Groupon Getaways — Hotel Booking App

The Problem

At Groupon, our data told us that our customers love to shop on their phones. The main Groupon app was extremely popular. Unfortunately, the Getaways product was buried on the app, so few people were using it.

The Hypothesis

If we create a lightweight, dedicated Groupon Getaways app, just for shopping for travel, then our customers would be more likely to be aware of it and would use it to book hotel deals.

The Project Story

My role: I provided UX direction for this app and my team worked on the design under my direction.

During early research, we noticed that customers were sometimes not sure where they wanted to travel to, but had a general idea of what they were looking for (ex. beach, skiing). We wanted to differentiate our offering in the travel marketplace by helping these “flexible intent” shoppers.

I had a very small team working on this project and aggressive deadlines. I worked with the stakeholders to help lock down requirements and go over some early concepts to gain alignment on direction. Then one of my designers worked on the core experience and features of the app. I reviewed his work, gave him feedback, and helped move the project forward. Towards the end of the project, I was also able to get additional help from a visual designer to add some refining touches.

Result

The app was received very positively from customers and received a 4.5 rating in the iOS app store, but eventually Groupon decided not to continue to invest in this app due to a strategic shift in priorities.