AirBnb Redesign
CULTIVATING COMMUNITY ON AIRBNB
My Role: app UX, user research and interviews, wireframing, videography, advertising, marketing, art direction
Redesign concept: Airbnb Mates
Airbnb Mates is a new Airbnb feature that addresses issues of both safety and community. The concept is to allow users with similar travel plans to create groups, and then pick a stay together. This solves the need for more community by creating a more ‘hostel-like’ environment while also solving the need for more safety by providing reviewed companions for those that don’t feel safe traveling alone.
User Research
My first step was to go talk to users about their experience using Airbnb. Out of 8 interviews I did, there were three that really stood out to me.
Jailene
“I never book an Airbnb if there are no reviews, even if its cheap and the photos look nice. It just seems risky to me.”
Omar
“When I was traveling in Europe, I always stayed in hostels because it was an easy way to meet and hang out with other travelers. You just don’t get that with an Airbnb.”
Lydia
“I’ve felt unsafe staying in an Airbnb while traveling alone, to the point where sometimes I’ll book a hotel even though Airbnb is way cheaper.”
Insights and Questions
These interviews revealed two valuable insights, one being that in multiple different scenarios, women often don’t feel safe in Airbnbs, and the second one being that for some, there is a lack of community and companionship when staying in Airbnbs. This raised questions such as how can we create more community within Airbnb? Or how can we help women feel safer while using Airbnb? But when it became interesting is when I decided to consider both at the same time:
How might we increases users feelings of safety while simultaneously creating more community?
Brainstorming around this ‘how might we’ question resulted in a really interesting concept, which I’ve decided to call Airbnb Mates.
Brainstorm
Because I was designing the UX for a completely new concept, getting my ideas out on paper first was essential. Conceptualizing the flow was one of the hardest parts of this project because there were so many different options for how to implement this feature.
Wireframing
After my initial brainstorm, I mocked up a few wireframes to do a second round of user testing, making sure to stay in line with Airbnb’s current UI.
User Testing Round 2
"I would feel a lot safer knowing I was traveling with other trusted Airbnb users, but I wouldn’t want the process of finding a group to be too complicated.”
“I would feel bad being a part of a bunch of different groups, but only ending up with one.”
“I love the focus on community, but I feel like this is harder to book than a hostel. I feel like by the time I’ve found a group someone will have taken the home.”
Final UX Redesign
From the Airbnb landing page, there is an option to select mates
This brings you to the Airbnb Mates page, where you can specify dates, location, number of guests and other filters.
After filling in the information, a list will pop up with others who have similar travel plans and are also looking to create a group.
Clicking on a group will bring up brief summaries about each person in the group.
Clicking on a group member will bring you to a more detailed profile, with a longer bio and reviews from other people who have been mates with that individual.
You can send a request to join as many groups as you like.
From the groups perspective, the request will appear in their group chat with an option to accept or decline the individual. You would also be able to click on the individuals profile.
Once a group has been formed, group members can send each other housing options. When one is sent, there is an option to ‘book’ and when everyone in a group has agreed on a place, it will automatically be booked for them.
