Airbnb Rewards
designing a rewards program for guests for Airbnb's mobile app
*This was a conceptual project completed for Designlab's UX Academy
About Airbnb
Airbnb is an online marketplace that connects people who want to rent out their home ('hosts') with travelers looking for unique accommodations ('guests'). The platform first launched in 2008 as a cheaper alternative to hotels, connecting guests who were attending conferences with hosts who had a spare mattress. Since then, Airbnb has established itself as a lead competitor in the travel industry; in 2021, it was valued at $113 billion (USD), with over 150 million people using Airbnb to book stays or experiences.
Problem
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the travel and tourism industry in March 2020 as many countries closed or restricted their borders to travelers. Despite the availability of vaccines and booster shots and many countries lifting travel restrictions, many people may reduce travel out of fear of contracting the virus. Airbnb is looking to find a way to increase customer bookings and revitalize the travel and tourism industry post-pandemic.
Solution
Design a rewards program that offers perks and benefits to members to encourage booking stays on Airbnb and embed it seamlessly within Airbnb's mobile app.
How might we...
... encourage users to stay in Airbnbs over hotels?
... increase customer loyalty and retention?
... make Airbnb more affordable and accessible?
Conducting Market Research to Better Understand the Travel Industry Post-Pandemic
Given the dynamic nature of the pandemic, it was important to be aware of headlines and new developments happening particularly in the travel industry. Through conducting market research I discovered the following insights:
Demand for travel is high: Worldwide travel and tourism revenues are forecast to reach $716.8 billion in 2022 (up 45% from 2021)
(link) Plane tickets sold in July 2022 were
35% higher than tickets sold in July 2019
(link)The experience economy is a major trend in the travel industry; travelers crave to have more authentic experiences while on vacation instead of going to top tourist attractions
(link)I also looked into rewards programs and learned about the following:
There are different types of loyalty programs: points-based, tiered, paid, and value-based
As many as
84% of consumers say they’re more apt to stick with a brand that offers a loyalty program
(link)The goal of a rewards program must be “to develop a system through which customers are continually educated about the rewards of loyalty and motivated to earn them”
(link)Competitive Analysis
Since Airbnb Rewards is a rewards program nested within a travel app, I did an analysis of Airbnb’s top competitors in the travel industry and looked at companies that have robust loyalty programs to understand their strengths and weaknesses and give me a better sense of how to model Airbnb Rewards.
User Interviews
While I was able to gain a better understanding of the travel industry through secondary research, I wanted to know how people felt about Airbnb specifically and what some of their experiences have been using the platform to book stays. I interviewed 4 people, varying in age and occupations, who regularly travel (at least 3 times a year) and have used Airbnb to book travel arrangements. These interviews were all conducted remotely via Zoom.
Key Takeaways
100% of participants stated that they prefer to stay in Airbnbs over hotels because it is cheaper and provides them with a more personal and unique experience
100% of participants value getting deals when traveling and price check to get the cheapest flight
75% of participants are active members of rewards programs through their credit card company and use travel points when booking flights
“Having more of those moments of delight for the customer would be beneficial because Airbnb already has a cult following for the experiences it helps create”
- Nina
Overall, participants had mostly positive things to say about Airbnb and have already traveled at least once this year (either domestically or internationally), indicating that they are slowly feeling comfortable in traveling again. The insights from my user interviews helped to validate my assumption that there would be general interest in Airbnb Rewards.
User Persona
In order to better focus on our users, I created a persona using the insights gathered from my primary and secondary research.
Defining Airbnb Rewards
Using my research findings, I started brainstorming what perks and benefits Airbnb Rewards would offer users, which was slightly challenging since Airbnb doesn’t offer any products of their own, but rather operates as a service, connecting guest(s) and host(s) on one platform. I had to take into consideration Airbnb’s business model and think creatively about what Airbnb could realistically offer for “free” through this program. I ultimately combined perks from travel and retail companies with robust rewards programs to construct Airbnb Rewards.
Now that I had a clearer vision of the business impact of Airbnb Rewards, I had to figure out how to embed it within Airbnb's existing product.
