Raising Booking.com's Visitor-to-Booking Conversion: Funnel Diagnosis and Fixes

You are a product manager at Booking.com and have been asked to raise the site's conversion rate. Explain where you would look for lost bookings, what you would change, and how you would prove that the changes worked. ```hint Find the leak before the fix Walk through each step a traveler takes from arriving on the site to a confirmed stay, and ask which step loses the most people, and for which kind of trip, before you propose any feature. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Which conversion rate matters most: visitors who book in the same session, searches that end in a booking within a few days, or checkouts that complete? - Is the scope accommodation bookings only, or also flights, car rentals and attractions? - Should I focus on the app, mobile web or desktop, and on new or returning travelers? - Do bookings that are later cancelled count as conversions, given that many rates allow free cancellation? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A precise conversion metric, including how cancellations and multi-session planning are counted - A funnel from landing to confirmed stay, with drop-offs located by device, traveler type and traffic source - Traveler pain points tied to the leaking steps, and a prioritized set of fixes with the reasoning behind the order - An experiment plan with guardrails such as cancellations, revenue per visitor and property-partner outcomes - The limits of conversion tactics that erode trust, such as pressure messaging or prices that grow at checkout ### Follow-up Questions - Many travelers browse on a phone and book later on a laptop. How would you measure and credit a mobile change in that case? - A test variant lifts bookings but also lifts cancellations. How do you decide whether to ship it? - Rooms are limited. Why might a standard A/B test overstate a conversion lift here, and how would you correct for it?