An end-to-end digital platform that provides digitized, automated support for airlines, rail, and cruise operators to efficiently manage their crew travel needs.
Role
Senior Product Designer
Target customers
Industrial, energy, media
Years
2023 - 2024
Location
Europe & Vietnam (Engineering)
Product team
1 Product Designer UX/UI
1 Product Manager
1 Business Analyst (PO)
1 Lead Engineer
Product solution
Desktop app + companion app
B2B enterprise SaaS
Desktop application designed for project managers and their workforce crews alike — to book, manage, and adapt hotel accommodations in just a few clicks
Mobile companion app
Traveler crew app for project, accommodation and itinerary information
Results
Business impact
The platform streamlined and automated up to 90% operational processes, cutting manual touch points by 80% and reducing billing times by 90%. For operations teams, this meant real-time control of budgets, room allocations, and disruption handling; for crews, a seamless app experience with digital allowances, itineraries, and instant communications.
0%
Operational process savings
0%
Operational process savings
0%
Reduction in manual touch points
0%
Reduction in manual touch points
0x
New customer segments in airlines, cruise lines, and railway
0x
New business unit BPA Tech - Business Process Autmation
Summary
HRS Crew Travel Solutions
We developed a new industry standard, guiding the digital transformation of the future in smart, user-focused, and fully-automated travel operations.
My role
Led complete end-to-end product design, from user research and stakeholder interviews to UX strategy, innovation workshops, trade show presentations, and process optimization for our product team.
read more
Summary
HRS Crew Travel Solutions
We developed a new industry standard, guiding the digital transformation of the future in smart, user-focused, and fully-automated travel operations.
My role
Led complete end-to-end product design, from user research and stakeholder interviews to UX strategy, innovation workshops, trade show presentations, and process optimization for our product team.
read more
Crew Operations Platform
An end-to-end digital platform that provides digitized, automated support for airlines, rail, and cruise operators to efficiently manage their crew travel needs.
Crew Operations Platform
An end-to-end digital platform that provides digitized, automated support for airlines, rail, and cruise operators to efficiently manage their crew travel needs.
Role
Senior Product Designer
Target customers
Airline, cruise line, railway
Years
2022 - 2024
Location
Europe & Vietnam (Engineering)
Product team
1 Product Designer UX/UI
1 Product Manager
1 Business Analyst (PO)
1 Lead Engineer
Product solution
Desktop app + companion app. 0->1 product
B2B enterprise SaaS
Desktop application designed for crew operations manages handling their crews' accommodations, feedback, suppliers and billing all in one platform.
Mobile companion app
Traveler companion crew app for itinerary view, accommodations management, banking, and feedback. [separate case study]
Results
Business impact
The platform streamlined and automated up to 90% operational processes, cutting manual touch points by 80% and reducing billing times by 90%. For operations teams, this meant real-time control of budgets, room allocations, and disruption handling; for crews, a seamless app experience with digital allowances, itineraries, and instant communications.
0%
Operational process savings
0%
Operational process savings
0%
Reduction in manual touch points
0%
Reduction in manual touch points
0x
New customer segments
0x
New customer segments
0x
New customer segments in airlines, cruise lines, and railway
0x
New business unit BPA Tech - Business Process Autmation
Summary
HRS Crew Travel Solutions
We developed a new industry standard, guiding the digital transformation of the future in smart, user-focused, and fully-automated travel operations.
My role
Led complete end-to-end product design, from user research and stakeholder interviews to UX strategy, innovation workshops, trade show presentations, and process optimization for our product team.
Target market
We were targeting transportation operators and their crew members that struggle to manage large-scale logistics operations and travel disruptions.
Target users
Crew operations managers and ground staff responsible for planning, procurement, hotel allotments, room allocation, payments, and disruption handling.
Crew members (e.g. pilots, cabin crew, rail & ship staff) who need real-time schedule updates, accommodation information, digital allowances, and direct communication with operations.
Solution
For crew operations, one holistic approach to streamline crew operations, end-to-end.
For crew members, one seamless experience, enabled through a travel companion app.
Customer journey
Airline Crew Travel
Our primary focus was the airline industries, where cabin & flight crew members rely on crew operations and scheduling to manage their travel journey.
Our primary focus was the airline industries, where cabin & flight crew members rely on crew operations and scheduling to manage their travel journey.
Getting ready in the morning
Retrieving crucial travel information
Checking into their destination hotel
On duty in the hotel room
Paying for in-destination experiences
Morning crew shuttle pick up
Getting ready in the morning
Retrieving crucial travel information
Checking into their destination hotel
On duty in the hotel room
Paying for in-destination experiences
Morning crew shuttle pick up
Customer Problems
Crew operations are complex and error-prone — constant schedule changes, manual processes, and unmanaged allowances create inefficiencies.
