Arrival Guide for
Agoda Homes
How we boosted conversion for non-hotel properties on Agoda
My Role
End to end research, design explorations, stakeholder alignment, experiment plan and execution
Teams
Design, Product and Tech
Agoda Homes?
Think Airbnb, but on Agoda
Agoda has a large number of non-hotel accommodations (NHA) which include private homes, villas, serviced apartments, BnBs etc.
Early 2024
We realised conversion numbers on Homes were dismal
The end to end conversion numbers for homes were much lesser than hotels. Hotel here are a select cohort of boutique hotels similar to private stays since homes aren't directly comparable with large chains
Boutique
Hotels
Homes
25.8%
7.3%
excluding big chains, multi-starrer hotels
What to solve for?
Property selection page and repeat rate were key drivers of low conversion
We compared our end to end funnel on homes with those on boutique hotels. We noticed two key deviations on property selection page and repeat bookings which we decided to explore further by talking to users.
25%
7%
51%
23%
73%
66%
24.8%
100%
-43%
almost double the number of users drop off from the property page of homes, as compared to hotels.
Search results
Property Page
Booking Form
Booking
Confirmed
Micro-conversion on each step
Homes
Hotels
Boutique
Hotels
Homes
15%
4%
Repeat booking
What to solve for?
Asking users what they're looking for?
We conducted a series of interviews and workshops to understand what users look for while booking homes and what issues they face after booking them.
How to reach?
~20% of homes don’t share their exact location on property page
Flexible Check-in
Unsure if check-in/out timings are flexible
Check-in Method
Unclear for cases where there's no front desk at property
Extra Documents
Hosts ask for extra IDs post booking
Convenience
Safety
Low Host Responsiveness
What to solve for?
Our numbers tell the same story
We validated user feedback on different parts of the funnel with user data we could find and it made perfect sense!
Pre Booking
26%
of all messages to chatbot on property selection page was about check-ins
88%
of all users specifically look for check-in information on homes
*based on in-app surveys & feedback
Post Booking
44%
of all users with bookings contacted hosts for location and check-in flexibility
67%
of all users were contacted by hosts to provide IDs & more information before check-in
3x more than hotels
Hypothesis
Exhaustive arrival and check-in information during booking would make users feel more confident booking homes
Success Metrics
Booking CR
More awareness around check-in requirements should imporve conversions
Repeat rate
Better experience would mean users are more likely to book homes again
Cancellations
Clearer expectations leading to less last-minute anxieties
Arrival Guide
A framework to present the right arrival information to the users at the right point of the booking journey
Pre Booking
Pre Arrival
On Arrival
Execution Plan
We chose low hanging fruits and set up experiments to test out our hypotheses
Phase 1
Demand Test
Test with new check-in methods on landing page, search results and filters
Phase 2
MVP
Check-in details on property selection page
Phase 3
Version 1
Check-in details pre-booking and complete arrival guide post booking
NEW FILTER
+7.5%
For users who opted for filter
+8.2%
Search results to
product details page
concise check-in info snippet with cta to see more information
+2.1%
Property Page to
Booking Form
Other explorations
Too high prominence being just next to property name, increasing the cognitive load
Combining with other prop info but pushing the reviews down
Detailed check-in info section above the fold but pushing reviews down
Arrival guide on ‘Manage my booking’ page
Version 1 | Yet to be implemented
directions and various modes of transport to reach the property
room passcode & wifi password available 24 hours before arrival for smoother check-in
Since NHA properties are non-standard accommodations, clearly calling out information like check-in details and methods becomes important. Solving it via our product helps improve the needle and increases adoption — as evidenced by the first two experiments
Next dial mover
The goal now is to capitalise on this and see how we can further improve the experience for NHA bookers