A UAE trip planner that turns your dates, budget and mode of transport into two to four whole itineraries, each priced in full, fees included.
THE PROBLEM
Short UAE trips get planned across search, maps, booking sites and group chats. AI assistants can now plan the whole weekend, but in my tests none of them gave a total cost that held up.
WHAT I DID
Interviewed 8 residents, tested the closest specialist competitor and three AI assistants against the same brief, then designed one planner with two ways in: open and anchored.
THE CONSTRAINTS
Solo, in 7 weeks, with illustrative prices: there was no live pricing, availability or travel-time data.
WHAT HAPPENED
3 of 5 planned a weekend without help, and all 5 swapped an activity in a median of 45 seconds.
What 8 people told me
I interviewed 8 UAE residents about a recent trip. Every one of them dropped an option they liked, and drive time, cost with fees and availability did most of the ruling out.
Drive time or how to get there
5 of 8
Too far with children, poor transit access, shuttle dependency or heavy traffic
P01 · P03 · P05 · P06 · P07
Total cost, once fees were added
4 of 8
Cleaning fees, hidden charges or price jumps made it not worth it
P02 · P03 · P04 · P06
Availability on their dates
4 of 8
The preferred stay or activity was sold out on the planned dates
P02 · P04 · P06 · P08
Didn't match the trip they wanted
3 of 8
Too formal, the wrong kind of stay, or too generic for the trip they had in mind
P01 · P04 · P07
Season and weather
2 of 8
Summer heat or unsafe mountain weather made it impractical
P03 · P08
Who was coming
2 of 8
Didn't work for children or family logistics
P01 · P05
Safety
1 of 8
A solo hike without adequate safety infrastructure
P08
3 OF 8 · OPEN
Compare whole trips
No destination yet. Started from dates, budget or a feeling and compared complete possibilities.
5 OF 8 · ANCHORED
Compare what remains
A destination, event or activity was already fixed. Only the choices around it were still open.
The majority already had something fixed. That is why "Plan around" sits on the first screen, not in settings.
3 OF 8 · OPEN
Compare whole trips
No destination yet. Started from dates, budget or a feeling and compared complete possibilities.
5 OF 8 · ANCHORED
Compare what remains
A destination, event or activity was already fixed. Only the choices around it were still open.
The majority already had something fixed. That is why "Plan around" sits on the first screen, not in settings.
Market
I looked at two groups: the tools people named in interviews, and the AI assistants that now plan whole trips. The first group helps with one piece at a time, such as ideas, an itinerary or a hotel. The second plans the whole weekend and compares options when asked.
MARKET GAP
I reviewed the entry screen of two products people already use to plan or book a UAE trip, and annotated what each one asks or shows first.
AI trip planning
Leads with a tagline and one button. No field is visible until you click through.
Once inside, it asks for start city, budget and destination.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR SONDER DUNES
THE GAP
Booking.com opens with a destination search, and Mytreep asks for one straight after its first button. Neither asks how you would get there, which was the most common reason participants ruled a trip out.
WHAT SONDER DUNES DOES
Sonder Dunes starts from dates, budget and transport, checks whether a trip works first, then shows whole trips to compare.
What current tools get wrong
I gave ChatGPT, Gemini and Mindtrip the same request and the same four follow-ups. They compared trips when asked. Every one of them failed on cost.
| CHATGPT | GEMINI | MINDTRIP | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compares two or more whole trips | Does it: When asked | Does it: When asked | Partly: Hotels in one place only |
| Gives a trip total that holds up | Doesn't: Unchecked until asked | Doesn't: Said all-in, showed no fees | Doesn't: Contradicted itself |
| Budgets around a stay already booked | Does it: Priced the rest separately | Doesn't: Assumed a room price | Doesn't: Gave no costs |
| Swaps one activity and updates the total | Partly: Rewrote the whole day | Doesn't: Suggested three, applied none | Partly: Swapped, no price shown |
| Explains what it left out | Partly: Listed each option's compromise | Doesn't: No | Does it: "Not a good fit" list |
Sonder Dunes is designed to do each of these. It compares whole trips by default, lists every fee on its own line with estimates marked, asks what you paid for a stay you've already booked and budgets the rest, shows the price difference before you swap an activity, and lists each trip it left out with the change that brings it back.
