Rivergate

Executive Summary

International Airport, Rivergate was held back by a fragmented digital experience that limited revenue growth and created friction for passengers. As Lead UX Designer, I led a two-year digital transformation to unify the booking journey, introduce high-value service bundles, and reduce pressure on customer support. By aligning stakeholder goals with engineering feasibility, we delivered a seamless “pre-to-post” airport experience that increased Average Order Value (AOV) by 34% and reduced support calls by 20%.

The Challenge

The legacy Rivergate booking system functioned as a rigid utility rather than a passenger-centric service. My primary challenge was to bridge the gap between a fragmented backend infrastructure and the high-stakes emotional journey of international travel.

• Business Friction: Stakeholders were unable to launch "Service Bundles" due to a lack of visualized logic regarding how new offerings would impact existing API dependencies and user flows.
• User Friction: Fragmented silos for parking and lounges created "what-if" anxiety, forcing users to manage multiple bookings and increasing reliance on high-cost human support channels.
• Strategic Objective: Redesign the digital architecture to support context-aware upselling while reducing the support burden through self-service autonomy.

Discovery & Strategy

• Quantitative Audit: Synthesized user feedback from TrustPilot to pinpoint confusion around pricing transparency and service combinations, cross-referenced with Customer Service reports to identify the most expensive friction points.
• Competitive Benchmarking: Audited global travel hubs to identify best-in-class upsell patterns that maintained journey flow.
• Persona Mapping: Developed "Rushed Business Traveler" and "Family Planner" personas to balance speed-focused and detail-oriented needs.

The Solution and key deliverables

I worked closely with the client leadership to move from a legacy system to a modern passenger ecosystem. Together, we established a strategic backlog, prioritizing features based on technical feasibility, business value, and immediate user friction points.

1. The Intelligent Bundle Engine To solve the hurdle of service discovery, I designed a context-aware bundling logic that integrated into the core booking flow. By analyzing user inputs—such as trip duration and party size—the system surfaces personalized, high-value bundles (e.g., Security Fast Track + Lounge) at the strategic moment of intent. This collaborative effort unlocked a major new revenue stream while maintaining a frictionless path to purchase.
2. High-Trust Self-Service Amendments The legacy system’s inability to handle changes created a bottleneck in manual support. The interface was confusing because it mirrored a standard purchase flow, leaving users unclear about price transparency and whether they were being double-charged. I designed a flow that prioritized transparency and user autonomy, introducing real-time cost-difference calculations and instant refund previews. This empowered users to manage their own bookings with confidence, directly resulting in a 20% reduction in support calls.
3. Anxiety-Reduction & Digital Wayfinding Recognizing that the journey doesn’t end at the checkout, I redesigned the post-purchase experience to bridge the gap between digital booking and physical arrival. Through structured Product Detail Pages (PDPs) and proactive, trigger-based notifications, we provided users with precise wayfinding and arrival guidance, effectively eliminating "what-if" anxiety during high-stress transit phases.
4. Contextual Ancillary Revenue (Upsells) Rather than generic pop-ups, I implemented a contextual upsell framework for services like Car Care and Parking upgrades. By identifying "low-intent" vs. "high-intent" moments in the user journey, we integrated non-intrusive prompts that matched the user’s specific needs—such as offering a car wash for long-stay winter bookings. This data-driven placement contributed to a significant lift in ancillary revenue.