April 12, 2013 at 20:27How we created “Hotel for this night!”
Hi, Habr!
We launched a new feature in our mobile application - “Hotel for the night!”. This is a feature that helps a person book a hotel at the last minute. Why did we do this, how and what came of it, we decided to tell on a hub We welcome your feedback and comments on what can be further improved in the new function and in general in applications.
In December 2012, we launched mobile applications for iPhone and Android , through which you can book hotels around the world. These are reservations made in advance. After that, we began to think about how to help people who need a hotel urgently, right here and now. So the idea of the function "Hotel for the night!" And, since Ostrovok.ru works directly with 5000 hotels, we agreed with some of them to connect to the new option and provide discounts up to 50%. This is convenient for the client, he can quickly book a room and immediately enter it, and we help hotels fill in the empty rooms.
The first meeting at the "Hotel for the night!" Took place in late December. To make a seemingly small function in a mobile application, the work of at least seven departments of the company was required:
As a result of the meeting, we decided that:
In January and February, the main work fell on the shoulders of the Supply department: they had to agree with the hotels on a new tariff, determine a list of cities and hotels that might be interested in such a tariff. As part of the night tariff, each hotel determined the discount rate (from 20% to 55% per room) and approved various conditions from the hotel (for example, the beginning and end of sales, late check-out, payment without a card, “compliments”: champagne, water, bathrobe and even slippers :). Looking ahead, not every hotel went to such conditions because they did not have such experience and / or understanding that this would bring them additional reservations. As a result, we managed to add 45 hotels: seventeen each in Moscow and St. Petersburg and eleven in Kiev.
In early March, the first nightly rates were added to our Extranet system.
During this time, a new function design was developed for the iPhone and Android, new mobile API methods and communication with OTA functionality are ready.
In the iPhone version of the application, we tried to simplify the night tariff search interface. We understood that the number of hotels at such rates in each city is small, so we removed various sortings and filters. In addition to the new feature, we managed to make a number of changes and improvements to the application. So, for example, we added very beautiful and understandable tips (so that all users knew and understood how to use our application), and also optimized the loading and operation of the application.
In the Android version, due to the peculiarity of the implementation (the only active search is available in the application at one time), we decided to add the search for night rates in a separate tab in the search form. We deliberately went to such an experiment, making various ways to access the "Hotels for the night!" Function on the iPhone and Android.
The name of the new function in the application changed several times, for a long time we selected a short and understandable name. Before the release of the application, they stopped at the name "Hotel for this night!".
As a result, we were able to release new versions of iPhone and Android applications for the App Store, Google Play and Yandex.Store on the same day - March 27, 2013. And by a lucky coincidence, the release of our mobile applications coincided with the announcement of the third round of investments received by the company.
After the launch of the new version of the application, we received a number of positive reviews in the App Store, here are some of them:
Beautiful! - Beautiful design in "hotels for this night." We are waiting for 20.00!
Pleasing friends - The application has become much more convenient. At least for those who see him for the first time, there are clues. Nice, concise design. Even easier, more convenient.
Review - The application has become much more convenient, the new function "hotels for this night" significantly speeds up the search time.
Tips made the product better - I haven’t booked this night yet, but now it’s very easy to figure out where the settings are.
Super app - A very handy thing! Just super!
Application users are getting acquainted with the new feature, waiting for eight o'clock in the evening and looking at what interesting offers are. The first reservations via iPhone and Android are already in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Unexpectedly for us, most nightly bookings went through calls to the call center. People are calling and want to move in right now.
Our database has more than 45 hotels in three cities for a nightly rate, we are going to increase these figures by 2-3 times.
In the near future in mobile applications we plan to launch:
As we proceed, we will tell you.
So far, “Hotel for the night!” Can be downloaded here for iOS and here for Android .
Posted by: sharifulin
We launched a new feature in our mobile application - “Hotel for the night!”. This is a feature that helps a person book a hotel at the last minute. Why did we do this, how and what came of it, we decided to tell on a hub We welcome your feedback and comments on what can be further improved in the new function and in general in applications.
History of creation
In December 2012, we launched mobile applications for iPhone and Android , through which you can book hotels around the world. These are reservations made in advance. After that, we began to think about how to help people who need a hotel urgently, right here and now. So the idea of the function "Hotel for the night!" And, since Ostrovok.ru works directly with 5000 hotels, we agreed with some of them to connect to the new option and provide discounts up to 50%. This is convenient for the client, he can quickly book a room and immediately enter it, and we help hotels fill in the empty rooms.
