Bell Booking App
Bell is an AI-powered booking assistant that transforms Disney© vacation planning into a seamless and stress-free experience for families. Whether you need inspiration or are booking last minute, Bell provides real-time availability and personalized recommendations to ensure the best deals on accommodations and activities. It also offers flexible financing options and 24/7 customer support. Additionally, users benefit from exclusive Disney discounts on merchandise and dining, making spontaneous trips both magical and affordable.
Project Overview
Bell is an AI-powered booking assistant, developed in 2021 as an incubator project for Disney’s Accelerator program. It transforms family vacation planning into a seamless and stress-free experience, from finding inspiration to booking at the last minute. Bell offers real-time availability, personalized itineraries, flexible financing options, and 24/7 customer support to ensure even spontaneous trips are well-organized, affordable, and magical.
This project addresses user complaints by tapping into the underserved market of spontaneous travelers, increasing hotel occupancy rates, driving additional revenue through exclusive offers, and enhancing overall customer satisfaction and loyalty. The incubator approach was crucial for quickly developing and testing this innovative solution, emphasizing agility and user-centric design.
Problem Context
Booking a last-minute family vacation like Disney is a highly challenging and often stressful process for families. Due to high demand, fluctuating availability, and the complex booking systems in place, families who cannot plan their trips months in advance frequently face significant barriers. These challenges include: securing affordable accommodations, making dining reservations, and optimizing their overall park experience. Existing solutions often fall short in providing real-time, personalized assistance, leading to frustration and a diminished magical experience.
Specific Challenges
Booking and Availability Issues:
Planning a Disney vacation involves numerous steps, such as choosing the right hotel, securing park reservations, and booking dining experiences. Many guests find this process overwhelming and time-consuming, which can lead to frustration and errors
I was trying to book a vacation package as soon as the dates became available, but the website kept crashing and I spent hours on hold only to find out the room I wanted was already gone. It's so frustrating!
"I can't believe how difficult it is to get a reservation for dining! Everything is booked months in advance and we couldn't get any of the places we wanted to eat at. It's just too much stress for a vacation."
High Costs and Budgeting Issues
The high cost of Disney vacations is a significant concern. Families often spend more than anticipated due to additional costs for special experiences, dining, and merchandise. Some guests report going into debt to afford their trip, highlighting the need for better budget management tools
"The costs are just out of control. Every little thing has an extra charge now, and it's really starting to feel like Disney is just nickel and diming us. It's hard to enjoy the magic when you're constantly worried about how much everything is going to cost."
"We ended up spending way more than we budgeted for. Between the high prices for park tickets, meals, and souvenirs, we actually went into debt just to make this trip happen. It wasn't worth the financial stress."
Constraints
Very short deadline
Lack of time or not enough time for the actual process, therefore key features might be prioritized
Accelerator projects have a high probability of not being built or launched depending on their viability
Access to Disney mentors and adherence to performance metrics are also key constraints
Goals
The goal for Bell is to create happy customers by providing a seamless, stress-free Disney vacation planning experience, ensuring that every family enjoys a wonderful and magical trip. By offering real-time availability, personalized itineraries, and flexible financing options, Bell aims to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. Additionally, Bell seeks to boost Disney's profits by increasing hotel occupancy rates, driving additional revenue through exclusive offers, and tapping into the market of spontaneous travelers.
Team & Structure
My Role & Responsibilities:
Design Strategy
User Research
UX/UI Lead
Visual Design
Product Manager
Teammates:
2 Engineers
Timeline:
2 Months Research and Design
1 Months development work.
Process
Research & Discovery:
• Understand our users
• Competitive analysis
• Review current experience
• Prioritize what to solve for
Concept & User Test:
• Design Strategy
• Explore solutions
• Three concepts options
• User test and validate
Dev Handoff:
• Finalize visualize design
• Scope with Devs
• Prep for development
• Provide design support
Understanding our users
The users of Bell can be described as young millennial families with diverse vacation planning needs:
PRAGMATIST:
These families have already decided on their Disney vacation and are looking for the best deals and options to finalize their plans quickly and efficiently.UNDECIDED:
These users are in the early stages of planning and seek inspiration and suggestions for their Disney trip, exploring various options and activities to create a perfect itinerary.UNDERPREPARED:
These families need to arrange their Disney vacation on short notice and require fast, reliable options to secure accommodations, tickets, and activities without hassle.
Competitive Analysis & Review Current Experience
Reviewing a competitive analysis and the current Disney booking experience offers valuable insights that can guide enhancements, foster innovation, and ensure Disney remains a leader in providing magical and seamless vacation planning. This approach ensures that Disney meets user expectations, leverages industry best practices, and continually improves its offerings.
Direct Competitors (i.e. Kayak, Hopper, travel sites, etc)
Long list to start/compare
Activities can be uninteresting
Buried package deals
Lack of transparency on actual total price (i.e. did not include tax)
Indirect Competitor (i.e. dating apps and homeloans)
Conversational tone to help guide first-time users
Curated discovery
An approachable user experience
Easy to onboard and navigate’
Can pay with digital wallet
Current Disney Vacation Booking Experience
Complex navigation: Overwhelming menus and options
Confusing search: Inconsistent and irrelevant results
Lack of tailored recommendations
Difficult for first-time users to navigate booking
Limited info on payment plans and last-minute deals
Top of Mind Design Principle: The Paradox of choice
We learned and discovered a lot! Now what do we design and build?
