AMISPLACE
Promoting hosting within a private homesharing community
Amisplace is a private homesharing community experiencing rapid growth. As a result, they needed to increase the number of hosts and homes to meet rising demand. I was tasked with revamping the site's UX and UI to improve user engagement and simplify the process for hosts.
Platform
Mobile-first responsive web
Team
- Product designer (me)
- 3 back-end engineers
- 2 front-end engineers
- Brand designer
- Content marketing manager
Discover
Identifying existing barriers to hosting
I began by conducting a comprehensive audit and usability testing to better understand where users were encountering difficulties. The audit helped me identify potential design issues, while usability testing facilitated user observation.
These also revealed specific issues impacting the hosting experience:
Define
Focusing on key user journeys
Using insights from the Discover phase, I defined two critical user journeys to design for through an iterative and collaborative process. By focusing on key interactions, we sought to create a design that would significantly reduce hosting difficulties for our users.
"As a prospective host, I want to easily create and publish a home listing."
"As a host, I want to seamlessly manage and update my listing's availability."
Develop
Designing to enhance host engagement
Building on my understanding of the critical user journeys, I designed two new flows for applying to join and listing a home to enhance host engagement and remove the barriers to hosting identified in discovery. I refined the designs with insights from usability testing, allowing us to validate assumptions and make data-driven decisions.
Additionally, implementing improved security measures alongside a brand refresh enabled hosts to manage their listings independently with more easily accessible navigation links:
🗣️
The new design was well-received, with one participant noting that "hosting now feels encouraged."
Deliver
The impact on host engagement
Along with marketing initiatives, these designs have contributed to significant growth:
8x
more homes have been added monthly compared to the previous year
30 seconds
for hosts to publish availability updates vs. up to 24 hours before
Debrief
Reflection and future growth planning
Throughout the project, I collaborated closely with engineers, successfully balancing creativity with practicality to overcome technical limitations. This experience strengthened my skills in balancing the needs of diverse users and designing for growth.
Moving forward, I plan to focus on the following:
Iterative design improvements: Continuously refining the design based on user feedback, usage data, and further usability testing
Expanding features: Exploring new features or improvements that can further enhance the hosting experience
A project currently underway is the "Request to Book" feature, which we expect to result in increased efficiency, reduced back-and-forth communication between hosts and guests, and ultimately a higher number of matches.
Promoting collaboration: Encouraging better documentation practices and earlier involvement from other teams throughout the design process
Monitoring success metrics: Keeping track of key performance indicators, such as the number of new hosts and homes added, user satisfaction, and retention