Unifying fragmented booking into a 45% faster travel experience

Unified booking, approvals, and expense flows into a single streamlined experience.

Summary

Led the end-to-end UX redesign of Happay Travel, transforming fragmented booking workflows into a cohesive experience that achieved 89% policy compliance and 3.2× user adoption.

45%

Faster Booking

Reduced end-to-end booking time

89%

Policy Compliance

Vs. 52% pre-redesign baseline

3.2×

Adoption Rate

Post-launch user growth

The problem space

Happay's Travel and Expense benchmark report revealed that 78% of enterprises were still using manual or semi-automated travel management. But "fixing corporate travel" is vague, we needed to find the right level of the problem to solve.

The Fragmented Landscape

Email-based approvals

Trip requests and approvals happening through endless email chains

Multiple platforms

Flights, hotels, and expenses managed across 4+ different systems

No visibility

Finance teams struggling to track spending and ensure policy compliance

THE PROBLEM

~9 days to book a business trip

Manual workflows, coordination overhead, and fragmented tools created massive delays.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Unified trip-based platform

Single destination for end-to-end travel with built-in policy compliance.

There is no single platform with complete trip management, approvals and bookings happen through emails.

- Happay T&E Benchmark Report, 2018

Defining the right problem

Before jumping into solutions, I facilitated an Abstraction Laddering workshop with stakeholders to ensure we were solving the right problem at the right level.

Abstraction Laddering

↑ WHY? (Abstract) ↓ HOW? (Concrete)

Too abstract

How might we help employees be more productive?

Opens too many solution spaces, not actionable.

Abstract

How might we reduce time spent on administrative tasks?

Still broad, but directionally useful.

Sweet spot

How might we unify the corporate travel booking experience?

Actionable scope with clear, measurable success criteria.

Concrete

How might we reduce clicks in the flight booking flow?

Useful for optimisation, but misses systemic issues.

Too concrete

How might we add a "corporate only" filter to search?

A feature, not a problem - limits creative thinking.

Why this level?

"Unify the corporate travel booking experience" was the right scope because:

Specific enough to measure (booking time, compliance rate, adoption)
Broad enough to allow multiple solution approaches
Addresses root cause (fragmentation) not just symptoms (slow booking)
Aligns with business goal, platform stickiness through Travel and Expense integration

Key Outcome

The laddering workshop aligned stakeholders who had different mental models. Finance saw "expense compliance," Product managers saw "faster bookings," and travel admins saw "fewer support tickets." The unified frame helped everyone rally around a shared goal.

From problem to opportunity

With the right level defined, I reframed the problem as an actionable design challenge.

Initial Brief

"Redesign the travel booking platform experience"

Vague, no success criteria defined

→

Reframed Challenge

"Create a unified trip-based booking experience that achieves 90% policy compliance and reduces booking time by 50%"

Measurable, time-bound, user-centered

Hypothesis

Based on the problem framing, I developed testable hypothesis to guide design decisions:

Trip-based cart reduces booking time

If we use a trip-based cart model that groups flights, hotels, and transport together, users will complete bookings significantly faster than the fragmented multi-platform workflow.

→ Measure: End-to-end completion time < 5 min

Inline policy visibility reduces violations

If we surface policy compliance indicators inline during search — rather than blocking or hiding non-compliant options — users will make compliant choices with less anxiety and fewer escalations.

→ Measure: Policy compliance rate > 90%

Top navigation improves feature discoverability

If we replace the side navigation with a horizontal top nav pattern, users will find key features faster and the content area will feel less cluttered in a data-heavy booking interface.

→ Measure: Task completion in < 3 clicks

Smart recommendations increase cross-bookings

If we auto-populate hotel and transport searches based on the flight already in the trip, users will add more products per trip instead of dropping off after the first booking.

→ Measure: Multi-product trips > 40%

Research insights

Through 12 stakeholder interviews and 8 contextual inquiry sessions, I validated the problem framing and uncovered three key insights:

Users think in "trips," not products

Mental model centred on the complete journey, not individual bookings. Directly validates a trip-based architecture over a product-first IA.

Policy anxiety causes abandonment

Fear of non-compliance led to excessive manager check-ins before booking. Validates the need for inline policy indicators to build confidence early.

Mobile is critical for frequent travelers

67% of frequent travelers needed to modify bookings while on the road. Validates a mobile-first approach and real-time itinerary access.

Key design decisions

Based on research and problem framing, I made four strategic design decisions:

01 Trip-Based architecture

Problem

Users booking flights, hotels, and transport as separate, unlinked transactions

Solution

Unified "trip" container that holds all products like a shopping cart

Rationale

Aligns with mental model from research; enables trip-level policy checks in one view

02 Transparent policy indicators

Problem

Original design hid non-compliant options, returning zero results for some users

Solution

Show all options with compliance badges; violations explained and contextualised, not hidden

Rationale

Transparency builds trust; users understand why options require approval rather than hitting dead ends

03 Top navigation

Problem

Side nav cramped content area in a data-heavy booking interface

Solution

Horizontal top navigation to maximise the content area for search results and itinerary

Rationale

Validated with 5-user test; aligns with patterns in TripActions and Concur that users already know

04 Smart recommendations

Problem

After booking a flight, users had to manually restart a hotel search from scratch

Solution

Auto-populate hotel search based on flight destination and dates already in the trip

Rationale

Reduces friction between bookings; increases hotel attachment rate and overall trip completeness

Final designs

With insights from the framework sessions, style guide, and design system, I moved on to designing and prototyping the full travel booking experience across web and mobile.

Policy rules are surfaced directly within search, helping employees book faster while staying compliant.

Advanced filters and rich hotel details help travelers choose stays that match policy and preferences.

Comprehensive property pages give travelers confidence with transparent details before booking.

Map and list views work together to help travelers compare stays by location and price.

Mobile-first hotel pages bring essential details together for faster decisions on the go.

Thoughtful empty states guide users forward and reduce friction when no results are found.

Detailed fare breakdowns and itinerary views help travelers make informed booking decisions.

Inline insurance options help travelers add protection seamlessly during booking.

Results & impact

Post-launch tracking validated 5 of 6 hypotheses within 90 days:

Trip completion time

< 5 min

4.2 min

✓ Validated

Policy compliance

> 90%

89%

✓ Validated

Navigation task clicks

< 3

2.4

✓ Validated

Multi-product trips

> 40%

38%

◐ Partial

Corporate toggle usage

> 70%

76%

✓ Validated

45%

Faster Booking

Reduced booking time

89%

Compliance

Policy adherence rate

3.2x

Adoption

User growth post-launch

Key Learning

"Solving the right problem matters more than solving the problem right. Abstraction laddering gave us shared language where stakeholders had been talking past each other."

Unifying fragmented booking into a 45% faster travel experience

Reimagining an insurance app as a protection platform

Transformed challan into a product-led growth feature driving 3M+ installs