How Sonder Dunes works
Every request runs through the same three steps: check what's possible, sort by what the traveller likes, show a few.
REQUESTFrom Dubai · 10–11 Oct · 2 people · AED 2,500 total · own car · quiet and outdoors
1 · CHECK WHAT'S POSSIBLE
Hard limits only: total cost with fees, drive time, availability and season. Fail one and the trip is out.
2 · SORT BY WHAT THEY LIKE
"Quiet and outdoors" puts the three survivors in order. Taste can't bring back a trip that step 1 removed.
3 · SHOW TWO TO FOUR
Each with its all-in weekend cost, why it fits and one trade-off. Never more than four.
The two trips from step 1 aren't hidden. Matches lists them with the reason and the change that brings each back.
TWO WAYS IN, SAME THREE STEPS
Every candidate trip enters step 1. This is the example above.
Example: the request above, with no destination chosen.
A booked stay, an event or an activity is fixed before step 1. Its cost comes off the budget, and the three steps run on what's left.
Example: JA Hatta Fort already booked for AED 1,450, so AED 1,050 is left for the rest of the weekend.
WHAT I CONSIDERED FIRST
Suggested destinations and stays based on broad preferences.
STRENGTH Easy to understand and useful for inspiration.
WHY I SET IT ASIDE Nice to browse, but it never answered what the trip would cost, so the traveller still had to work out the rest.
SCOPE AND LIMITS
The product
The part that matters most
Prices are illustrative, modelled on typical UAE rates and fees.
Rates move. A timestamp tells the traveller how fresh the number is before they book.
The weekend total sits next to the budget the traveller set, with what's left.
Room, service charge, tourism and municipality fees, and VAT are listed separately.
Fuel and meals carry ≈ and a hollow marker, apart from prices Sonder Dunes has confirmed.
Visual system
Four design decisions
After "Ready to book"
Each booking opens with its own provider, so Sonder Dunes never takes payment. It tracks what is booked and what is still open, and keeps the weekend total visible, including what gets paid during the trip.
Responsive
I decided what each screen size shows first, then cut down from there. A laptop has room for the plan and the cost panel side by side. A phone has to fit the same decisions into one column, and Compare was the screen that fought back.
The hard problem
When the plan stops working
Leads with the one change that brings trips back.
Flags the option before it is picked.
Keeps the plan and offers three nearby stays.
Moves outdoor plans out of the hottest hours.
Accessibility and clarity
Meaning isn't carried by colour alone
Estimates carry ≈ and a hollow marker, so they read as estimates by shape and symbol as well as colour.
Testing
3 / 5
planned a weekend without help
Ink = finished unaided
1:30
median time to a saved plan, across all five
5 / 5
swapped an activity, in a median of 45 seconds
What testing changed
Problem
3 of 5 weren't sure whether "Budget" meant the whole trip or just one part of it, like the stay.
Change
Renamed the field "Total budget", so it matches the all-in weekend total it is checked against.
Problem
4 of 5 weren't sure whether to press "Open plan" on a card or "Compare matches" in the bar.
Change
Compare is now the only button once two trips are selected. "Open plan" is a text link.
Problem
All 5 read "FIXED · 9:30 PM" as locked and hesitated before swapping it, on the one activity the task asked them to change.
Change
Renamed it "BOOKED · 9:30 PM". "Fixed" now only marks anchors, such as a booked stay or an event.
Reflection
The value was in giving people a small number of complete options. It made comparison feel more manageable and helped move the decision forward.
Budget, driving time and accommodation matter, but people are choosing between experiences. The comparison had to make the character of each trip understandable.
Choosing a trip often continues outside the product. That made me think beyond the individual screen and about how an option moves between people before a decision is made.
What I'd do differently
I would test the structure of the recommendations and comparison before pushing the interface as far visually. That would let me validate what information people actually use to choose between trips earlier in the process.
What I'd build next
I'd design a way to send a comparison directly to WhatsApp so friends or family can review the same options and vote without having to recreate the decision elsewhere.
Sonder Dunes · Case Study
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