The Problem
Travelers waste hours comparing prices across dozens of booking sites. Business class flyers pay retail prices when wholesale deals exist—but aren't accessible to consumers.
My Role
Product Designer & Engineer — Owned the full product from concept to production:
- Product Design — User flows, wireframes, and visual design
- Frontend Development — Built the entire web application
- API Integrations — Connected multiple travel data providers
- Production Deployment — Infrastructure, monitoring, and optimization
The Solution
A travel meta-search engine that aggregates results from multiple providers:
- Unified Search — Flights, hotels, and car rentals in one interface
- Business Class Deals — Wholesale airline tickets for premium cabins
- Real-time Comparison — Prices from hundreds of sites simultaneously
- Smart Filters — Narrow results by price, duration, stops, airline
- Bidding Dashboard — Internal tool for users to bid on premium tickets
Bidding Dashboard
Built a separate admin dashboard where users can:
- Submit bids for business/first class tickets
- Track bid status in real-time
- Receive notifications when bids are accepted
- View historical bid performance and savings
Tech Stack
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Framework | Next.js |
| UI | Chakra UI |
| Rendering | SSR for SEO + fast initial load |
| APIs | Multiple travel aggregator integrations |
Design Decisions
Tab-based Navigation
Travel searches have distinct contexts (flights vs hotels vs cars). Instead of cramming everything into one form, I separated them into clear tabs—reducing cognitive load and error rates.
Trust Signals
Travel is high-stakes purchasing. Added prominent trust indicators:
- "Searching 100+ sites"
- Clear price breakdowns
- Familiar airline/hotel logos
Mobile-first Forms
Complex multi-field forms on mobile are painful. Prioritized touch targets, smart defaults, and progressive disclosure.
What I Learned
- Aggregator complexity — Each travel API has different rate limits, data formats, and pricing models
- Caching strategy matters — Stale prices = angry users. Fresh prices = slow searches. Found the balance.
- Conversion is in the details — Small UX improvements (autocomplete, date pickers, clear CTAs) had outsized impact