Airlines and other operators still depend on outdated, manual workflows to manage crew logistics — from hotel bookings and transport to allowances and last-minute disruptions. Crew managers spend hours reconciling spreadsheets, calls, and handover notes, while crew members face inconsistent information, unmanaged expenses, and limited support on the road. These inefficiencies not only drive higher costs and errors but also reduce satisfaction and operational resilience.
Lack of real-time visibility
Operations teams lack real-time data on crew status and location, while crew members don't receive timely updates update schedule changes and disruptions.
Fragmented ecosystem
Fragmented, manual crew operations with outdated tools and processes. Hotel accommodations management is inefficient.
Manual & offline processes
Crew operations teams still rely on spreadsheets, phone calls, and emails to manage hotels, transport, and allowances.
Hotel availability & no-shows
Finding rooms in high-demand locations (e.g., New York) is difficult, and unused bookings lead to costly penalties when crew members don’t check in.
Allowance and payment challenges
Many airlines lack automated digital payment solutions, forcing crew to manage cash, advance withdrawals, or out-of-pocket expenses.
Poor feedback & issue management
Crew complaints about hotels, safety, or entitlements are tracked manually, making the process slow, unscalable, and disconnected from procurement decisions
Customer Problems
Crew operations are complex and error-prone — constant schedule changes, manual processes, and unmanaged allowances create inefficiencies.
Airlines and other operators still depend on outdated, manual workflows to manage crew logistics — from hotel bookings and transport to allowances and last-minute disruptions. Crew managers spend hours reconciling spreadsheets, calls, and handover notes, while crew members face inconsistent information, unmanaged expenses, and limited support on the road. These inefficiencies not only drive higher costs and errors but also reduce satisfaction and operational resilience.
Lack of real-time visibility
Operations teams lack real-time data on crew status and location, while crew members don't receive timely updates update schedule changes and disruptions.
Fragmented ecosystem
Fragmented, manual crew operations with outdated tools and processes. Hotel accommodations management is inefficient.
Manual & offline processes
Crew operations teams still rely on spreadsheets, phone calls, and emails to manage hotels, transport, and allowances.
Hotel availability & no-shows
Finding rooms in high-demand locations (e.g., New York) is difficult, and unused bookings lead to costly penalties when crew members don’t check in.
Allowance and payment challenges
Many airlines lack automated digital payment solutions, forcing crew to manage cash, advance withdrawals, or out-of-pocket expenses.
Poor feedback & issue management
Crew complaints about hotels, safety, or entitlements are tracked manually, making the process slow, unscalable, and disconnected from procurement decisions
The Approach
How we were approaching this problem to help our customers
We used this video as part of our marketing and sales pitch for the new product, presenting it alongside early prototypes to spark market interest and gather stakeholder feedback
We used this video as part of our marketing and sales pitch for the new product, presenting it alongside early prototypes to spark market interest and gather stakeholder feedback
Solution Demo
Travel Disruption & Hotel Accommodations Handling
6 min | VO
I worked with product marketing to create this platform demo. This is a video showing the old MVP as a walk-though during a flight disruption. My colleague Jana in marketing did the VO.
Solution
Interaction between Crew Operations Platform and Mobile Travel App
4 min | silent
The following video shows our first MVPs (older design) that showed the explained the interplay between the operations platform and traveler app.
Customer Benefits
The crew management solution transforms crew business travel into a fully automated, user-friendly digital experience.
Process automation
Process automation
Real-time synchronization
Real-time synchronization
Global procurement and cost savings
Global procurement and cost savings
Live crew feedback & customer support
Live crew feedback & customer support
Seamless digital journey
Seamless digital journey
Solution
Solution Demo
Travel Disruption & Hotel Accommodations Handling
6 min | VO
I worked with product marketing to create this platform demo. This is a video showing the old MVP as a walk-though during a flight disruption. My colleague Jana in marketing did the VO.
Solution
Interaction between Crew Operations Platform and Mobile Travel App
4 min | silent
The following video shows our first MVPs (older design) that showed the explained the interplay between the operations platform and traveler app.
Customer Benefits
The crew management solution transforms crew business travel into a fully automated, user-friendly digital experience.
Process automation
Process automation
Real-time synchronization
Real-time synchronization
Global procurement and cost savings
Global procurement and cost savings
Live crew feedback & customer support
Live crew feedback & customer support
Seamless digital journey
Seamless digital journey
Features
Crew & Supplier Operations Dashboard
The dashboard gives operations managers a real-time command center for crew logistics, combining flight disruptions, crew status, and hotel operations in one view. Managers can track open tasks, irregular flights, missing room allocations, and supplier performance, while monitoring automation and hotel allocation efficiency.
