Competitive Review + Sentiment Analysis 

We scraped and analyzed thousands of iOS App Store reviews for TripIt and Wanderlog. While both apps were generally well-liked (65% and 82% positive sentiment, respectively), the most negatively-reviewed categories pointed directly to our opportunity: broken collaboration features, poor financial tooling, and paywall frustration.​​​​​​​​

• No financial tooling.

• Plain UI, no exciting imagery for upcoming vacation.

• Rely on exact search, rather than suggestive search.

• Focus on pre-trip ideation, during-trip events, and after-trip reflection.

• Individualized process, but allows joint itineraries.

IOS App Store Competitive Reviews of TripIt and Wanderlog

Sentiment Analysis of TripIt and Wanderlog

Interview Protocol

To understand how people actually plan group trips, we conducted 10 interviews with frequent travelers aged

23–32 who regularly use technology to research and book trips. Each session included 22 structured questions covering trip planning habits, group dynamics, budgeting, and post-trip reflection.

Interview Questions Outline​

We paired every interview with a journey mapping activity, asking participants to walk us through their most recent group trip across four stages: selecting a travel destination, planning the details, during the trip, and returning home. For each stage, we captured their actions, motivations, challenges, and emotions. This helped us pinpoint exactly where group coordination tends to break down and where the biggest design opportunities lived.

Figjam user journey map interview template​

Interview Findings

We categorized responses by theme and created 116 unique tags to identify trends. Four patterns emerged consistently across participants:​

​

• Uneven Contributions — One or two people typically ended up owning the entire planning process, leading to frustration and burnout. 

• Adaptable Itineraries — Travelers preferred loose structure over rigid schedules, planning around daily themes while leaving room for spontaneity.

• Loose Budgeting — Most participants tracked expenses mentally and deferred smaller costs to deal with later, creating post-trip financial awkwardness.

• No Defined Roles — Without clear responsibilities, communication gaps formed and planning stalled, especially when group members were slow to respond.​​

These findings directly shaped our feature priorities: group voting to distribute decision-making, shared budget tracking to surface costs in real time, and mood check-ins and journaling to support the emotional side of travel.

Figjam of interview categorization and tagging process

Most common tags