The first meeting at the "Hotel for the night!" Took place in late December. To make a seemingly small function in a mobile application, the work of at least seven departments of the company was required:
- Supply - hotel department;
- Extranet - back office for hotels, management of all hotels and rates for hotels;
- Content - the department for working with content (in this case, with mobile content);
- OTA - the main product team;
- API - a team responsible for transferring data over the necessary protocols to partners and / or customers (in this case, mobile applications);
- Mobile - a mobile team of mobile developers of mobile applications for mobile phones;
- Marketing - marketing department.
As a result of the meeting, we decided that:
- The function should only be in a mobile application (iPhone, Android);
- The application should provide an opportunity to find hotels for today and standard reservations for the future;
- Special prices and mobile content (information on discounts and bonuses, a brief description of the night tariff);
- At the start there should be at least ten hotels from Moscow and St. Petersburg and several hotels in Kiev;
- Design requirements: the user must clearly understand where the night rate is, and where is the standard hotel reservation;
- Application Release - March-April.
In January and February, the main work fell on the shoulders of the Supply department: they had to agree with the hotels on a new tariff, determine a list of cities and hotels that might be interested in such a tariff. As part of the night tariff, each hotel determined the discount rate (from 20% to 55% per room) and approved various conditions from the hotel (for example, the beginning and end of sales, late check-out, payment without a card, “compliments”: champagne, water, bathrobe and even slippers :). Looking ahead, not every hotel went to such conditions because they did not have such experience and / or understanding that this would bring them additional reservations. As a result, we managed to add 45 hotels: seventeen each in Moscow and St. Petersburg and eleven in Kiev.
In early March, the first nightly rates were added to our Extranet system.
During this time, a new function design was developed for the iPhone and Android, new mobile API methods and communication with OTA functionality are ready.
A few comments about mobile development itself
In the iPhone version of the application, we tried to simplify the night tariff search interface. We understood that the number of hotels at such rates in each city is small, so we removed various sortings and filters. In addition to the new feature, we managed to make a number of changes and improvements to the application. So, for example, we added very beautiful and understandable tips (so that all users knew and understood how to use our application), and also optimized the loading and operation of the application.
In the Android version, due to the peculiarity of the implementation (the only active search is available in the application at one time), we decided to add the search for night rates in a separate tab in the search form. We deliberately went to such an experiment, making various ways to access the "Hotels for the night!" Function on the iPhone and Android.
The name of the new function in the application changed several times, for a long time we selected a short and understandable name. Before the release of the application, they stopped at the name "Hotel for this night!".
As a result, we were able to release new versions of iPhone and Android applications for the App Store, Google Play and Yandex.Store on the same day - March 27, 2013. And by a lucky coincidence, the release of our mobile applications coincided with the announcement of the third round of investments received by the company.
First reviews
After the launch of the new version of the application, we received a number of positive reviews in the App Store, here are some of them:
Beautiful! - Beautiful design in "hotels for this night." We are waiting for 20.00!
Pleasing friends - The application has become much more convenient. At least for those who see him for the first time, there are clues. Nice, concise design. Even easier, more convenient.
Review - The application has become much more convenient, the new function "hotels for this night" significantly speeds up the search time.
Tips made the product better - I haven’t booked this night yet, but now it’s very easy to figure out where the settings are.
Super app - A very handy thing! Just super!
Application users are getting acquainted with the new feature, waiting for eight o'clock in the evening and looking at what interesting offers are. The first reservations via iPhone and Android are already in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Unexpectedly for us, most nightly bookings went through calls to the call center. People are calling and want to move in right now.
New Feature Development Plans
Our database has more than 45 hotels in three cities for a nightly rate, we are going to increase these figures by 2-3 times.
In the near future in mobile applications we plan to launch:
- Booking hotels without a map (it will be very convenient for late booking);
- Booking through a call back from the call center;
- The possibility of booking a hotel for several nights;
- Push notifications when night offers appear in the right city.
As we proceed, we will tell you.
So far, “Hotel for the night!” Can be downloaded here for iOS and here for Android .
Posted by: sharifulin