Planning trips online had become overwhelming for users—dozens of tabs, scattered recommendations, and generic booking sites made it hard to create personalized travel experiences. The client wanted to leverage AI to simplify this process and make travel planning intuitive, smart, and human-centric. However, the early prototype lacked usability and emotional connection.
The goal was to redesign the experience to feel like having a smart, personal travel agent in your pocket. It needed to learn from users' preferences, budget, mood, and travel history—then deliver tailored itineraries, real-time recommendations, and seamless booking. The challenge was turning raw AI capabilities into a friendly, usable interface.
Approach
I began by mapping different user personas—solo travelers, families, digital nomads—and how they plan trips. I worked closely with the client’s AI team to understand data flows and personalization capabilities. From there, I designed conversational flows, intuitive trip builders, and feedback-driven suggestion loops, all while keeping the UI minimal yet emotionally engaging.
Design Execution
The app interface leaned on calming gradients, soft shadows, and modular cards for each day’s plan. I designed smart filters for destinations and activities, a dynamic “mood-based” itinerary builder, and real-time re-routing features. The booking flow was kept frictionless with one-swipe actions, AI summaries, and contextual travel tips built into the journey.
The Impact
The redesigned app led to a 62% increase in itinerary completion, and planning time was reduced by 40% on average. Users reported a significantly more enjoyable planning experience, with qualitative feedback highlighting the AI assistant as “surprisingly human” and “stress-relieving.” The client saw a notable rise in user retention and in-app bookings, positioning the app as a frontrunner in AI-powered travel solutions.
