Hostelworld Apps Redesign

As Senior Product Designer at Hostelworld, I led the mobile app UX/UI redesign, focusing on social features and usability.

I collaborated with Product Managers, Researchers, and Developers to launch features like city and hostel chats and real-life events, refining them through testing.

These updates boosted user engagement and satisfaction, reflected in higher app store ratings and positive feedback on iOS and Android.

My first task at Hostelworld was to audit the structure and user flows of the mobile apps.

I created a visual map of the app’s architecture to show how sections and journeys were organized.

This helped identify pain points and opportunities for improvement.

After the evaluation, I worked with a product manager and user researcher on new social features: Chats and Events.

We focused on Chats for Cities, Hostels, and Individuals.

We tested multiple prototypes and ran usability studies to see how travelers engaged with these features.

This iterative process helped us improve the UX to support real interactions and meaningful connections.

Once we had built confidence through testing and validation, we shipped the Chat feature to our user base.

From there, the process became one of continuous iteration, supported by regular interviews, surveys, and feedback analysis. These helped us identify bugs, surface usability issues, and spot new opportunities as the feature evolved in the real world.

We used the same user-centered design for the Events feature, later called Linkups. It helps travelers find activities nearby and connect with others.

The goal was to make social discovery as easy as booking a stay, encouraging in-person connections and shared experiences.

As a natural next step we reworked the user profile experience, redesigning the layout to better showcase personal details, travel preferences, and interests.

This update supported the social features by helping users find common ground and decide who they might want to connect with during their travels.

Beyond the new social features, we used this opportunity to modernize and simplify the overall app experience.

We redesigned key areas like Booking, Trips, and Account screens to make them cleaner and easier to navigate. We also introduced a dark mode to improve usability and comfort, especially in low-light settings, and to ensure consistency across platforms.