Reinventing Commission Models for Tour & Experience Operators
Summary
Project at a Glance
Viator sought to move from a flat commission model to a dynamic, performance-based system to align with its growth strategy and boost supplier visibility.
Client
Viator - a Tripadvisor company
Timeline
12 months (MVP in 6 months, global rollout afterward)
My role
Lead UX Designer & Researcher
Shaped product vision pre-PM; onboarded successor
Represented UX in cross-functional leadership forums
Led end-to-end: research, design, and rollout strategy
Key Objectives
Replace static commission with scalable, incentive-aligned model
Enable suppliers to bid for visibility
Ensure product-market fit and global readiness
Early UI experiments for showing visibility scores
Outcomes
3%
Take Rate Lift
Surpassed the global average within 12 months
14%
Annual Revenue
Uplift attributed to new commission model
1%
Over MVP Goal
Outperformed initial KPIs in U.S. test market
Approach
Discovery & Vision
Conducted foundational research to understand supplier hesitation, workflow barriers, and motivations. Key findings:
Suppliers wanted clarity on who’s paying more and why
More openness to change when transparency and control were evident
Mapping Supplier Journeys
Visualized friction points and dependencies in onboarding and commission-setting—guided early design principles.
Designing the Gamified Commission Model
Introduced a transparent, value-based system, anchored in a “visibility score” showing how commissions affect exposure.
Design Principles
Transparency: Clarity between commission & listing position
Control: Suppliers choose bid levels
Fairness: Avoid disadvantaging smaller suppliers
Prototyped and tested:
Competitive comparison tools
Visual guidance on optimal levels
Smart defaults to prevent user overload
MVP Launch & Iteration
To test product-market fit, we launched the MVP in the U.S. with a limited group of suppliers. I partnered closely with Product, Engineering, and Marketing to ensure the design vision carried through to execution.
My design leadership focused on:
Readiness across touchpoints: Collaborated with marketing and CX to craft onboarding and education flows
Iterative loops: Used early adoption data and feedback to refine information hierarchy and decision-making moments
Scalable architecture: Designed UI patterns and logic that could adapt across multiple markets and supplier types
This phase validated that our core visibility model worked—and gave us a clear path to refine transparency and usability before global expansion.
UX artifacts from post-launch improvements, updated flows based on real-world supplier behavior, and international localization adjustments.
Reflection & Impact
This project sharpened my belief that great design isn’t just about usability—it’s about alignment. Building this commission model meant aligning suppliers’ incentives, internal teams’ goals, and Viator’s business strategy into a system that worked for all three.
It reinforced the value of:
Design-led discovery to uncover real user motivations
Cross-functional influence to align vision across silos
Systems thinking to scale design across complex marketplaces
More than shipping a feature, this work shifted how Viator thinks about supplier growth—grounded in transparency, trust, and long-term value.