How would you create Personalized Travel Itineraries for Booking.com?
As the product manager at Booking.com, how would you leverage generative AI to create personalized travel itineraries based on user preferences, including destinations, activities, and accommodations?
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Product Management Interview Questions- How would you create Personalized Travel Itineraries for Booking.com?
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How to Answer Product Improvement Questions?
Here is a step-by-step framework you should follow while answering product improvement interview questions during the interview,
1. Describe the Product.
2. Ask clarifying Questions to trim down the scope of the question.
3. Define the Goal you want to achieve.
4. List the User Segments and select one segment to focus on.
5. List and prioritize the Pain Points for that segment.
6. List out your Solutions to solve those pain points.
7. Evaluate all the solutions and prioritize them.
8. Define Metrics to measure the performance of the solutions.
9. At the end, Summarize your answer
Before the start of interview, write down these steps somewhere in case you forget.
Let’s get started with the solution (remember to follow the framework),
1. Describe the Product
Once you are clear with the question, start by explaining your understanding of the product. Cover the following things about the product,
What does the product do?
Who uses it?
How are they using it?
What pain point is it solving for the users?
Booking.com is a global online travel marketplace that allows users to search, compare, and book travel-related services, including accommodations, flights, attractions, airport taxis, and rental cars.
It acts as a two-sided marketplace connecting travellers with property owners, airlines, and activity providers worldwide. The platform aggregates millions of listings and provides tools for discovery, comparison, reviews, pricing transparency, and secure booking.
Its core users are,
Travelers: Leisure travelers, families, couples, solo travelers, and business travelers who want to plan and book trips.
Supply partners: Hotels, vacation rentals, airlines, tour operators, and transportation providers who list their inventory to reach global customers.
How they use it:
Travelers:
Search destinations
Apply filters such as price, rating, location, cancellation policy
Compare options using reviews and photos
Book accommodations, flights, and activities
Manage bookings through app or website
Supply partners:
List inventory
Set pricing and availability
Manage bookings
Access analytics and performance insights
Pain it solves:
For travellers:
Aggregates fragmented travel inventory into one platform
Reduces search friction by enabling comparison across options
Provides social proof through reviews
Offers secure booking and payment infrastructure
Reduces uncertainty around travel planning
For supply partners:
Provides global demand access
Offers distribution and revenue management tools
Reduces customer acquisition costs
Now that we are clear on the product description and the interviewer is also onboarded.
Let’s move on to the next step: Ask Clarifying Questions.
You: “Before we move on, I have a few clarifying questions I want to ask. Shall I proceed?”
2. Ask Clarifying Questions
Ask these at the start of a real interview (I’ll assume default answers in parentheses to continue.)
Are we improving Booking.com for travelers, supply partners (hotels/hosts), or both?
(I will focus on travelers, specifically leisure travelers in the planning phase, since improving traveler experience directly drives bookings and revenue.)
Are we targeting a specific stage of the journey: inspiration, planning, booking, or post-booking?
(I will focus primarily on the inspiration and planning stage, where drop-offs and decision fatigue are highest.)
Geographic focus?
(Global, but we can assume a phased rollout starting with top travel corridors and high-traffic destinations.)
Are we optimizing for engagement, conversion, revenue, or long-term retention?
(Primary goal: increase booking conversion and multi-product attach rate. Secondary goal: improve retention and lifetime value.)
Should we assume limited engineering bandwidth for an MVP in 1–2 quarters, or are we designing a long-term vision?
(Assume limited bandwidth for MVP, with a clear long-term roadmap.)
3. Define the Goals
The mission of Booking.com is to make it easier for everyone to experience the world. The platform connects travelers with accommodations, flights, attractions, and transportation options across the globe, simplifying the discovery and booking process.
With the introduction of a Generative AI-powered itinerary builder, Booking.com expands beyond being just a booking marketplace into becoming an intelligent travel planning partner. Instead of only helping users transact, the platform now assists them in discovering destinations, structuring trips, and personalizing travel plans end-to-end within a single ecosystem.
However, despite strong booking capabilities, Booking.com still faces challenges in the inspiration and planning phase. Many users leave the platform to research destinations on Google, blogs, TikTok, or competitor platforms before returning to book. This fragmentation leads to decision fatigue, lower conversion rates, and lost cross-sell opportunities. Without solving these problems, users may prefer platforms that offer stronger personalization or integrated planning experiences.
Therefore, the primary goals of improving Booking.com through a Generative AI itinerary planner are to increase booking conversion from inspiration-stage users, improve multi-product attach rate such as hotels plus activities, reduce off-platform research leakage, and deliver deeply personalized travel plans that increase user satisfaction and repeat usage.
These improvements will help Booking.com move upstream in the traveler journey, increase average order value, strengthen customer lifetime value, and build a defensible personalization advantage in the global travel marketplace.
4. User Segments
Relevant User Segments:
Decision-Fatigued Explorers: These travelers want inspiration and personalized suggestions because they feel overwhelmed by too many choices.
Trip Optimizers: These travelers want efficient schedules, optimized routes, and well-coordinated plans to make the most of their time.
Memory Makers: These travelers want unique, high-quality, and memorable experiences that feel special and share-worthy.
Budget Planners: These travelers want to stay within budget, need flexible cancellation options, and often look for family-friendly choices.
Supply Partners (Hotels, Hosts, Activity Providers): These partners want better visibility on the platform, more customer demand, and higher booking conversion rates.
Focus: Travelers (Decision-Fatigued Destination Explorers)
Reason: Improvements here reduce drop-offs in the inspiration phase, increase booking conversion, and unlock higher cross-sell and lifetime value for Booking.com.
5. Pain Points for that Segment
Major pain points of the Decision-Fatigued Destination Explorers user segment are,
