Transactional
Communication
Experience Strategy
Turning System Messages Into Strategic Moments of Trust and Value
Company:
Expedia, Hotels.com, VRBO
Role:
Senior UX Design Manager, Communication Strategy & Design Systems
Timeline:
Ongoing | Multi-brand scope (Expedia, Hotels.com, VRBO) | Global cross-functional teams
Challenge
Transactional communications, the behind-the-scenes workhorses of digital platforms, are often ignored, under-designed, and inconsistent. Think: booking confirmations, itinerary updates, cancellation notices, password resets.
At Expedia Group, these touchpoints were:
Siloed across product, engineering, and marketing
Visually fragmented across brands
Missing clear hierarchy, personalization, and accessibility
Lacking emotional tone or brand presence
And yet, these are often the most-opened, most-trusted messages in a user’s journey.
The opportunity?
Reframe transactional communications as experience amplifiers, not just system outputs.
Approach
We treated transactional messages as part of the core product experience, not just post-purchase follow-up.
My work centered on building a cross-platform, scalable strategy for designing transactional messages that are:
Clear & accessible
Context-aware & emotionally aligned
Aligned with business objectives (retention, trust, satisfaction)
Systematized for scale across 3 major travel brands