Visibility & control
Gives managers a real-time snapshot of financial performance and compliance.
Project status & key alerts
Keeps managers informed with real-time flags on missing crew data, pending bookings, or budget risks
Operational efficiency
Reduces manual tracking across spreadsheets by consolidating data into unified view.
Operational efficiency
Automation across crew allocations, billing, and hotel supplier operations cuts manual work, lowers error rates, and delivers measurable savings on accommodation spend.
Optimized hotel allocation
Ensures the right number of rooms are matched to demand in real time, reducing costly no-shows and last-minute penalties.
Hotel supplier performance visibility
Tracks hotel partners’ reaction times, escalations, and room usage, giving operations teams data to enforce contracts and improve procurement decisions.
Features
Crew operations management
The crew operations feature acts as a mission control hub for managing crew rotations, schedule changes, and on-duty time at destinations. Within a 48-hour time window, operations managers see critical tasks prioritized for action — from disruptions to missing hotel allocations — and can resolve them through automation or quick manual interventions.
Bulk-booking feature
Enables project managers to book entire workforce groups in one step — saving hours of manual effort.
Quality assurance
Empowering project managers to spot risks, track savings, and keep projects on time and on budget.
Faster decision-making
For project managers handling complex crew logistics thanks to clear project overview
Proactive disruption handling
Highlights critical issues first (delays, cancellations, hotel gaps) so managers can act fast and keep crews supported.
Automated accommodation management
Allocates rooms and transport in real time, reducing costly no-shows and last-minute manual bookings.
Efficiency at scale
Automates up to 95% of routine tasks, freeing operations teams to focus only on exceptions
Features
Crew live feedback & hotel supplier performance
By integrating live feedback directly into the platform, we transformed unmanaged frustrations into structured, actionable insights. Crew members use the mobile companion app to file complaints or rate their in-destination experience through quick surveys. This feedback is automatically tied to supplier performance dashboards, giving operations managers a clear view of satisfaction, NPS, and hotel quality. The result: transparent decision-making on whether to retain, renegotiate, or replace underperforming suppliers.
Time savings
by eliminating manual booking for each group and each worker
Travel policy compliance
Ensuring all recommendations align with company travel rules and negotiated hotel rates
Flexibility
Managers can override system choices or apply their own hotel preferences.
Closed-feedback loop
Centralizes crew complaints and ratings, turning unmanaged feedback into actionable data for operations.
Supplier accountability
Performance dashboards reveal hotel strengths and weaknesses, ensuring only high-quality partners remain under contract.
Improved crew satisfaction
Quick mobile surveys and complaint handling boost crew trust and loyalty, directly improving NPS and retention.
Design Process
From vision to execution: My UX design strategy playbook
Grounded in UX strategy, this project evolved into HRS’s Workforce-as-a-Service platform — digitizing bookings, payments, and operations while creating a new Business Process Automation unit. My design decisions balanced user needs with strategic business goals.
Business strategy
I drove the product from 0 to 1 by aligning business and customer goals—through client visits, trade fairs, and strategy workshops—ensuring our time to create value matched the customer’s time to value.
Business strategy
I drove the product from 0 to 1 by aligning business and customer goals—through client visits, trade fairs, and strategy workshops—ensuring our time to create value matched the customer’s time to value.
Business strategy
Validated research
Value innovation
Engaging UX
I drove the product from 0 to 1 by aligning business and customer goals—through client visits, trade fairs, and strategy workshops—ensuring our time to create value matched the customer’s time to value.
Business strategy
Validated research
Value innovation
Engaging UX
I drove the product from 0 to 1 by aligning business and customer goals—through client visits, trade fairs, and strategy workshops—ensuring our time to create value matched the customer’s time to value.
Learnings
Driving innovation by bridging business goals, user needs, and rapid iteration
Through this project, I learned the value of working across business and design boundaries. By aligning business strategy with UX research, I ensured our time to create value matched the customer’s time to value. Field visits, user interviews, and usability testing provided insights that shaped the product iteratively, while journey maps and experience frameworks gave clarity for decision-making in the product trio.
Designing the interplay between the Operations Platform and Crew App revealed new revenue streams and positioned the solution within the broader business travel ecosystem. Ultimately, the project validated that a seamless, intuitive UX can deliver measurable business impact—recognized externally when HRS won the Skift Innovation Award 2023 for this very product
