Solavia
Transforming complex travel planning into a seamless and conversion-focused Flights + Hotels experience
Role: Lead Product Designer
Team: Collaborated with 4 Product Designers in a cross-functional agile team
Duration: 4 months
Platform: Web (responsive design for mobile, tablet, desktop)
Solavia is a travel booking platform focused on simplifying trip discovery and reducing friction across the end-to-end booking journey. As Lead Product Designer, I drove the UX strategy and product design direction for the Flights + Hotels foundation, helping transform a complex travel planning experience into a scalable, intuitive, and conversion-focused platform.
I partnered closely with stakeholders, product managers, engineers, business analysts, and fellow designers to align user needs with business goals, technical feasibility, and long-term platform scalability.
The Challenge
Travel planning platforms often overwhelm users with fragmented booking flows, unclear package options, and excessive decision-making complexity. Solavia needed to create a seamless Flights + Hotels experience that balanced inspiration, personalization, transparency, and efficiency.
The challenge was to:
Simplify trip discovery without reducing flexibility
Improve booking clarity and pricing transparency
Deliver personalized recommendations based on traveler context and preferences
Reduce cognitive load across multi-step booking flows
Build a scalable experience foundation for future expansion
Impact & Outcomes
Reduced trip planning time by 15% through streamlined discovery and booking flows
Increased user engagement by 20% with curated recommendations and contextual personalization
Improved booking confidence by 10% through clearer pricing, package transparency, and simplified decision-making
Increased traveler retention by 8% by improving bundle clarity and reducing friction during checkout
Established a scalable modular Experience Design System to support future product growth and consistency across journeys
Achieved 80%+ traveler satisfaction based on usability testing and post-launch feedback
My Role as Lead Product Designer
As Lead Product Designer, I led product design initiatives across discovery, booking, and checkout experiences while contributing to product strategy, research, systems thinking, and cross-functional alignment.
Alongside leadership responsibilities, I also contributed hands-on product design work in Figma, including UX flows, interaction patterns, prototyping, interface design, and design system refinement.
Key Responsibilities
Leading UX strategy and end-to-end product design for the Flights + Hotels experience
Facilitating collaboration between design, product, engineering, and business stakeholders
Conducting user research, usability testing, and journey mapping
Designing user flows, interaction patterns, and high-fidelity UI screens in Figma
Defining scalable interaction patterns and reusable design components
Translating business requirements and user insights into intuitive user experiences
Driving iterative design improvements through agile delivery cycles
Contributing to the creation of a modular Experience Design System
Ensuring accessibility, usability, and consistency across the platform
Discovery & Research
I co-led research initiatives to better understand traveler behaviors, booking expectations, and pain points across different experience levels — from first-time travelers to experienced explorers.
Research Activities
Stakeholder workshops
Competitive analysis
User interviews
Journey mapping
Persona development
Usability testing
Key Insights
Users experienced decision fatigue during trip discovery
Booking bundles lacked transparency and clarity
Travelers needed more contextual recommendations and guidance
Existing booking experiences created friction across checkout flows
These insights informed a user-centered design strategy focused on clarity, confidence, personalization, and scalability.
Traveler Segments & Personas
Research identified three primary traveler behaviors that shaped the product strategy and booking experience.
Sofia - Experience-Driven Explorer (28)
Travelers seeking inspiration, flexibility, and curated recommendations while discovering destinations and travel packages.
Needs
Personalized destination suggestions
Visual inspiration and discovery
Flexible planning options
Simplified comparison experiences
Pain Points
Too many fragmented options
Overwhelming search experiences
Lack of contextual recommendations
Toni - The Efficiency-Focused Planner (34)
Users prioritizing speed, clarity, and efficient booking experiences with minimal friction.
Needs
Fast booking flows
Clear package information
Transparent pricing
Streamlined checkout experiences
Pain Points
Multi-step booking complexity
Hidden fees and unclear pricing
Redundant form inputs
Marta - The Budget-Conscious Traveler (45)
Travelers highly sensitive to pricing transparency, bundled savings, and cancellation flexibility.
