Overview
The Guestbook is the world’s first cashback hotel loyalty program that rewards members for booking direct at over 800 of the best independent and boutique brand hotels in major travel destinations around the globe.
As part of the expansion strategy and considering The Guestbook vision of “A world where travelers search less and experience more”, the leadership and product development teams decided to develop a travel recommendation mobile application and website in which travelers have access to non-biased, authentic local recommendations. The application/website is called Shrtlst and the locals providing recommendations are called A-Listers. This idea arose from hearing travelers complaining about spending hours on the internet searching and reading reviews from unknown people to determine where to visit, have fun, and dine when on vacation.
NOTE
Please note that only a few parts of the projects are shared to ensure compliance with The Guestbook’s NDA.
Impact
In a market where the four largest platforms spent a combined $17.8 billion on marketing in 2024, a new entrant cannot buy traveler attention — it has to earn belief. Shrtlst was launching against that asymmetry, which made the operative question: what would make a traveler believe a stranger's recommendation is honest?
My research found that travelers spend hours searching not because information is scarce but because they have no basis for deciding which recommendation to adopt — and that they extend trust only when they can inspect the mechanism behind one: who the person is, what makes them credibly local, how they're compensated, and whether their taste resembles their own. Credibility, in other words, had to be made inspectable rather than claimed.
Those findings became operating criteria rather than a one-time design input: filtering A-Listers by age, travel companion, and interest; biographies paired with photographs in genuinely local settings; and public disclosure of how A-Listers are selected and compensated — now written into Shrtlst's published terms, which require A-Listers to attest that they receive nothing from the venues they recommend. Because trust depended on travelers finding someone who resembled them, A-Lister recruitment also had to be curated across age, travel style, and interest — a standard the company applies as it enters each new market.
Approach
Sample Questions
Q1: What criteria do users need to fully believe that the recommendations are authentic and unbiased?
Q2: What criteria do users need to fully believe that the recommendations are from locals?
Q3: How do users choose which piece of information to adopt (among so many?)
Team
Number of team members: 9
My role: Principal Researcher
Methodology
Research method:Qualitative
Data collection method: Focus Group
Data Collection
Instrument: Open-ended interview guide
Main study: 4 virtual groups of 8 travelers
Data Analysis
Thematic Analysis
Key Insights
1- The language used to describe experiences, transparency in detailing the behind-the-scenes process, and pictures of locals using the recommended places play a crucial role in perceived authenticity and impartiality.
2- The biography of the A-listers and their pictures in not-so-touristy places can instill more confidence in users that the A-listers are genuinely locals.
3- The most important factors travelers consider when choosing someone's recommendation are the similarity of age range, travel companions, and interests.
Recommendations
The A-listers selected should have diverse interests (casual, old-fashioned, etc), age ranges, (20s, 20s, 40s, etc) and travel style (solo, with a partner, with a friend, etc). Accordingly, the Shrtlst website and mobile application need to include filtering options for age, travel companions, and interest so that users can narrow down the A-listers to those they are interested in reading their recommendations.
The Shrtlst website and mobile application need to include biographies for all A-Listers and display pictures of them in places around the city that are not overly touristy. These two aspects are important to signify that A-Listers are truly locals.
The uniqueness of each A-Lister's language and tone, the process of selecting and compensating A-Listers, and whether the A-Listers have actually experienced the places they recommend are the determinants of perceived authenticity and impartiality
Sample Quotes
Travel With
“For me it depends. If I'm doing a trip, with family, obviously it's totally different, so I might appreciate just some stuff I can do with the kids besides all the touristy stuff. Now if I'm traveling solo or with my husband, it's a different story, you know, then I'm going to be looking for things that I'm interested in doing. Like to do a lot of outdoor stuff.”
Interest Similarity
“I'm from Huntington Beach, I live one city over in California, so I have my whole life's perspective. And anybody for Orange County, I can tell them everything. But that doesn't mean that My perspective is gonna be the same, but I can tell because I've lived here….I think if it's particularly like a certain City Yes, I'm gonna be looking for people who have similar interests as me, but they may be of a different age. It just depends if that makes sense.”
Biography
“I think if it wasn't for the bio, I wouldn't believe that they were locals. Just because um, I've been to Vegas like six times. If it was just like pictures I posted, I don't think it would be enough, but I think the Bi will definitely, adds to the fact that, yeah, they, they are locals, you know, based on that description you read.”
Behind the Scenes
“I guess thinking about how you filter and how do you select locals and how do you get to locals to post recommendation and specific app I will be interested in learning about the process but as in anything it's not one hundred guaranteed….. I mean, one big question for me would be how, how? App owner will drive locals to, you know, what is incentive, right”
Age
“Yeah, I agree. I think the only thing you have to make sure is that there's someone who's similar to you or at least has similar interests, you know, like I wouldn't necessarily take a recommendation from someone who is a lot older or a lot younger”
Language
“a good way to go off of it is just like the language they use, the way they describe the place and if it seems authentic and like they're speaking from the heart or if it seems like they're just like using buzz words […] Using casual language. And maybe more details about like personal details like oh, I love Hiking in this place, you know, you can tell they know what they're talking about, like this place was steep but had a great view at the top. You know, like not kid friendly or something like details that um, kind of show their note what they're talking about and not just like generic language.”
Picture
“Yeah, I would also argue that having a like very, very, very touristy picture as a local would probably make you think that me think that you're not actually a local. Which sounds so stupid to think. But like I live in Nashville and every tourist bachelorette party, bachelor party takes a picture on Broadway, they shut down the street at night and everyone has one. And I've lived here for like seven years and I, I've never taken one and probably won't ever take one. But if I saw somebody have that and be like Meet De Laney Local of Nashville. I would probably be like, You're not actually local if that's your picture”