A quick overview
skills: workshop design, leadership, behavioral decision making
the game
The goal is this: you need to book a complete trip from the Houston, Texas area to New Orleans for a long weekend trip. You have different hotels, cars, and flights available to you based on actual Priceline inventory printed out on a set of cards. It’s up to you to build a trip suited to your scenario. Sounds simple, right?
The most important piece of gameplay lies in the players; each player receives a character card. They’re encouraged to act out as this person and need to advocate for that person’s needs. So Kyle is a diabetic? He needs a mini-fridge for his medication. Lilah won’t stay in a hotel that’s less than 3 stars? Each group has to work with each other to find the best option for them based on their character preferences and their budget.
randomizing behaviors
Life is unpredictable. Anyone who’s planned a trip can recall monkey wrenches thrown into their plans. Maybe you waited too late to book your trip because you’re exhausted taking care of your new baby? Maybe your car broke down and you need some of your budget to cover that fix-up? In order to make the game more realistic, each group received an equal balance of positive, neutral, and negative random events. This is to add a little flavor to planning and see how players work through different situations to plan their trip.
what was the takeaway?
This tool primarily acted as a way to drive this point home: we are not our customers. While Priceline employees book travel for their friends and families, that experience may not reflect the typical Priceline customer’s experience. This means that we need to speak to more customers, gather more data, and make sure that we develop the right features to help travelers get from point A to point B.
In the end, everyone had a blast! The most effective workshops are the most engaging.