83% automated bookings with custom hotel booking software solution

Our team developed a mobile and a web application for searching and booking ski resort rooms worldwide. The hotel booking software has a convenient 24/7 support system with a smart bot redirecting user requests for quick service.

Customer

Industry

Tourism

Region

Client since

2022

Our client is an international online travel agency helping customers organize holidays in the finest ski resorts worldwide.

Detailed information about the client cannot be disclosed under the provisions of the NDA.

Challenge: Creating a flexible booking platform through custom app development for travel agency

Our client provides trips and tours to ski resorts around the globe offering a wide range of travel packages and accommodation types. However, the agency faced several challenges while organizing services due to the lack of a single organized b2c travel portal for customers with the ability to search, book, and compare resorts.

In addition, the company required a high-responsive system for keeping up-to-date with resort information and pricing, streamlining the booking process, offering flexible payment options and displaying real-time booking offerings information across resorts.

Most of the problems associated with organizing travel without a flexible hotel booking app development involved complex booking processes, limited payment options, and inaccurate room booking information displayed with time delays.

To address these issues, our team faced the challenge of custom B2C travel portal development from scratch. A general overview of our work scope included:

Booking engine development. Designing and developing a highly efficient and scalable booking engine that seamlessly integrates with multiple ski resort suppliers.
Search algorithms. Implementing advanced algorithms and search filters to provide personalized user recommendations based on their preferences.
Implementing ML. Utilizing machine learning algorithms to dynamically update pricing and fees.
Streamlined booking flows. Creating intuitive and user-friendly booking processes to enhance the overall user experience.
Robust back-office system. Developing a comprehensive system to effectively manage operations behind the scenes.
Ongoing maintenance and support. Providing continuous maintenance and support services to ensure smooth booking operations and customer satisfaction.

Solution: Creating a robust hotel booking software with build-in booking engine

After collecting and approving requirements for the MVP product development, our team designed a custom hotel booking software solution with a built-in booking engine that supports the following features:

integrations with suppliers;
streamlining and managing the booking process;
search rules customization;

price changes tracking system.

Our solution includes the development of a secure back-office ecosystem that ensures uninterrupted 24/7 service and emergency assistance for agency clients. Within the unified B2C travel portal, visitors can create profiles containing avatars, short descriptions, and contact information. They can access resources such as resort reviews, room photos, area visuals, and ski slope maps with detailed information about accommodation options.

As a way to address any concerns or questions, we created a dedicated support service for immediate assistance. Travellers can reach out at any time and receive prompt and personalized help. Additionally, we have implemented a service bot that intelligently redirects user requests to the appropriate departments within the agency. The seamless integration with the agency’s back-office system ensures efficient handling of inquiries, enabling swift and convenient resolution for their clients.

Furthermore, we have expanded the service through the development of a mobile app for Android and iOS devices. This empowers users to conveniently access the platform and book rooms on the go.

Supplier management and price adjustment system

The hotel booking app development process incorporated the creation of several main blocks, including one that enables OTAs to receive up-to-date information through APIs from major market players. The system establishes a connection with the property management systems of partner ski resorts for tracking and timely updating booking options.

By using the implemented price tracking and adjustment system, the agency can set rules for calculating booking commissions. The program automatically adjusts the amount of the commission depending on the season, competitor booking prices, room availability, and the tourist demand for specific resorts. Additionally, we integrated a machine learning model into the fee adjustment process to automatically display the best deals and commission rates. The recommendation tool provides each user with personalized suggestions for choosing suitable departments based on previous requests: specified price ranges, countries, accommodation types, and vacation periods.

Booking flow tracking and smart recommendations

The tools for setting search rules help to set the necessary resort search parameters and allow the agency staff to modify them quickly. Travellers can search for a resort based on various parameters:

location;
date;
price;
resort size;
room availability;
difficulty level of ski slopes;
guest ratings;
options for specific amenities or popularity score;
types of catering;
availability of skiing training.

Our client can easily adjust the required search parameters using the toolset for creating specific search filters. One of the primary advantages of custom travel portal development lies in granting the client the ability to swiftly modify search criteria, thereby ensuring competitiveness through exclusive offers and pricing that align with real-time trends in the tourism sector captured by the system. In addition, the B2C travel portal compares the search results obtained from different sources to prevent displaying the same booking option to the client more than once.

The booking tracking system enables users to quickly hold or book a room in a ski resort in just a few clicks. The platform with the configured API messaging instantly sends booking requests to contractors and redirects users to the payment process via credit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or WebMoney.

Technologies & tools

Back-end

Java, Spring Boot, Spring Data, REST, Hibernate, jOOQ, PostgreSQL, Liquibase, ElasticSearch, AWS, Kafka, Docker, Kubernetes, ELK

Front-end

TypeScript, React, Redux Toolkit Query, Webpack, ESLint, Prettier, Material UI, CSS, React-hook-form, Recharts

Platforms

Web, Android, iOS

Mobile

Kotlin, CleanArchitecture, MVVM, ViewModel, LiveData, Coroutines, Dagger2, Room, Retrofit, Compose, Swift, VIPER, MVP, Combine, SwiftUI, Alamofire, CoreData

Databases

PostgreSQL, MongoDB

Python, pySpark, Spark MLlib, Pandas, Numpy, Pytorch

Qase, Postman, Swagger, TestFlight, Charles Proxy, Fiddler, ADB, IDB, Android studio, Xcode, Network Link Conditioner

Process

After collecting and analyzing the requirements for the hotel booking app development, our specialists started building the web-based MVP version with basic functionality for full-fledged work. In six months, the team developed the MVP version that passed all testing phases. During the second iteration, we created a mobile version of the app, we implemented the service bot and several additional functions for search filters.

In terms of project management, we adhered to Agile methodology with its focus on flexibility and adaptability during the hotel booking app development process. Innowise was able to make changes and adjustments as needed throughout the project, based on clients’ feedback and evolving requirements, ensuring that the MVP version meets the needs of the stakeholders and provides value to the end-users and OTA. The team used Jira and Confluence for progress and task tracking and collaborated with the client via Google Chat and Zoom. The project is still ongoing: we are working on improving the application with new features and tools, supporting the platform, and defining and evaluating functionality for future releases.

Team

Back-End developers

Front-End developers

Project manager

Business analyst

UI/UX designer

QA engineers

Mobile developers

Machine learning engineers

Data engineers

Results: 14% revenue growth with smart pricing and automation of 83% of booking processes

Through our expertise in custom travel portal development, our team created a robust mobile and a web application with a booking engine, allowing users to search and book the best ski resorts around the world. The app has comprehensive systems for managing, supporting, and recommending the best price options using a built-in ML-model.

The booking portal has made it possible to almost completely automate the work of an online travel agency, set the most favorable competitive prices and commission rates, process international payments, and optimize the support service using a smart bot.

The platform has received high praise from our client and their users for its ease of use, intuitive interface, and powerful automation features.

Project duration

December 2022 - Ongoing

14%

revenue growth with smart pricing

83%

of bookings were fully automated

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