Reading time: 7 minutes
OVERVIEW
Athlos was a traditional travel agency dedicated to meeting the travel needs of professional and youth sports clubs.
Every travel request was handled manually: email, phone calls, and spreadsheets were the main tools of the operations team. This model was no longer sustainable for a rapidly growing start-up.
Company:
Athlos Sport Travel
My Role:
Product Designer
Year:
2023
Service Provided:
Product Design, UI Design, Product Strategy
Reading time: 7 minutes
TEAM
The project was carried out by a small cross-functional, international team. I was the sole Product Designer and I worked closely with two developers, Mateus from Brasil (backend) and Giacomo from London (frontend).
MAIN PROBLEMS
Response times exceeding 48 hours, a frustrating experience for users who had no visibility or control over requests, and an overloaded operations team engaged in repetitive and inefficient activities.
VISION
Transform a manual and fragmented process into a fluid, transparent, and scalable digital platform for managing sports travel. The design needed to address four main priorities:
1. Complete management
Provide travel managers with a centralized space to manage not only bookings, but also all team-related logistics activities.
2. Customization
Enable a high level of customization to adapt to the unique needs of each team and trip.
3. Operational efficiency
Automate repetitive workflows to reduce bottlenecks and improve internal team productivity.
4. Simplified billing
Provide a system that allows managing all invoices before and after the trip, reducing administrative complexity for clubs.
INITIAL RESEARCH
I conducted interviews with 15 travel managers, 8 club presidents and various athelets, exploring their workflows and identifying pain points. In parallel, I analysed internal operational data to identify inefficiencies and priorities.
Insight 1: traveling for sports has many facets
The challenges faced by travel managers stem from all the variables related to the players’ sports and professional needs.
Insight 2: streamlining invoice chaos
Invoice management was often complicated and scattered, with separate Excel files and poor visibility of overall costs.
Insight 3: the need for an all-in-one platform
Users wanted a platform that would serve as a single operational hub, integrating logistics and accounting.
TECHNICAL OBJECTIVE
The priority was to develop a system capable of automating all requests. These obstacles could not be resolved without a structured and efficient back-office system.
USER NEEDS SYNTHESIS
Four fundamental needs emerged from the research:
1. Complete team management
2. Customization
3. Automation
4. Financial control
SOLUTION DESIGN
I designed a modular online platform that offered a complete view of each trip.
MAKE A REQUEST
Before
Emails, whatsapp and phone calls were the only ways to make a request.
After
A guided booking form for choosing accommodation, transportation, and transfers.
Visual progress bar to improve transparency and orientation.
Dynamic summary that allows quick modifications without having to repeat the entire process.
Automatic suggestions based on previous requests.
Key Result: reduction in booking time from 48h to 12h, a 75% improvement.
TRIP MANAGEMENT
Before
Emails, whatsapp and phone calls were the only ways to manage a trip.
After
A centralized dashboard that allows managing the entire trip.
Access to all bookings in a single view, with details for hotels, transportation, transfers, trip management, and payments.
Booking status visualization (Follow-up, In Progress, Confirmed).
Tool to send support requests directly from the dashboard, connecting to the Athlos operations team.
Key Result: 80% of travel managers completed entire trip management without human support.
TEAM MANAGEMENT
Before
Emails, whatsapp and phone calls were the only ways to manage the team.
After
A dedicated area for players and noting specific details for each athlete.
A tool for assigning rooms based on players’ preferences or needs.
A module for defining specific dietary requirements and sending requests to catering providers.
Automate needs and preferences to simplify organization.
An interactive timeline to organize the entire trip plan.
Key Result: clubs saved over 20% of their monthly travel budget.
ITERATIONS AND TESTING
After conducting 8 usability testing with our users and internal stakeholders, it emerged that they needed a feature that allows them to manage their finances. All in one place.
Billing system
A dedicated dashboard for downloading, managing, and organizing all trip-related invoices.
Quick access to pre-trip and post-trip invoices.
A wallet to create your own savings account and manage your finances.
Optimization of the billing dashboard layout to make financial data more readable.
RESULTS
90% of users used the dashboard to download and manage invoices
The number of active users increased 5x in the first three months
Net Promoter Score improve from 6.3 to 8.7
The operations team reduced manual activities by 60%
LESSON LEARNED
Centralization reduces stress and builds trust
Creating a single hub for all travel-related tasks significantly improved user confidence, establishing Athlos as the go-to platform for sports travel management.
Being the sole designer
I learned to manage both timelines and the various phases of the project and sprints. Being responsible for the entire design process, organization and a clear work methodology were essential to achieving the set goals.
Numerous stakeholders
Dealing with numerous stakeholders from different cultures and age groups was a significant challenge, which I successfully managed through constant dialogue and in-depth research.
