Relocation support redesign - Booking.com
About this project
Project overview:
Booking.com's relocation support was stressful and call-heavy. Guests and Customer service relied on back-and-forth with CS agents to manage tasks and claim reimbursements.
The redesign turned it into a self-service experience: dedicated pages where people handle relocation tasks themselves, from uploading invoices to tracking a claim, without repeated calls.
This case study focuses on the guest-facing experience; the agent side was part of the same project but is out of scope here.
My role:
I owned the end-to-end experience design from how a CS agent receives the guest's call to the email the guest gets back.
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End-to-end wire framing : the full journey across agent and guest sides
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Prototyping : built the prototypes used for testing
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Research, two ways moderated sessions with agents; unmoderated recorded sessions for guests, synthesized back to my PM
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Cross-functional collaboration : with Process, Product, and UX writing
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60%
Improvement in CSAT (customer satisfaction)
8%
reduction in total yearly relocation‑related costs
20%
reduction in contact volume per relocation case
User problem
With ~50% of relocations flagged within 3 days of check-in, agents have little time to find alternatives.
Customers must remember to file a claim, with no standard process and no guidance on what proof is valid.
Resolution time for refund is aprox. 2 months.
Design brainstorm
Challenge in redesign:
Navigating the creation of a customer intake form. The real difficulty wasn't in the design itself, but in determining what information was truly essential to collect.
The solution required balancing business needs with the user's willingness to provide information, prioritising clarity .
I attended several workshops to define the project goals and map out the new user flow in collaboration with product managers and the Process Excellence team.
New user flow for relocation process
Wire framing and prototyping
Helping guests decide quickly under a deadline :
LANDING PAGE
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Clear deadline to remind urgency
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Full context with images
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Cost difference highlighted
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accept or look for another, with "no payment required now" removing the risk.
Easy choice making
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Helping relocated guests claim their money back:
Hassle-free travel
Guaranteed follow-up email
Easy document upload
Confirmation & money back
Guaranteed follow-up email
Fires post-check-out so the ask never competes with the trip
LANDING PAGE
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One number auto-fills the whole booking
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Files validated on upload
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Errors block submit until fixed
Easy Document upload
LANDING PAGE
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Real-time validation checked on upload
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Granular feedback shows which check failed
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Submission gating blocked until fixed
Inline document validation
LANDING PAGE
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Clear success feedback closes the loop
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Sets expectations: status tracker + SLA (7–12 days)
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Provides an exit path to support
Confirmation and money back
The Technical Constraint & Pivot
When I presented the full concept to engineering, we identified a key constraint: the guest-side automated validation checking each uploaded document against the requirements in real time couldn't be built within the timeline and required changes in legacy system.
Rather than hold the whole project, I prioritized with the development team and shipped an MVP that delivered the core need: a self-service form letting guests submit documents on their own time, with far less contact with customer service. The automated validation was cut from this release.
The shipped design focused on three things:
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Guest autonomy - act on their own schedule
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Less back-and-forth -reduced agent contact
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Clarity - a simple, focused intake form
Learnings and Key take away
01 : User Testing Validates Initial Design Hypothesis
While this design was not technically feasible for the initial launch, the user testing results confirmed its value. We created a a more scalable solution that solved a key user problem, and the original design concept remains a part of our long-term product roadmap.
02: Balancing User Needs with Technical Realities
Optimized for the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) to deliver immediate value to users. I've learned the critical importance of balancing user-centric ideals with technical feasibility.
03 : The Power of Early Engineering Collaboration
Involving engineering team early in the design process, rather than engaging them only at the handover stage.