College Travel Agency - Learning Launch

Challenge and Selection:

I used to work in a travel agency in Mexico, that was on the top 3 high school  graduation trip agencies in Latin America. Our only destinations at that moment were  Cancún and Puerto Vallarta, we offered in each of them a full all inclusive round trip  (including flights, 6 days and 5 nights at an all inclusive hotel, private transportation at  destination, daily open bar night clubs, daily private beach club, etc.)  We used to fly to each destination over 1,500 graduates every week from spring break  till the end of summer.  Our trips gave us a customer wallet that renewed every year, since we only offered trips  to high school graduates. In consequence, once a client had traveled with us, he was no  longer a potential or recurrent client again, since he wouldn’t fit in our offered trips, even  though they wanted to travel again with us due to the great service we offered.  We saw this situation happening for many years, wasting the opportunity of keeping  with us clients that had already traveled with us and liked our company. This was an eye  opener to us, so that we needed to find a way of selling our services again to a past  client even though he was no longer a “graduate”.

We decided to use the Design Thinking Methodology to find a solution that would be a  perfect fit to keep our clients with us through years, and not only selling to them the year  they graduate and never see them again.   At this point is where a tool like a Learning Launch comes handy, since it will allow us to  create and test a prototype as an “alternative solution” for our specific need, that was  “Developing a product to maintain our clients once their average life spawn with us had  finished”.  As we saw during the course, this tool will give us useful insight, in order to keep  iterating our prototype till we came up with an almost perfect idea. It will also let us proof  or discard any hypothesis developed during the process, so that we can enrich our  insights. Also, in order to avoid confirmation bias and to enrich all the process, we  defined a multidisciplinary team, conformed of not only people from different areas, but  also looking different peoples profiles, such as different ages, different college degrees,  etc.

Application:

For the application, we decided to follow the process as we saw in the course videos,  where we: Started with the hypothesis that: “College students wanted shorter and  cheaper trips than the ones we offered to Cancún and Puerto Vallarta [2-4 days] with  “less party” and to different cities”. In a nutshell, more “mature" trips.  In México there are more than 130 towns that receive the badge of “Magical Town”, they  are around all the country and people usually visits them on road trips or during holidays  in short trips.  Whit this in mind we had the assumption that combining this two elements to offer 2-4  days trips to a “magical town” during the most important holidays would be a perfect fit

for college students. We went through 10 workshops with multicultural teams, varying  from age, to college degree, sociocultural background, etc., in order to understand their  needs and desires. Next we went through 3 sessions only with the operative team to  define what would be the best deal we could offer to our potential clients. After 1.5  months of investigation and plantation, we came up with 1 idea to “San Miguel de  Allende” for the wine and hot air balloon festival. We offered the trip and achieve to sell  the trip to 45 people, also including full round trip transportation, all inclusive hotel, and  everything needed for the festival.

Once that trip finished, we iterated thanks to surveys applied to our travelers and  launched a second learning launch, but now to “Val’Quirico” that is a place that  replicates an Italian town near Mexico City. This second time we had 55 travelers and  focused on reducing operational costs to reduce the costs of the trips, so we decided to  use what we learnt from the first experience and reduced the all inclusive hotel class,  and only left breakfast and dinner. Because since people was outside going through the  town, they didn’t took advantage of the buffet and open bar, so that price wasn’t  convenient and only inflated the overall price.

Insight:

Thanks to this tool we would be able to keep iterating and throwing learning launches till  we came up with a fully refined product.  After we threw those two learning launches, we came up with really relevant insight  since we were able to proof that in fact college students want shorter and cheaper trips,  but not because they were more mature, it was because some of them started working  while they study, so now they were the ones paying for their trips instead of their  parents (As it happens when it’s their graduation trip from high school.)  We also came up with the insight that our Clientes preferred to visit a new place instead  of going again to the same destination they’ve already gone.

Approach:

Using this tool helped us to open the eyes and see that our type of client evolves pretty  quickly, so for the next time I would keep the surveys as a good practice in order to  keep our product in Kaizen (Continuous improvement related to lean manufacturing).  Since our products are more like a service, we are not fixed to develop only one product  to fit all.   Also for the next time I would consider throwing a learning launch to produce a list or  menu to see if this is better for our clients, so that they can decide from a basic plan  how expensive and complete they want their trip. This would also allow us to get to a  broader clientele to take more advantage of our previous clients. Instead of selling just  one type of trip that is something that works pretty well for high school grads.


