Establishing design at Travelnest across brand, product, and team

Travelnest is a SaaS platform for vacation rental hosts, helping them promote and manage their properties, bookings, and guest communication.

I joined in July 2022, shortly after a funding round, at a point when the company needed design to mature quickly across the business. There had been no permanent design function for some time. The brand was inconsistent, the product lacked a clear system, and many customer-facing materials had been assembled pragmatically by non-designers. Over the next three years, I helped build that foundation across brand, product, and team development.

Rebuilding the foundation

One of my first major initiatives was leading the rebrand. Before moving into visuals, I brought together leadership, marketing, and key stakeholders to define the strategic foundations first: who Travelnest served, how it should be positioned, and what kind of character the brand should project.

From that work, I led the development of a new visual identity system and the redesign of the marketing website, rebuilding it in Framer. The relaunch improved engagement, increased time on site, and contributed to stronger sign-up performance. Internally, it also gave the company a stronger sense that the brand now reflected what the business had become.

Creating HostUI

Alongside the brand work, I led the foundational work for the product design system. The goal was to bring the same design DNA into the product through typography, colour, and components, then use that system to modernise the interface over time.

This became HostUI, a formally recognised design system spanning both web and mobile. I worked closely with engineers to evolve it in practice and use it as an active tool for improving consistency across new product work.

Leading the first mobile app

I also led one of the company’s most significant product initiatives: the first Travelnest mobile app. Rather than simply replicating the web product, we started by understanding the highest-value use cases. Research showed that messaging, bookings, and calendar visibility mattered most, so we designed a companion app around those needs first and expanded it over time.

I was the sole designer on the app, responsible for the work end to end. In practice, the role also extended beyond product design into project leadership, keeping stakeholders aligned and helping the team stay focused on high-impact delivery. I also contributed to how the initiative was measured, helping shape a clearer approach to tracking product impact. Within a few months, the app had become a prominent day-to-day touchpoint for customers.

Leading beyond the interface

My role at Travelnest regularly stretched beyond conventional design execution. Another strong example was the cancellations work: a cross-platform initiative tackling a high-value business problem that influenced the roadmap across multiple teams. I facilitated the initial workshop with senior stakeholders, including the CEO, then led the redesign of cancellation preferences and the host-led cancellation journey across web and mobile, replacing a legacy process with a clearer product experience.

Alongside that, I also led or supported a range of other initiatives, including scheduled messaging, transactional email updates, and broader work to improve cross-functional clarity and delivery.

“His ability to get through an incredible amount of work and contribute across different areas of the business is remarkable.”

Former VP of Product and Engineering, Travelnest

Growing design as a function

I was the most senior individual contributor in a design team that grew to five senior designers. Alongside hands-on design work, I mentored other designers, supported hiring, and at times took on formal line management responsibilities.

More broadly, I helped establish design as a strategic function within the company: influencing prioritisation, improving cross-functional clarity, and helping teams move from fragmented output to a more coherent way of building.

Outcome

My work at Travelnest helped move the company from fragmented, ad hoc design output to a more coherent operating model across brand, product, and systems. The rebrand created stronger internal alignment and a more credible external presence. The website performed better after launch. HostUI established a consistent foundation across web and mobile. The mobile app created a new, high-frequency customer touchpoint. And design became a more strategic function inside the business, shaping not only what customers saw, but how teams aligned and delivered.