Expedia Testing Tasks

Launched in 1996 as a division of Microsoft, Expedia.com is a travel aggregator booking service that enables users to search and reserve flights, hotels, cars, vacation rentals, destination activities, and an assortment of bundle packages. It is owned by Expedia Group, an “American global travel technology company,” according to Wikipedia.

The usability study was conducted to test various functions of a well-established website, from the perspective of the average user. The main features tested were Expedia’s booking services involving mostly international destinations. All users participated in the study using the same computer in the same office at different times, so that the test environment would remain controlled.

The participants in the study included non-American people between the ages of 29 and 38; an appropriate age-range for those who might be the average Expedia user.

  1. You’ve got two weeks of vacation left for the year over Christmas and you want to go somewhere warm. You don’t want to return until after New Year’s Day and you don’t want a flight with more than two layovers. Book a round-trip ticket from Gothenburg to Bangkok.

  2. It’s April 2020 and it's the high season for business trips in multiple cities! You’ve got a debriefing in Stockholm beginning on 21 April, followed by a conference in Malta on 25 April, then a showing in London on 27 April, then training in Kyiv on 29 April - all before you come back home to Gothenburg where you need to be at work on 1 May. Book your flights for these trips.

  3. Your partner booked a pretty sweet deal on flights to Bali in June 2020 and the only thing you have to do is find accommodation. You’ll be staying in Bali from 2 June until 17 June. Your partner is picky, so they won’t stay in a place less than four stars and the accommodation needs to be a villa in Seminyak. You’re a penny-pincher, so you will only book the cheapest place available.

  4. You live in Los Angeles and your best friend is getting married in Hawaii, on the island of Maui. You’ve never been before, so you want to spend a little time exploring the island for your two weeks of paid vacation. The wedding venue is at The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua and you want to stay close to your friends which means booking an accommodation in Lahaina. You also know that booking flights and hotels together turn out to be much cheaper. Hotel class doesn’t matter to you, but you don’t want to spend more than $6,000 on the total price. The exact dates don’t matter as long as you’re there when the wedding takes place on Saturday, 20 June.

  5. You’re staying at the Grand Hotel Kempinski in Vilnius, Lithuania. You have to book transportation to the airport to catch a flight at Vilnius International departing at 11:00 AM. Make the arrangements.

Name: ______________________________ Age: __________

Interview Questions

How did you feel navigating the website? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What would you say about the placement of the menu options? Logical? Illogical? Explain. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As a potential customer, how do you feel about the layout of the website? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Which aspects of the website did you like? Explain. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Which aspects of the website did you NOT like? Explain. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Survey Questions

How easy was it to complete the five tasks overall? Circle one.

Very Easy Somewhat Easy Neutral Somewhat Difficult Very Difficult

Overall, how satisfied are you with Expedia? Circle one.

Very Unsatisfied Unsatisfied Somewhat Satisfied Very Satisfied Extremely Satisfied

How likely are you to use Expedia again? Circle one.

Definitely Probably Maybe Probably not Definitely not Never used