Needs
Transparent pricing breakdowns
Flexible cancellation options
Bundle savings visibility
Trustworthy comparison experiences
Pain Points
Unexpected costs
Lack of trust in package pricing
Difficulty comparing offers
Product Design & UX Strategy
I helped shape a scalable booking experience focused on reducing friction and improving traveler confidence throughout the journey.
Core Product Design Initiatives
Designing personalized trip discovery experiences
Simplifying bundled Flights + Hotels booking flows
Improving pricing visibility and cancellation transparency
Creating contextual recommendation systems
Streamlining onboarding and checkout experiences
Defining reusable UX patterns for scalability and consistency
The experience was designed to support both exploratory browsing and efficient task completion while balancing user needs with business objectives.
Design Exploration & UI Execution
Alongside leading the product design direction, I actively contributed to hands-on design execution in Figma.
My design contributions included:
User flow creation
Wireframing and rapid ideation
High-fidelity UI design
Interactive prototyping
Interaction and motion design
Component system refinement
Responsive layouts and booking interfaces
1. Discovery & Search Experience
Search bar for departure, destination, travel dates, travelers, rooms, and flight class
Visual filters highlighting top recommended destinations
Carousel for seasonal highlights and promotions
Sponsored content to support curated recommendations
Editable search bar for refining trips
Hotel recommendations tailored to search criteria, motivations, and budget, including loyalty points earned
Additional hotels with filters for rating, distance, and facilities
2. Flights + Hotels Bundle Flow
Additional hotels with filters for rating, distance, and facilities
Pre-selected cheapest room with catering and cancellation policies
Selected hotel summary integrated for bundled flight + hotel view
Recommended flights, pre-selected for convenience, with class, baggage, stops, CO₂ savings, and loyalty points
Additional flight options with filters for departure time and number of stops
3. Checkout Experience
Summary of selected hotel and flights
Price breakdown with flights + hotels, local payment, and total.
Leader traveler and additional travelers’ information, trip, hotel and flight details, and pricing
Card details, billing address, changes and cancellations policy, terms and conditions, trip, hotel and flight details, and pricing.
Booking information, summaries of hotel and flight bookings, travelers’ details, manage booking option, request accessibility assistance option, and pricing.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
I worked closely with product managers, developers, business analysts, and fellow designers throughout agile sprints to align business priorities, technical constraints, and user needs.
Collaboration Included
Facilitating design workshops and alignment sessions
Supporting product discovery and feature prioritization
Iterating on prototypes with engineering feedback
Validating solutions through usability testing and stakeholder reviews
Aligning design decisions with scalability and delivery goals
This collaborative process helped accelerate decision-making, reduce implementation risks, and ensure a cohesive end-to-end user experience.
Design System & Scalability
A key focus of the project was creating a scalable design foundation that could support future platform growth.
I contributed to the development of a modular Experience Design System by:
Defining reusable UI components and interaction patterns
Improving consistency across booking journeys
Supporting faster collaboration between design and engineering
Establishing scalable foundations for future features and expansion
This systems-thinking approach improved design consistency, delivery efficiency, and long-term maintainability.
Testing & Iteration
The product evolved through continuous prototyping, usability testing, and iterative refinement.
Testing Focus Areas
Navigation clarity
Booking flow efficiency
Recommendation relevance
Pricing transparency
Checkout confidence
Accessibility and usability improvements
User feedback informed improvements to interaction patterns, messaging, information hierarchy, and booking transparency, helping create a more intuitive and trustworthy experience.
Key Learnings
Simplifying complex booking journeys requires balancing flexibility with guided decision-making
Contextual personalization improves engagement without overwhelming users
Clear pricing and package transparency are critical for user trust and conversion
Cross-functional collaboration accelerates product alignment and delivery quality
Scalable systems and reusable patterns improve consistency and long-term product growth
This is a real client project that has been rebranded to showcase my skills and design approach.
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