When Vacation Dreams Get Ghosted — Errors That Quietly Steal Revenue

A major vacation booking site approached us with a classic mystery: "Why are people not booking — even when they find what they want?" At first glance, everything looked fine. But zoom in a little, and you'd find users clicking around like they were trapped in a maze with no "exit" in sight.

Ghost Town Routes

Customers would search for their dream trip and hit a "not available" message with no explanation or suggestions. Just vibes and an empty page that left users stranded.

Seasonal Confusion Station

The calendar didn't hint which destinations were seasonal. People kept trying new dates like they were cracking a safe and kept getting locked out with no guidance.

Payment Page Fumble

Even brave users who made it to checkout couldn't see the full cost until way too late. On mobile, the summary was hiding like it owed someone money.

In just one month, thousands of potential customers hit dead ends, with mobile users especially affected. The estimated missed opportunity? North of $9 million. This brand wasn't failing because of demand — it was friction. Invisible, repetitive, and expensive friction that turned vacation bookings from "click, sip, done" into a confusing obstacle course.

The fixes were straightforward: make route availability crystal clear upfront, grey out seasonal routes in the calendar, put total cost front and center on the payment page, and sync operations with UX teams before launching new routes. When vacation dreams get ghosted by poor user experience, the revenue impact is anything but invisible.