The project
A web based itinerary planner for one of the region's biggest leisure and entertainment destinations, with lots of venues, experiences and things to do.
Making a multi day visit easy to plan
A smart itinerary builder that helps families, couples and solo travellers plan a multi day visit across a destination packed with attractions.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Who it's for
Families, couples and solo travellers planning a visit that spans several days and several attractions.
OBJECTIVES
What success looked like for the business
Make planning simple
Take the stress out of planning a multi day visit across lots of different venues.
Keep people engaged
Give visitors a reason to explore more and spend more time on the platform.
Drive bookings
Turn plans into bookings and lift conversion across experiences.
THE PROCESS
How the project came together
- Step 1
Discovery
Competitor analysisPain points and personas
- Step 2
Strategy
Product case and roadmapUser flows and key features
- Step 3
Wireframes
Lo fi wireframesClient demos and iteration
- Step 4
Handoff
Prototypes and statesHandoff to UI design
RESEARCH & DISCOVERY
Seeing how others help people plan
I started by benchmarking 12 travel planners and destination sites, from Wanderlog and TripIt to Saadiyat Island and Visit Dubai, to see how they help people organise a multi day trip and where they fall short. I also reviewed booking widgets across hotel and travel sites to see how people pick dates, guests and rooms.
- Western Australia
- Wanderlog
- Saadiyat Island
- TripIt
- And more
WHAT WASN'T WORKING BEFORE
- Planning a day across several attractions felt clunky and disconnected.
- The old platform was hard to use on a phone, which is where most people were browsing.
PERSONAS
Three very different ways to plan a holiday
I brought the insights together into three personas, each with their own goals and frustrations.
The family trip planner
Juggling everyone's interests, nap times and budgets, and wants a plan that just works.
The last minute couple
Decides late and wants great suggestions fast, without hours of research.
The cultural traveller
Looking for meaningful experiences and wants to fit as much in as possible.
WHY BUILD IT
Making the case for an itinerary builder
The destination had an enormous amount to offer, but visitors were left to piece a multi day trip together on their own, often somewhere else. I proposed an itinerary builder as the missing link between inspiration and booking: it narrows the choice down to what suits each visitor, keeps them planning on the website, and leads them naturally into booking. To keep the first release realistic, I suggested we start simple and grow it in phases.
Start with: inform
A short wizard and pre-built itineraries by trip length and holiday type, linking out to existing product pages and booking.
Grow into: engage
Fully customisable itineraries, with content and tracking refined using what we learned from real visitors after launch.
Evolve to: convert
Deeper integration with the booking engine, so a whole itinerary can be booked online in one go.
PRODUCT STRATEGY
Defining the journey and the features that matter
I defined the key user flow, from finding experiences to building a plan and sharing it. With so much traffic coming from phones, we designed mobile first from day one.
- Step 1Discover experiences
- Step 2Build the itinerary
- Step 3Export and share
Key features we introduced
Drag and drop planning
Move experiences between days and times as easily as moving sticky notes.
Time estimates and conflict warnings
The plan flags when activities overlap or don't leave enough travel time.
Helpful filters
Browse by category, type of activity and how long it takes.
Mobile first design
Designed for phones first, since that's where most visitors were planning their trips.
Scenario mapping
Worked with product designers and developers to map the logic behind every scenario.
Clear content hierarchy
Mapped out what people see first and how they interact, so plans stay easy to scan on a small screen.
FEATURE SPOTLIGHT
An intent wizard that plans around what you're in the mood for
The heart of the builder was a short wizard that asks people what kind of holiday they want. Based on their answers, it suggests the activities that fit them best.
From there, they can make the trip their own: add, remove, swap or rearrange experiences across days with simple drag and drop.
To make planning a group effort, we added PDF export and shareable links so friends and family could plan together.
- Relaxation
- Adventure
- Family fun
- A bit of everything
WIREFRAMES & PROTOTYPES
Testing early and often
- I designed the low fidelity wireframes for every step, from the intent wizard to the day by day builder, so I could validate ideas early, before anything was polished.
- I walked the client through each version in regular demo calls, then updated the wireframes after every meeting based on their feedback and quick rounds of user testing.
- I then built interactive prototypes and interaction states for desktop and mobile, before handing over to the UI designer for high fidelity design.
WHERE AI HELPED
Working faster without cutting corners
I used AI to speed up the slower parts of the work: making sense of research, synthesising test notes and getting copy to a good first draft. Every output was a starting point that I checked and edited myself.
- Research
- Summarising and comparing features across travel planning and itinerary sites, so I could spot patterns faster during benchmarking.
- Guerrilla tests
- Grouping notes from guerrilla tests into recurring themes, then checking those themes against the original notes before acting on them.
- Copy & content
- Exploring wording for the wizard questions, labels and helper text to find copy that was clear, friendly and short enough for mobile.
REFLECTIONS
Looking back on the project
What worked well
- Making the case for a phased rollout gave the client a simple, realistic first release, while keeping the bigger vision of fully bookable itineraries in view.
- Demoing wireframes on client calls early meant feedback came in before anything was polished, so changes were quick and the developer handoff was smoother.
What I'd do differently
- I'd test the intent wizard with more real families and couples, to check the questions felt natural and the suggestions felt right.
- I'd track how often shared itineraries turn into bookings from day one, to build the evidence for the next phase of the roadmap.
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