BOOKME.COM
A UX case study focused on simplifying hotel booking through seamless and intuitive design.
BookMe is a fictional desktop hotel booking platform designed as part of a full end-to-end UX project.
The goal was to create a booking experience that feels clear, fast, and trustworthy, helping users confidently search, compare, and reserve accommodation without decision fatigue.
This project followed a structured UX process from research and analysis to interaction design, prototyping, and usability testing with a strong focus on clarity, information hierarchy, and user confidence.
Rather than simply replicating existing booking platforms, the challenge was to rethink how hotel discovery and decision making could feel simpler and more human.
UX Designer
1 months
Hotel Booking
Conducted competitive benchmarking by analysing major hotel booking platforms to identify usability gaps and industry conventions.
Observed real user behaviour through structured note-taking during usability sessions to capture pain points and decision patterns.
Moderated comparative usability testing to evaluate search, filtering, and booking workflows.
Synthesised research insights using affinity diagramming and customer journey mapping to define design priorities.
Designed user flows, interaction patterns, and wireframes to support a clearer booking journey.
Built high-fidelity interactive prototypes in Figma.
Documented annotations and design rationale to communicate decisions clearly.
Problem
Users struggled to search and book hotels confidently.
Search bar behaviour felt unintuitive, changing dates caused frustration, and key decision-making information such as amenities and pricing clarity often appeared too late. This created friction both when entering the system and when committing to a booking.
The experience slowed users down and increased hesitation.
Objectives
• Remove friction in destination search and date selection
• Make filtering visible and intuitive
• Surface essential booking information earlier
• Enable faster hotel comparison
• Reduce hesitation before confirmation
• Create a consistent, predictable navigation structure
Solutions
1.Redesigned the search experience to simplify destination entry and date selection
2.Made high-impact filters visible and easy to apply
3.Surfaced decision-critical information earlier in the flow
4.Strengthened visual hierarchy for faster scanning
5.Designed a transparent booking summary
6.Enabled comparison without breaking search flow
Discovery
I wanted to design a hotel booking experience grounded in real behaviour, not assumptions. Before exploring solutions, I focused on understanding how people actually search, compare, and commit when booking online.
I combined competitive benchmarking, observational note-taking, and moderated usability testing to build a full picture of user expectations, friction points, and decision patterns. Each method revealed a different layer of the booking experience, from interface conventions to emotional hesitation at checkout.
Competitive Benchmarking
I analysed leading booking platforms including Booking.com, Airbnb, Agoda, and Trivago to understand industry standards and user expectations. Rather than evaluating them as a customer, I approached them as a designer, studying structure, hierarchy, interaction patterns, and decision flows.
I paid particular attention to:
search behaviour and entry points
filtering systems
hotel comparison patterns
booking confirmation flows
visual clarity and cognitive load
Key Findings
Even feature-rich platforms struggled with balance. Simplicity consistently improved usability, while overloaded interfaces increased friction.
Common problems emerged:
cluttered filtering systems
outdated or hidden controls
weak feedback when users changed search parameters
inconsistent information hierarchy
This stage helped define the design conventions users already expect, and where innovation could reduce friction instead of adding novelty.
Observational Note-Taking
To move beyond competitor analysis, I observed real users booking hotels in moderated sessions. My goal wasn’t just task completion, it was understanding behaviour, hesitation, and decision logic.
I documented:
• user goals
• behavioural patterns
• moments of confusion
• emotional reactions
• positive interactions
Key Findings
Several friction points repeated across sessions:
• Search bars felt unintuitive and difficult to edit
• Users wanted essential booking information upfront
• Visual content strongly influenced decisions
• Amenities were hard to locate or incomplete
• Date changes caused disproportionate frustration
This revealed that the issue wasn’t just finding hotels, it was navigating uncertainty.
Usability Testing
I conducted a structured comparative usability test evaluating two booking platforms. The participant completed realistic booking scenarios while thinking aloud, allowing me to capture real-time reasoning and emotional cues.
Research Goals
• Understand decision triggers during hotel selection
• Identify friction in navigation
• Observe comparison behaviour
• Capture mental models around booking confidence
Key Findings
The participant immediately used the search bar as the entry point, ignoring surrounding content. This confirmed that search is the psychological starting line of the journey.
