AI-Powered Travel Planning Platform
TripWise
Role
UX Researcher & Designer
Timeline
8-12 weeks
Team
Anchal Nagdev, Manish Durgude, Atharva Ruikar
Tools
Maze, Figma, Google Forms, Clickup (project management)
Project Description
TripWise is a travel planning platform designed to eliminate the chaos of trip planning by consolidating itinerary creation, budget management, transport booking, accommodation selection, and group collaboration into a single, cohesive experience.
The Challenge
While travel planning users juggle multiple applications, browser tabs, and spreadsheets to plan a single trip. They switch between Google Flights, Booking.com, Google Sheets for budgets, and WhatsApp for group coordination. This fragmentation leads to:
1
Decision fatigue from too many options available across platforms
2
Budget overruns from lack of centralized tracking
3
Coordination breakdowns when traveling with groups
4
Missed opportunities due to information scattered
Research
We conducted user interviews through maze to validate whether trip planning is a real problem, what do users think and actively experience!
User Interviews
Frequent, short trips
Users typically travel 3–5 times per year, preferring short trips (3–5 days).Tool fragmentation
Users relied on multiple platforms (Google, Skyscanner, TripAdvisor, YouTube), increasing planning effort and cognitive load.Social travel behavior
Most users preferred traveling with family or companions rather than solo.
Budget-conscious planning
Most participants prioritized cost-effective options and wanted upfront expense estimates to avoid surprises.Trust issues with current tools
Participants expressed frustration with inaccurate reviews, misleading information, and fragmented booking experiences.
Survey
Shared Google Forms Survey to validate these insights across a larger group and identify broader travel behaviors.
users combine Google Maps, booking sites, reviews, and videos to plan a single trip
Most users Rated an all-in-one travel platform as important for travel planning
Its tough Staying within budget for users
Competitive Analysis
We analyzed Six major players in the travel planning space to identify market gaps and opportunities.
TripWise Competitive Analysis
Full support
Advanced feature
Partial support
Not supported
Feature
TripWise
Wanderlog
Trip Planner AI
Wonderplan
Stippl
Roadtrippers
Rome2Rio
Trip Planning
Multi-stop itinerary
Full, flexible
Things to do & attractions
Curated activities and points of interest
Tailored stops
Places between stops
Discover points of interest along your route
Route-aware
Accommodation suggestions
Personalized
Restaurant & dining
Context-aware
Budget & Expenses
Budget-first planning
Plan your entire trip around a set budget
Core feature
Expense tracking
Real-time tracking
Cost optimization
Automatically find cheaper alternatives
AI-powered
AI & Personalization
AI recommendations
Deep & contextual
Smart re-routing
Dynamic route optimization
AI adaptive
Preference learning
System learns from your choices
Transport & Logistics
Multi-modal transport
Flights, trains, buses, ferries
All modes
Rental cars
Real-time updates
Live delays, cancellations, alternatives
Collaboration & Sharing
Real-time collaboration
Multiple users edit simultaneously
Live editing
Group planning
Polls, voting, shared wishlists
Offline access
Full offline
Market Gaps Found
Decision Fatigue
Endless listings and generic recommendations overwhelm users instead of helping them choose.
Group Coordination Friction
Shared decisions, expense splitting, and communication are handled outside travel apps, creating friction.
Fragmented Planning Process
Flights, hotels, budgets, maps, and group chats are spread across tools, forcing users to constantly switch context.
Budget Anxiety
Costs are estimated too late, leading to overspending and constant recalculations.
Lack of Personalization
Solo travelers and group travelers have different needs, but most tools treat everyone the same.
User Personas
Based on our research synthesis, we created two primary personas
How might we create a unified travel planning experience that provides budget transparency through expense estimation, reduces planning overwhelm with AI-powered recommendations, and enables group collaboration - all within a single trusted platform that serves both group travelers like Lisa and solo adventurers like Jack?
Card Sorting
We conducted a card sorting exercise with 6 participants to understand how users mentally organizing travel task. Insights revealed clear groupings around budgeting, booking, discovery, and collaborations shaping our final navigation structure.
Information Architecture
Visual Style
Brand Colors
#E47878
#E87E7E
#ECA5A5
#F5C4C4
#FCEAEA
#FFFFFF
Typography
Aa
Inter
Medium, Bold
Wireframes
Final Solutions
After multiple iterations, we refined high-fidelity designs to support core trip-planning workflows.
Trip Planning personalization through AI
Travel, stay, stopover, insurance, packing essentials managed at one place
Track costs estimation and no hurdle of recalculations.
AI recommonded best plan that fits every travelers constraints
Group collaboration, expense splitting, memories at one place
Login / Signup
traveler can login / Signup by creating accounts manually or by Google/Apple/Facebook
Landing Page
Initially traveler visits landing page and enters trip details like start point, stopovers, destination, currency, budget, dates.
We also have AI at bottom corner if traveler have some questions.
Homepage
Now system gets the requirements from traveler, as they land on homepage they get the best plan that fits under user constraints, with a map view and Flexibility of editing the details entered.
AI Feature
The AI feature helps travelers create and update their trip with any preferences.
Transport
Travelers can review and manage travel options as part of their overall trip. It brings different transport modes into a single flow, including car rentals.
Accomodation
Travelers can manage stay options including hostels and hotels/motels with ratings and pricing options.
Stopovers
The Stopover feature helps traveler identify and manage intermediate stops along their travel route. It supports trip discovery by allowing traveler to consider additional locations without disrupting the overall itinerary.
Packing Essentials
The Packing section helps travelers prepare for their trip by organizing essential items in one place.
they can also add specific items in the list.
Insurance
The Insurance section introduces coverage options as part of the trip planning flow, allowing travelers to consider insurance needs alongside other travel decisions. This helps travelers account for risk planning without leaving the platform.
Collaboration
The Collaboration section supports shared group chat with all travelers on the trip, coordinate decisions, and manage expenses, reservations and trip memories all in one place.
Profile
The Profile section allows traveler to view and manage their personal information and trip history.
Feedback
User testing helped us identify both usability issues and additional features users needed to improve the experience.
Plan Options
Expense Notifications
Navigation
Expanded Plan Options
Feedback: Some travelers wanted the ability to explore slightly higher-cost alternatives alongside their current budget plan.
Expanded Plan Options
To address user feedback, we introduced multiple AI-generated plan tiers (Budget and Premium) side by side. This allows travelers to compare slightly higher-cost options within the same trip context and switch plans seamlessly without restarting the planning flow.
