -

Create a messaging feature that allows private as well as group chat and features like bookmarking and highlighting messages, budget planners, sending media within the travel app.

Wireframing

After deciding to work on a group messaging feature. We began to break down the solution into comprehensible segments to bring clarity for the further process of wireframing.

Solution statement to work on: Create a messaging feature that allows private as well as group chat and features like bookmarking and highlighting messages, budget planners, sending media within the travel app.

Breakdown

Private messaging — feature for sending text messages directly

Create a group — feature for discussing details of the travel plan

Features in the group —

• sending text messages: the average text exchange format like any group chat which allows the exchange of words, sending media (pictures, videos, and audio files), word search option, and message starring.
• budget planner option: questionnaire asking the members about their place, stay, food & activity preferences to generate an estimated budget for the trip.
• taking poll option: question with options to choose from for the members to settle any opposing opinions and see the majority vote.

First Iteration — Pen & Paper Wireframes

To start converting our solution into a product, we had to start somewhere, after dodging between some websites and discussing how to begin, we made pen to paper wireframes based on our understanding.

Messaging flow — Rough Sketches

Budget Planning Flow #1 — Rough Sketches

Budget Planning Flow #2 — Rough Sketches

Second Iteration — Low Fidelity Wireframes (on Procreate)

Not very different from the pen and paper wireframes, we moved on to creating wireframes on procreate. After analyzing our pen-to-paper wireframes, we concluded that each member had a different idea of how the screen would appear. It was not a wise idea, to begin with, but with exhausted brains and aching backs, we went ahead anyway.

So after the realization, we decided to run away! Just kidding. We decided to run another exercise but this time, together. We made the following wireframes while coordinating with each other.

Lo-Fi Wireframes for the Group Creation Flow

Image 1: In image one, there are three screens. Contact, chat, and group. The ‘contact’ depicts the person who can be added, the ‘chat’ depicts a group of friends planning their trip and the ‘group’ depicts an option to add members to a group and form the group.

This iteration did not work at all. We realized our focus is not on creating the group but on what the group itself brings to the table. These wireframes did not support our validation and solution and thus were not taken forward.

Lo-Fi Wireframes for the Group Messaging Flow

Image 2: In image one, there are three screens. Home, group, and poll. ‘Home’ depicts the person who can be added, the ‘chat’ depicts the users’ home screen where they will be able to message individual people and groups. The screen also had a red button to create a new group. In the second screen, ‘group’ depicts all the members of the group being able to talk to each other, and in-screen three ‘poll’ depicts the option of sending a poll to resolve any difference in preferences. This iteration did work for this stage. All the screens from this were relevant and could be taken forward. We realized our focus is not on creating the group but on what the group itself brings to the table.

Lo-Fi Wireframes for the Budget Planning Flow

Image 3: In this image, the 6 screens are describing the process of a budget planner. Screen 1 to 5 ask for users’ preferences and the last screen depicts an estimated budget for their desired trip. This iteration worked as well and was taken forward.

User Flow

Initial User Flow

After making wireframes for our main options in the group messaging features, we moved on to deciding the flow of the user.

While building the user flow, we came to a standstill where the feature of the budget planner did not have a further step due to assumptions about the nature of the behaviors that might occur. While our wireframe iteration worked, the was a missing link in the flow and navigation which lead to conducting another analysis.

Re-analysis of the Flow to Support Wireframes for the UI

Considering the nature of the problem and timeline, we relied on some common utopian assumptions -

The budget planner will work provided — -Members will not be lazy in the group -Members will be eager to fill up the questionnaire -Members would have similar preferences

Revised User Flow

Revised User Flow

The revised user flow brought in clarity. With the help of the revised user flow, we began working on the user interface on the app — with our base app as ‘ixigo’ — a travel planning and booking app. While working on the user interface screens, we realized there were still some missing links in terms of navigation. So we regrouped and made multiple iterations to support the navigation.

User Interface

Traditionally, making the user interface is a process that comes after making low or high-fidelity wireframes, although this is jugaad-a-thon — so catching up with the time crunch, we followed the revised user flow with a combination of low fidelity wireframe iterations to create our UIs!

A First Cut

Following are the first UI iterations that we made based on the revised flow

A First Cut on the Budget Planner Screens

A First Cut on the Chat and Poll Screens

The iterations shown above gave us a clear direction, although we soon concluded that for the screens to work we would need better and clearer navigation.

Final UI

After reassessing our first UI iterations and redoing our navigation. We formed the following UI Screens -

Base App — IXIGO

Ixigo

We broke the flow into 2 halves -

• Exchanging texts and media in order to communicate
• Comprehending each person’s preferences to provide an estimated budget for the plan

Exchanging texts and media in order to communicate

Effective Communication Screens

• The user can click on the ‘what’s new’ banner on the home screen of the app.
• On the second screen, the user can see their friends and groups created to plan their trip.
• In the third screen, users can send a poll to ask questions, take suggestions or resolve a conflict.
• In the fourth screen, the users can keep seeing the poll (whenever they wish to) to track the progress of the poll.
• In the fifth screen, the users can switch from the chat screen to the plan screen to plan trips through tools provided by the app.

Comprehending each person’s preferences to provide an estimated budget for the plan

Trip Planner Screens

In the second flow, there are 7 UI screens.

• In the first screen, the user can go to the ‘more’ section to access the trip planning option. This is the second way the user can use to get access to this feature.
• In the second screen, a wizard opens asking for the destination and date that the users want to opt for.
• From screens 3 to 6, the app asks the users’ preferences to calculate an estimated budget.
• In the last screen, the app shows the estimated budget and options to edit it in case the users want to make changes.

Conclusion

Someone said (us), and we quote -

“Six people, 48 hours — we will take turns to sleep, turn to work and it should be done.”

Little did we know this is going to be a crazy ride. While we have all done projects at different paces and timelines, this experience was a special one. This hackathon helped us build confidence in ourselves and definitely made us believe (with proof) that if we come together and focus our attention on something, we can achieve it regardless of the time!

This project was also a very clear testament to the fact that UX is not a linear process. We cannot follow a step-by-step guide to reach a conclusion; so going back & forth and making iterations is extremely important.

We started as strangers who didn’t even know each others’ names and are taking along with us a friendship of a lifetime — thank you for following our journey.

Signing off (and going to sleep),
The Backpackers