“Travel Pirates”: Mobile App Case Study

“Travel Pirates”: Mobile App Case Study

UI/UX Design | Case Study | Competitive Analysis | User Persona | User Journey Map | Redesign | Prototyping

Contents

About the Project

TravelPirates.com is a popular travel deals website and mobile app that helps users find affordable vacations, discounted flights, hotels, and package deals. While TravelPirates is an invaluable resource for travelers who don’t have time to search for deals, its user experience could be significantly improved.

This project was developed as part of my MDIA 2540 UI/UX Strategy 1 course. I saw the task of creating a case study as an exciting opportunity to apply my redesign skills in a practical way—enhancing a platform that aligns with my passion for finding easy ways to travel the world.

Problem Statement

In this case study I have made it my goal to redesign the US branch of the HolidayPirates platform called TavelPirates to create a smoother user experience. As the app redirects the user to the TravelPirates website in order to view the travel deal, I will be studying both the app and the mobile version of the TravelPirates website.

To achieve my goal, I followed a structured UX process:

  1. Empathize with the users
  2. Define user pain points
  3. Ideate new solutions
  4. Prototype high-fidelity mockups using Figma
  5. Test and validate proposed solutions

This allowed me to understand user needs deeply and redesign features that would optimize the experience for budget-conscious travelers.

Empathize

The first step of my UX process was understanding and empathizing with the users. What problems do they encounter while booking a trip on TravelPirates? What is missing from their experience that would make it seamless?  To answer these questions, I started with researching the app and identifying its strengths and weaknesses.

 

Website Analysis

TravelPirates operates in the competitive budget travel space offering a variety of deals on flights, hotels, and vacation packages. Their expert editorial team searches for cheap travel deals, vouchers, error fares. This curated approach is what makes this platform unique – it helps users discover deals they wouldn’t typically find on traditional travel booking sites.

After analyzing the TravelPirates app, I singled out the main problem, which can be seen on different pages of the app – there is not enough filters inside the app:

  • The explore page lacks a clear structure, with deals spread randomly across the screen and limited filtering options for user input. This page is more suited for browsing than detailed searching.
  • The Last-Minute Deals section in the app lacks any filtering options, which can be inconvenient for users trying to find a deal in a rush.

 

 

Insufficient Filters on Explore Page

No Filters in "Last Minute Deals" Section

Define

In the next stage of my UX process I attempted to define the archetypes of the TravelPirates’ ideal users and to identify, what problems they encounter within their interaction with the travel aggregator.

Based on the distinctive features of TravelPirates, I made a hypothesis of the demographics and psychographics of their ideal users:

  • Millenials and Gen Z: highly active online, value seamless mobile experiences, and rely on apps or websites for booking travel. They appreciate user-friendly interfaces, social media integration, and personalization features.
  • Students or Young Professionals: Often on tight budgets, these users appreciate lower-cost travel options and discounts on youth-oriented experiences.
  • Social media-driven people: They are influenced by online reviews, user-generated content, and influencer recommendations. Gamification, referral programs, and real-time notifications about deals could appeal to them.
  • Individuals traveling alone for exploration, self-discovery, or personal interests.
  • Last-Minute Travelers: Often spontaneous or seeking deals, are looking for last-minute flight, hotel, and package deals.

User Persona, User Scenario and Journey Map

Next, I created a user persona to further deepen the understanding of the ideal user’s motivations and frustrations when using TravelPirates. To visualize how this persona would interact with the platform in a real-life situation, I added a user scenario. I find that these tools provide valuable insights and help me stay user-centered throughout the whole UX process.

You can find the user persona and the user scenario in the flipbook.

The developed user scenario helped me visualize how an ideal user might experience the TravelPirates app, which I detailed in a journey map to identify potential pain points along their journey. You can open the journey map through this link: Journey Map Final

 

 

User Persona and User Scenario

Competitive Analysis

With a clear understanding of the user’s journey, I conducted a competitive analysis to see how TravelPirates compares to other travel platforms in terms of functionality and user experience. I included 2 competitors of TravelPirates – Skyscanner and Hopper.

