Airbnb Split Pay: A Simple Fix for Group Payment Hassles

I utilized Google Forms to survey a diverse sample group of 20 individuals across various demographics. They were asked about their group travel experiences and accommodation preferences to gain insights into recurring behaviors and pain points. Here are some of the findings.

The data revealed significant social pain points in expense management among friends. 54% experienced delays in reimbursement, especially pronounced when dealing with friends rather than close friends (25%). Payment tracking was also a notable concern, highlighted by 20.8% of respondents.

To further synthesize the gathered data, I used Dovetail, establishing a taxonomy system rooted in observed behavioral patterns and trends gleaned from the data. Based on this, I crafted visual affinity maps to cluster recurring patterns. Here are some key findings:

Usually, one person bears the responsibility of booking and paying for accommodation upfront, leading to an unequal burden of accountability.

The data revealed common reasons why users preferred competitors over Airbnb: easy cancellation, cheaper pricing and point systems.

The person who pays upfront often feels burdened with excessive accountability, having to manage and track payments from fellow travelers. While apps like CashApp, Venmo, and Vipps exist, they're limited to specific countries (e.g., CashApp and Venmo in the USA, Vipps in Norway). This indicates a market demand for an in-app group payment management feature.

Additionally, one user mentioned feeling like they're "losing money," even though they're not. This reveals an irrational fear that our solution should aim to alleviate.

Managing group travel expenses is a significant challenge for users booking accommodations on platforms like Airbnb, especially when dealing with diverse payment methods and international friends. The primary user, often responsible for fronting the costs, experiences stress and anxiety due to the cumbersome reimbursement process, varying lengths of stay, and the lack of a universal payment system. These issues can lead to errors, delays, and strained friendships, highlighting the need for an integrated, in-app group payment management solution that simplifies expense sharing and enhances the user experience.

How may we design a solution that streamlines group expense management, alleviates the stress of upfront payments, and ensures timely reimbursements while maintaining harmony among travelers?

To better understand industry best practices for both accommodation booking and peer-to-peer payment systems, I conducted a usability audit of direct and indirect competitors: VRBO and Vipps.

In VRBO, I observed how they effectively visualized the cancellation policy timeline using a progress bar. This inspired me to consider how communicating deadlines, especially within a group booking context, would be crucial for my project, ensuring clarity for all users involved.

From Vipps, I gained insights into how personalized and animated components can enhance the user experience and motivate specific actions. For instance, by adding cosmetic elements to payments, Vipps personalizes transactions in a way that adds a positive touch for both sender and recipient. Since my system also involves financial transactions, I realized that incorporating subtle, playful interactions would be important in making the payment process more engaging and enjoyable.

I began sketching low-fidelity wireframes to visually brainstorm ideas and gather immediate feedback from potential users before committing further to them.

In the first user flow, I mapped out the sequence of actions as they currently occur in the Airbnb app, including external operations like manually calculating uneven payment distribution and messaging friends about payments. I highlighted the steps that fall outside the Airbnb app and identified those prone to a high error rate.

In the second flow, I visualized the sequence of actions with my redesign, emphasizing how many of these steps are now integrated within the Airbnb interface, reducing reliance on external tools and minimizing potential errors.

We conducted one usability test with the first iteration of the high-fidelity prototype and below is the revised version.

To evaluate the impact of my redesign on the booking experience for groups, I conducted a controlled user test with five participants. They were tasked with booking accommodations for a group of friends where the payment distribution was uneven due to varying lengths of stay. Initially, I observed how they completed these tasks using the current Airbnb UI, followed by testing with my redesigned interface. The key metrics observed were:

Current UI: On average, users took 7-8 minutes to complete all tasks, with the majority of time spent on manually calculating the uneven payment distribution due to the complexity of the math.
Redesigned UI: The introduction of a built-in distribution calculator allowed users to input the number of nights per guest, reducing the time to 3-4 minutes — a 50% decrease in overall task completion time.

Current UI: Only 4 out of 5 users managed to calculate the uneven payment distribution correctly. Some users approximated the values, but they were not accurately proportional to the different lengths of stay.
Redesigned UI: The built-in distribution calculator eliminated errors entirely, with all users accurately distributing payments, resulting in a 100% reduction in error rate.

Current UI: The SUS score averaged 59 points.
Redesigned UI: The SUS score increased to 78 points, reflecting a 32.2% improvement in perceived usability.

The redesigned payment splitting feature significantly enhances the Airbnb booking experience for groups, addressing key pain points identified through user research and testing. By integrating a built-in distribution calculator, the redesign simplifies the process of dividing costs, effectively reducing completion time by 50% and eliminating errors entirely. This improvement not only streamlines the booking experience but also ensures fairness and clarity in expense distribution. The increase in the System Usability Scale (SUS) score by 32.2% further underscores the positive impact on user satisfaction. Overall, this case study demonstrates the value of a well-executed UI/UX redesign in addressing user needs and improving functionality, ultimately leading to a more seamless and enjoyable group travel experience.