Mobile Sitemap
I started with the existing sitemap of Airbnb and thought practically of where and how the user could engage with Airbnb Rewards.
I decided there would be a banner on the landing screen advertising Airbnb Rewards; that banner would contain a CTA button where if tapped, the user can learn more about the rewards program and sign up for it.
I also wanted to create a separate profile screen that contains details of the user’s Airbnb Rewards account - I decided to nest it under the Profile Settings screen since it is related to the user’s account.
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Task and User Flows
I created a task flow and user flow for booking a stay using Airpoints as an existing Airbnb Rewards member. This helped me to visualize the path the user would take to complete this action and the order of the mobile screens to design. Initially, I thought of including a toggle switch on the Explore screen where if switched on, the user can view the stays in Airpoints instead of dollars. However, after receiving some feedback from my mentor, we decided it was unnecessary to include since it was just adding on an extra step for the user to take.
style tile
I created a Style Tile to define the colors, typefaces, and icons I would be using in my hi-fidelity design.
usability testing
I recruited 6 people and conducted mostly unmoderated usability tests - 5 participants completed the test on Maze and 1 participant completed in a 1:1 session on Zoom as I observed them navigating through the prototype. Conducting unmoderated tests on Maze allowed me to efficiently collect raw data on how exactly my participants were navigating through the app (via heatmaps) and reach a larger participant pool.
The participants had to complete the following tasks:
- Log in to their Airbnb account via 2-Factor Authentication
- Learn more about Airbnb Rewards
- Sign up for an Airbnb Rewards account
- Search for a stay in Manhattan from Nov 15-21 for 2 adults
- Book the stay using a combination of airpoints + cash
- Navigating to their Airbnb Rewards profile
I measured the success of my prototype in the following ways:
- Low misclick rate (<10%)
- Low to none Uncompleted Missions (<1)
- Minimal time spent on each screen (<10 seconds)
Key Takeaways
The two main areas where participants struggled were 1) applying the Airpoints at checkout and 2) navigating to the ‘My Airbnb Rewards’ screen from the Booking Confirmation screen
- Avg misclick rate of 54% (applying Airpoints at checkout)
- Avg duration of 53.3s to complete task
- Avg misclick rate of 60.9% (navigating to My Airbnb Rewards)
- 1 participant abandoned mission altogether
- Participants were able to successfully log in and create an Airbnb Rewards account with no misclicks
final prototype
final outcomes
what worked
Almost all of my usability test participants understood how Airbnb Rewards worked, indicating that the ‘Learn More’ screen successfully communicated the value of having an Airbnb Rewards account. A few even commented how they wish the feature was real! This further validated my assumption that there is a broader need and interest in a feature like Airbnb Rewards.
business value/impact
If Airbnb Rewards were to ship, I believe it would help Airbnb increase guest retention and acquisition. While all of my interview participants really enjoy staying at Airbnbs because of the unique and personal experience it provides, they still occasionally stay in hotels, especially if it’s cheaper. Airbnb Rewards would be an added incentive for users to choose Airbnb over hotels, which would continue to make them a lead competitor in the travel industry.
areas for improvement
airpoints + cash
I included the airpoints + cash payment method as part of Airbnb Rewards because in my competitor research I saw that JetBlue had included this perk under their TrueBlue rewards program and thought it was great in giving users more flexibility and options for payment, particularly those who don’t have enough points to cover an entire flight. I assumed that users would understand how it works and that I could implement it smoothly within Airbnb Rewards. My usability tests showed otherwise; many users struggled with applying the points at checkout. I would be interested in seeing if my v2 iteration (changing the Payment methods section from a radio button to drop down menu) is successful in addressing this problem.
conducting a survey on members of travel rewards programs
Hindsight, I think it would have been helpful if I had conducted a survey on people who use travel rewards programs when booking flights/hotels to see what aspects of the program they value most and how often they use it since I would have additional data points and context to work with when fleshing out Airbnb Rewards, instead of relying solely on competitor analysis.