Skyscanner

Strenghts:

  • Minimalist interface prioritizes a fast and intuitive search experience
  • AI powered personalized recommendations
  • Flexible search system

Weaknesses:

  • Since Skyscanner redirects to third-party sites for booking, users experience issues with inconsistent service or hidden fees when dealing with external partners
  • Limited customer service if issues arise during the third-party booking process
  • No package deals

 

 

Convenient Search System

 

Personalized Recommendations

 

Comprehensive Filters

 

Categories on the Home Page

 

Trips Page

 

Referral Bonus Points Page

Hopper

Strenghts:

  • Homepage is structured into categories. Environmental initiatives, referral bonuses displayed on the homepage engage the user
  • Separate page for upcoming trips – convenient in preparation for the trip
  • Separate page showing the earned referral bonuses

Weaknesses:

  • Limited Desktop Experience
  • Hopper’s closed ecosystem discourages third-party bookings, which may limit deal flexibility and discourage some users
  • Lacks direct support channels for urgent booking issues

Pain Points

After thoroughly analyzing the TravelPirates app, developing an understanding of the ideal user, and conducting a competitive analysis, I identified several key pain points that users may experience while interacting with the app:

  1. Overwhelming Number of Deals Leading to Decision Fatigue

Design Impact: The explore page can feel cluttered, with too many deals packed closely together. The filters, particularly in the last-minute section, are insufficiently refined, which undermines the purpose of a quick and straightforward last-minute booking experience.

 

  1. Excessive Redirections to External Websites

User Experience: When browsing for deals—especially last-minute offers—users are often redirected to third-party websites to complete bookings. Similarly, using the search bar in the app redirects users to the TravelPirates website and then onward to a third-party site to book. This process can be confusing, disrupting the user journey and potentially discouraging engagement.

  1. App Design Lacks a Welcoming, Engaging Experience

Community and Loyalty: The absence of rewards or loyalty programs conflicts with the company’s marketing strategy, which aims to build a community where users can share experiences and provide feedback on deals. This lack of recognition may leave users feeling unappreciated, as there’s clear benefit for providing feedback or recommending TravelPirates to others.

 

Support and Guidance: The app appears to focus heavily on deal browsing, leaving users without guidance once they are redirected to an external website for checkout. The absence of customer support during booking or pre-travel preparation stages may leave users feeling unsupported and isolated.

Ideate

Addressing the pain points led to the ideation phase, where I focused on features and layouts that could improve usability, streamline the user journey, and add value to the user experience. I expressed these ideas in the wireframe:

  • I focused on structuring the explore page by separating the content into distinctive categories
  • I decided to create an in-app deal profile to avoid unnecessary redirection to the website and to give users support during booking process by providing a customer support chat
  • I decided to redesign the last-minute deals section of the app to make it more structured
  • I created a new separate page, where the users can check all the necessary information about their upcoming or past trips

Prototype

From the wireframes, I developed high-fidelity mockups to further develop my ideas on solving the identified user problems - overwhelming number of deals, excessive redirection to external sources, lack of engaging user experience. The high-fidelity mockups and an explanation of the proposed changes can be viewed in the filpbook:

Test

For the testing phase I created an interactive prototype of the app in Figma and asked test users to perform some tasks. The feedback I received underscored the importance of refining navigation elements. To address these insights, I adjusted the design to improve user flow and enhance usability.

Feedback from the first testers

Conclusion

To conclude my UX case study, I would like to share a few things I learned.

First, empathising with the user is crucial to the UX process. I used a user persona, a task scenario, and a journey map to put myself into the user’s shoes and was amazed at my perspective transformed. By following the user throughout their entire journey, I began to understand what they might be feeling at different journey phases and what problems they face. It is remarkable how different the same experience can vary people. This highlights the importance of considering context in the UX process.

Second, it is important to stick to design best practices when creating UI elements. There is no point in being overly creative if it does not work well. According to Jakob’s Law, users want your site to look and function like the ones they are used to. So, using familiar design elements is a good idea, since it is what the users are looking for and what enhances usability.

References

To see references for this project, view Resources page.

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