Redesigning WorldMark’s Travel Discovery Experience
What is WorldMark?
WorldMark is a credit-based vacation ownership program serving over 220,000 owners, allowing members to book flexible stays across more than 200 resorts worldwide.
My role
As a UX design intern, I led a competitive analysis of 3 apps, supported 6 usability testing sessions, and delivered high-fidelity redesigns optimizing WorldMark's search, destination discovery, and credit disposal.
Challenge
How might we make travel
discovery more engaging?
Research
Uncovering search friction and industry gaps
Through usability testing with WorldMark owners, I combined qualitative insights with competitive analysis to identify key discovery barriers and feature gaps.
Key finding #1: Industry outlier
100% of competitors display recent searches on their homepage.
After analyzing competitors, I found that WorldMark lacks homepage search history and country-based destination discovery.
Key finding #2: Regional navigation friction
Participants struggled to efficiently locate specific cities through search.
Participants had to know which region a destination belonged to, but some couldn’t identify the region, such as whether Orlando was in Central or South Florida, creating friction during discovery.
Key finding #3: Personalization gap
Lack of personalization makes it harder to find their destination.
Recent searches were only surfaced after users clicked the search field, limiting destination inspiration without images to spark interest. Users also lacked guidance on how to apply their accumulated credits toward eligible resort stays.
Solution #1: Intuitive destination discovery
Shifting from region-based search to destination-first discovery.
I redesigned the landing experience to improve discoverability without relying on geographic assumptions.
Solution #2: Seamless journey continuation
Picking up where users left off in
their journey.
Highlighting destinations users search for repeatedly to help them resume their journey without starting over.
Solution #3: Bookable destinations based on available credits
Personalized recommendations based on available credits.
Surfacing bookable destinations based on available credits, so users immediately understand their options.
Key takeaway
Designing for every traveler, not just experienced owners
When search systems rely on assumed geographic knowledge, such as expecting users to know whether a city belongs to Central or South Florida, they create unnecessary friction for less confident users. Removing this cognitive load ensures everyone can navigate and find destinations easily without prior area knowledge.
Testimonial
Laura brings strong problem-solving skills, excellent communication, sound judgment, and a high level of self-awareness to her work. She is a great collaborator, executes detailed design work with care, maintains a positive attitude, and quickly learned tools such as Figma and AI-driven capabilities.