Decision priorities were consistent:
• price
• ratings
• location
• breakfast availability
• reviews
A small but important insight: opening hotels in new tabs supported comparison and reduced fear of losing search progress.
Affinity Diagram
I started by reviewing all the research I had gathered across
Competitive Benchmarking
Note Taking
Usability Testing
I created individual Post-it notes for each meaningful observation, whether it was a user pain point, a goal, a behaviour, or a mental model. Each note captured just one insight, written clearly and concisely.
Key Findings
While user feedback covered a variety of areas, I prioritised key themes that consistently affected the user experience:
Website Navigation – Users wanted a clear, intuitive layout.
Easy Destination Search – Quick, accurate results were essential.
Filters –Key filters needed to be visible and easy to use.
Confident Booking – Users needed clear summaries to feel secure.
These insights became the foundation for my design decisions.
Customer Journey Mapping
Using insights from the affinity diagram, I created a customer journey map to visualise each step of the booking process. It highlighted user goals, pain points, and positive moments helping me identify where the experience could be improved and guiding key design decisions.
My customer journey map captures each step of the hotel booking experience from initial search to booking confirmation through the lens of real user behaviour. It includes user goals, behaviours, mental models, pain points, and positive points, structured into a clear and cohesive flow.
This structured artefact helped me translate raw research into a visual, story driven map that guided my design decisions and kept the user’s voice central throughout the process.
Results
To translate research into a practical solution, I followed a structured design process focused on clarity, iteration, and user intent. The goal was not just to design screens, but to design a coherent journey that reduces friction and supports confident decision-making.
Flow Diagram
I began by mapping the end-to-end booking journey, from homepage entry to final confirmation. Creating a flow diagram allowed me to visualise every step users would take, identify required screens, and validate navigation logic before moving into interface design.
This early structure ensured the experience felt predictable, efficient, and free of unnecessary detours.
Interaction Design
With the flow defined, I explored screen behaviour through hand-drawn sketches. These low-fidelity explorations focused on layout hierarchy, interaction patterns, and realistic UI components such as calendars, dropdowns, and filtering systems.
Sketching multiple variations allowed rapid iteration and helped surface stronger design directions before committing to digital execution.
Prototyping
After finalising the interaction concepts, I translated the designs into a high-fidelity Figma prototype. Each screen was built with real content, consistent visual language, and clickable interactions to simulate a realistic booking experience.
This step transformed abstract ideas into a tangible system ready for walkthrough testing and evaluation.
Key Interface Decisions
Homepage
The homepage was designed around one dominant user intention: searching immediately.
• Minimal navigation to reduce cognitive load
• Clean visual hierarchy supported by travel imagery
• Subtle promotional content placed below the search area
• Strong, visible call-to-action buttons
The interface prioritises action over distraction, guiding users directly into the booking flow.
Hotel Listing & Selection
The listing page supports fast comparison and confident browsing.
• Persistent, visible filters (Free Cancellation, Breakfast, Pay Later)
• Sorting controls for price and rating
• Structured hotel cards with key details at a glance
The layout reduces scanning effort while preserving depth for users who want more information.
Booking Confirmation
The booking step was designed to maximise trust.
• Clear summary of hotel, dates, guests, and pricing
• Progress indicator to reassure users
• Currency transparency
• Minimal visual noise
The interface focuses attention on completion without pressure or confusion.
Annotations
To clearly communicate how each screen works, I added annotations to my prototype. These explain the logic behind key interactions, layout choices, and content placement.
Annotations ensured that anyone reviewing the prototype could understand the intent behind each design choice, making the experience easy to interpret and ready for handoff or testing.
Reflections
Working through a full end-to-end process taught me the value of structure. Research grounded my assumptions, analysis clarified priorities, and iteration strengthened every design decision. I began to see interfaces not as screens, but as systems that influence behaviour and trust.
If I continued this project, I would integrate usability testing at more stages of the design cycle and prioritise accessibility from the beginning. Designing for inclusivity isn’t an afterthought, it’s a responsibility.
