Strategy question
How will you plan the launch of a travel product after the end of coronavirus?
- Airbnb
- Strategy
- Hard
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What this question tests
Strategic planning under deep uncertainty, balancing demand recovery with safety concerns.
How to approach it
- Clarify scope: which travel product, and what stage of recovery, early reopening versus full return to travel.
- Assess demand signals: search and booking intent data as leading indicators before committing marketing spend.
- Segment the market: domestic and drive-to destinations likely recover faster than international or fly-to travel.
- Address trust: build visible safety and flexibility features, like free cancellation and cleanliness verification, as launch requirements not afterthoughts.
- Plan a phased rollout: start in markets with lower restrictions and higher vaccination or reopening signals, then expand.
- Define success: booking volume recovery relative to pre-pandemic baseline in the target segment, and cancellation rate.
What a strong answer includes
- Prioritizes flexible cancellation policy as a trust-building launch requirement, grounded in known pandemic-era traveler behavior.
- Uses leading indicators, like search volume, rather than lagging booking data to time the launch.
- Picks a specific first segment, domestic and short drive trips, as lower risk to relaunch into.
Common mistakes
- Launching broadly everywhere at once with no phased approach.
- Ignoring trust and safety features as core to the launch, not just marketing.
- No leading indicator to time the launch, only guessing.
Likely follow-up questions
- What data would tell you it is too early to launch in a given market?
- How would you adjust the plan if a new wave of restrictions hit mid-launch?
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Learn the skill behind it
Chapters of the AI PM course that teach what this question tests.
- Chapter 4: Discovery and strategy for AI products
- Chapter 9: Prove it paid off: outcomes, economics, and pricing
- Chapter 14: Get the job: the AI PM interview loop