Turning panic into progress — Uncovering a hidden friction point in Package bookings

The challenge

Two weeks after launching a new travel package product, the team faced an unexpected and troubling reality: zero bookings. For a platform known for gaining early traction with new offerings, this was highly unusual. The team, despite having done extensive research and building what they believed was a compelling experience, was left feeling confused—and increasingly panicked.

I stepped in to help make sense of what was happening, bring a clear-eyed perspective to the situation, and steer the team toward a solution.

Uncovering the hidden friction

Rather than jumping to conclusions, I began by examining behavioral data to understand how users were interacting with the product. Google Analytics showed clear engagement at the top of the funnel—users were discovering the package pages via external search—but there was a complete absence of return visits. This was a major red flag.

From past research, we knew that booking a high commitment vacation package is rarely a one-and-done decision. Travellers typically:

• Revisit package details multiple times

• Compare options over several days

Yet none of that expected behavior was taking place. Something critical was missing. Digging deeper, I discovered the core issue: there was no way for users to re-access resort packages they had previously viewed.

At MVP launch, the only entry point into the new product was through external search. If a user left the site or came back later via the homepage or app, the package experience was essentially invisible. There were no breadcrumbs, no “recently viewed,” and no internal links to guide them back.

This navigation blind spot—an overlooked but essential behavior for high-consideration purchases—meant that interested users had no path to continue their journey. The product wasn’t broken; it was simply incomplete from a user flow perspective.

From insight to action

Once the problem was clear, I quickly brought together the designers and product owner to identify a fast, effective fix. Rather than pursuing a full redesign, we aligned on a lightweight interim solution:

• Introduce a dropdown in the main navigation that surfaced packages

• Ensure users returning to the site could pick up where they left off

Impact

This solution honored how users naturally behave during the travel planning process, and we saw immediate improvements in engagement and 26% return visits in first week—setting the stage for stronger booking conversion.

The team learned a powerful lesson: even the best-built experiences can fail without accounting for the nuances of decision-making behavior. Sometimes, it's not about building more—it's about ensuring users can come back.