02 · research & product strategy

Why long-stay guests didn't see themselves in the product

Our product was a good fit for long stays, but people didn't know it. This was a problem of perception and clarity, not features. We set out to find where that gap opened up in the journey, and to close it without reinventing the product.

role
Design Director. Co-led research, owned the design strategy
with
Faidon Loumakis, UX Research
when
Q1–Q2 2025
method
17 interviews, journey walkthroughs, concept tests
Single payment? Surely you don't expect me to pay for a full year in advance…
Move-out date? I don't know.
Fully equipped? Even dishes? Towels? I didn't realise it's furnished to that level!
Redesigned price module
why now

A crowded short-stay market, and an open long-stay niche

Competitors were crowding the short-stay space. Owning the long stay was a way to stand apart, but in interviews, people who weren't specifically looking for furnished apartments didn't realise we fit their use case. There was a gap between what we offer and the rental mental model people arrive with.

what we did

Watching people rent, from the homepage to checkout

  • Interviewed 17 people who were not specifically looking for furnished apartments.
  • Explored their needs, frustrations and preconceptions about renting.
  • Had them use the Blueground website from homepage to checkout, and asked what would make it feel like a place to live, not a short-term stay.
what we learned

Five themes, mapped to the moments they happen

Perceived as premiumSeen as high-end and trustworthy
Short-term biasAssumed it's not for long stays
Unfamiliar offeringNovel, and unclear what's included
Pricing confusionUtilities and dynamic pricing felt foreign
Need for viewingSome need in-person validation

We placed every quote on the journey at the exact touchpoint where it came up. That turned a research report into a design roadmap:

Journey map with participant quotes at each touchpoint
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strategy

Protect what works. Fix the moments that mislead.

The first theme was good news: the brand already felt premium. The design response was deliberately no change. Instead we committed to protecting that perception in every solution and avoiding downmarket signals in copy, imagery and UI.

The other four themes each got a targeted response across the journey:

  • Filters that match a long-stay mental model: bedrooms, price and home type up front, adapting in real time to the length of stay.
  • A monthly pricing toggle, so guests see a true monthly total, fees and utilities included, while browsing.
  • Listing cards with less noise: confusing utility mentions move to the property page, where they can be explained.
  • A pricing breakdown redesign that separates monthly from upfront costs, and defaults to monthly payments for stays of six months or more.
  • Building context and a structured FAQ on the property page, to reduce the need for a viewing or for contacting support.
Listing card showing a clean monthly rent Price module with pay monthly, 3 payments or upfront
listing cardOne clear monthly rent, and no utility wording to misread
stay lengthCompare your dates with a 12-month stay, at a glance
payment planPay monthly, in 3 payments or upfront, with what's due now shown separately
testing the details

Two pricing directions, tested head to head

For the highest-stakes component we designed two options, then compared them for clarity and confidence to convert.

Two pricing breakdown options
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validation

Tested in three steps

  • Moderated interviews on how people read the current and proposed breakdowns.
  • Unmoderated usability tests comparing concepts for clarity and confidence to convert.
  • A/B testing of the final two versions against booking conversion.

Conversion improved after release. To add: figures

reflection

Sometimes the best design response is restraint

The most useful call in this project was deciding what not to change. Naming "perceived as premium" as something to protect kept every later decision honest: no discount-style urgency, and no clutter that would make us look like a listings site.