Design Strategy Summary
Bell aims to transform Disney vacation planning into a seamless, stress-free experience for young millennial families. The strategy focuses on user-centric design with AI-driven real-time availability, personalized recommendations, an intuitive interface, flexible financing, and 24/7 support. Exclusive discounts and a rewards program enhance value, while continuous feedback ensures ongoing improvement. The vision for Bell is to become the go-to platform for spontaneous and well-organized Disney trips, boosting customer satisfaction and increasing Disney's occupancy rates and revenue.
Other specific “How might we's”:
• How might we solve for transparency?
• How might we solve for efficiency and expediency in booking?
• How might we solve for the AI helpgin?
Ideation, Concepts & User Feedback
Ideation through sketches helped me understand the constraints of limited space on mobile vs desktop. As I kept sketching, it was clear to keep the UI simple and prioritize key information users need to know right away.
Due to time constraints, I was only able to create one concept to test and iterate from.
Here’s what I designed:
Personalized Experience:
The AI helps with decision-making by offering choices tailored to the user's budget, time, and preferences.Curated Choices:
The AI provides manageable and customized options based on the user's tastes.Flexible Access:
Users can choose to sign up for the service or test it out as a guest before purchasing.Transparency and Discounts:
The AI shows transparency in choices and offers additional discount options for budget travelers.Simple Purchasing Flow:
The purchasing process is straightforward, with digital wallet integration for convenience.
Overview of the customer’s journey and where the AI’s capabilities should start working to help users make better decsisions.
Wireframes of key screens
User testing
Due to time constraints I tested the prototype with these wireframes through Figma’s iPad prototype. I conducted a two-week user testing session with a mix of millennials, both with and without families, along with individuals from other age groups. I asked to describe their overall feelings about the experience.
Sample questions:
• Does the information in front of you make sense?
• Were you able to navigate through the tasks easily? If not, what was difficult?
• Did you feel the choices provided were personalized to your needs? How so?
• How did you feel about the AI’s curated experience?
• Do you feel like the AI helped you make better decisions? Was it helpful, why or why not?
• What’s missing and tell me why?
Results
The initial user research provided valuable insights into the usability and effectiveness of the Bell prototype. While the overall response was positive, focusing on enhancing navigation, AI intuitiveness, and transparency will further improve the user experience and meet user needs more effectively.
Key learnings from users:
Users identified a few missing features, such as more detailed descriptions of accommodations, activities, and users with disabilities or special needs.
What happens if I have a special needs child or need a nanny? How would the AI help me curate that experience?
The AI made it much easier to decide on activities and accommodations. I appreciated how quickly I could find options that suited my needs.
Overall, the experience was satisfying. The personalized recommendations were spot-on, and the checkout process was smooth, however I don’t really want to sign up for the service, because my kids will grow out of Disney.
I love the idea of a digital wallet or PayPal, I hate having to dig up my credit card number and having to manually add the numbers in.
For Consideration
After the usability testing round, it was clear to me what to improve on for the next iteration.
Accommodate users with special needs and requirements: Allow users with accessibility concerns to be part of the curation process and make the AI more proactive in offering suggestions for those users.
Add Features: Include more detailed descriptions and comparison options for accommodations and activities.
Increase Transparency: Provide clearer explanations of how recommendations are generated and more detailed information on discounts.
Check out as Guest vs Loyal Customer with additional benefits: Since taste levels might change over time, allow an opportunity for customers to book and purchase as guests. Guests will have limited benefits and perk options that loyal customers will have but still allow them to have that Disney experience.
Finalize Visualize Design
Bell is Tinker Bell, the best choice to represent the AI because she embodies the magic, adventure, and assistance that the AI aims to provide. Her iconic status, friendly nature, and connection to Disney’s legacy make her an ideal character to enhance the user experience and create a seamless, enchanting vacation planning journey.
Color choices were meant to be gender-neutral, for parents and not too child-like, but still sticking to Disney’s color palette.
Final Design
Bell offers an intuitive and smart interface, providing a curated, personalized, streamlined choice informed by the customer’s preferences. With transparent guidance and a conversational tone, Bell ensures an approachable and engaging experience.
Selected screens:
New customers can choose to onboard either as a guest or by signing up for the service to become long-term customers.
First screen is for customers looking for last minute travel and second for customers looking for ideas or inspiration.
Accommodating customers with special needs and allowing customers to pick special interests or themes.
Showing customers curated list personalized based on their preferences and budget, as well as a detail view.
Get customers to scan quickly and view in detail.
For complete interaction design, please contact me directly for a demo
Conclusion
Despite promising KPIs, Disney decided not to proceed with Bell due to concerns about market saturation, and technical feasibility mainly at that time embracing AI, and scalability. Addressing these critical issues was necessary to ensure the long-term success and sustainability of the project
Learnings
Despite not moving forward with full-scale development, the Bell project demonstrates significant merit and potential.
The following points emphasize the continued relevance and value of the Bell project for future advancements in Disney's digital offerings.
Promising KPIs: Achieved strong performance metrics, indicating user satisfaction and engagement.
AI-Driven Personalization: Showcased the potential to enhance Disney vacation planning with tailored recommendations.
Spontaneous Travelers: Addressed a critical gap by serving last-minute planners with flexible options.
Valuable Insights: Provided key learnings from development and user testing for future innovations.
Improvement Foundation: The technology and feedback can inform enhancements to existing services.
Future Exploration: Highlights the importance of agility and user-centric design for evolving customer needs.
Transformative Potential: Underscored AI’s ability to create seamless, personalized Disney experiences.