College Travel Agency - Learning Launch Challenge and Selection : I used to work in a travel agency in Mexico , that was on the top 3 high school graduation trip agencies in Latin America . Our only destinations at that moment were Cancún and Puerto Vallarta , we offered in each of them a full all inclusive round trip ( including flights , 6 days and 5 nights at an all inclusive hotel , private transportation at destination , daily open bar night clubs , daily private beach club , etc . ) We used to fly to each destination over 1,500 graduates every week from spring break till the end of summer . Our trips gave us a customer wallet that renewed every year , since we only offered trips to high school graduates . In consequence , once a client had traveled with us , he was no longer a potential or recurrent client again , since he would n’t fit in our offered trips , even though they wanted to travel again with us due to the great service we offered . We saw this situation happening for many years , wasting the opportunity of keeping with us clients that had already traveled with us and liked our company . This was an eye opener to us , so that we needed to find a way of selling our services again to a past client even though he was no longer a “ graduate ” . We decided to use the Design Thinking Methodology to find a solution that would be a perfect fit to keep our clients with us through years , and not only selling to them the year they graduate and never see them again . At this point is where a tool like a Learning Launch comes handy , since it will allow us to create and test a prototype as an “ alternative solution ” for our specific need , that was “ Developing a product to maintain our clients once their average life spawn with us had finished ” . As we saw during the course , this tool will give us useful insight , in order to keep iterating our prototype till we came up with an almost perfect idea . It will also let us proof or discard any hypothesis developed during the process , so that we can enrich our insights . Also , in order to avoid confirmation bias and to enrich all the process , we defined a multidisciplinary team , conformed of not only people from different areas , but also looking different peoples profiles , such as different ages , different college degrees , etc . Application : For the application , we decided to follow the process as we saw in the course videos , where we : Started with the hypothesis that : “ College students wanted shorter and cheaper trips than the ones we offered to Cancún and Puerto Vallarta [ 2 - 4 days ] with “ less party ” and to different cities ” . In a nutshell , more “ mature " trips . In México there are more than 130 towns that receive the badge of “ Magical Town ” , they are around all the country and people usually visits them on road trips or during holidays in short trips . Whit this in mind we had the assumption that combining this two elements to offer 2 - 4 days trips to a “ magical town ” during the most important holidays would be a perfect fit for college students . We went through 10 workshops with multicultural teams , varying from age , to college degree , sociocultural background , etc . , in order to understand their needs and desires . Next we went through 3 sessions only with the operative team to define what would be the best deal we could offer to our potential clients . After 1.5 months of investigation and plantation , we came up with 1 idea to “ San Miguel de Allende ” for the wine and hot air balloon festival . We offered the trip and achieve to sell the trip to 45 people , also including full round trip transportation , all inclusive hotel , and everything needed for the festival . Once that trip finished , we iterated thanks to surveys applied to our travelers and launched a second learning launch , but now to “ Val’Quirico ” that is a place that replicates an Italian town near Mexico City . This second time we had 55 travelers and focused on reducing operational costs to reduce the costs of the trips , so we decided to use what we learnt from the first experience and reduced the all inclusive hotel class , and only left breakfast and dinner . Because since people was outside going through the town , they did n’t took advantage of the buffet and open bar , so that price was n’t convenient and only inflated the overall price . Insight : Thanks to this tool we would be able to keep iterating and throwing learning launches till we came up with a fully refined product . After we threw those two learning launches , we came up with really relevant insight since we were able to proof that in fact college students want shorter and cheaper trips , but not because they were more mature , it was because some of them started working while they study , so now they were the ones paying for their trips instead of their parents ( As it happens when it ’s their graduation trip from high school . ) We also came up with the insight that our Clientes preferred to visit a new place instead of going again to the same destination they ’ve already gone . Approach : Using this tool helped us to open the eyes and see that our type of client evolves pretty quickly , so for the next time I would keep the surveys as a good practice in order to keep our product in Kaizen ( Continuous improvement related to lean manufacturing ) . Since our products are more like a service , we are not fixed to develop only one product to fit all . Also for the next time I would consider throwing a learning launch to produce a list or menu to see if this is better for our clients , so that they can decide from a basic plan how expensive and complete they want their trip . This would also allow us to get to a broader clientele to take more advantage of our previous clients . Instead of selling just one type of trip that is something that works pretty well for high school grads .