Challenge
Our client, a global hospitality solutions provider, wanted to expand beyond large hotel chains and offer a modern, intelligent pricing tool for small independent hotel owners.
The goal of the project was to develop a price-managing web platform for small hotel owners which had to become the main tool to provide price recommendations, monitor competitors’ prices, and manage rates at the same time.
Their initial request was clear: build a desktop application for monitoring competitor pricing and setting their own room rates.
However, once we conducted user interviews with small hotel owners, we uncovered a completely different reality. Owners rarely use desktop computers during the day. They cook breakfast, clean rooms, check in guests, manage bookings, and run the business almost entirely on the go. Many admitted they compare competitor prices while standing in a hallway, during housekeeping breaks, or even scrolling on their phone in the bathroom.
Market research confirmed the same pattern: pricing is a continuous, mobile behavior, not a stationary desktop workflow. The client needed a solution that fit the actual lifestyle and constraints of small hotel operators, supported rapid decisions, and reacted dynamically to market events.
Our Approach
We proposed a pivot from desktop-first to a fully mobile-first product, powered by automated event detection, competitive scraping, and dynamic price recommendations.
We guided the project from research to full delivery:
Product and Design
Mobile-first UX optimized for on-the-go decisions
- Conducted field interviews and validated a mobile-first product direction
- Designed an ultra-fast two-tap workflow for updating room prices
- Crafted a clean, compact UI optimized for one-hand use and instant decision making
Development and Stack
Cross-platform mobile app with serverless backend
- Built a cross-platform mobile app using React Native for fast delivery and consistent UX
- Developed a serverless backend with Firebase, Azure Functions, and PostgreSQL
- Implemented automated scraping pipelines for Expedia, Airbnb, and Booking
AI and Automation Intelligence
Event-based pricing with ML recommendations
- Created an event detection engine analyzing football matches, concerts, festivals, and local ranking spikes
- Trained a price-recommendation model improving accuracy by approximately 40 percent
- Added smart ranges so owners could set min/max boundaries while system optimized within limits
Solution
We delivered a mobile-first revenue optimization app tailored for the real-world habits of small hotel owners. The system continuously monitors competitor prices, availability in the area, and upcoming events, then recommends optimal rates in real time. Owners can adjust prices instantly from their phone with minimal effort.
Additionally, a simplified mobile view with push notifications ensures hotel owners never miss critical market shifts. A lightweight web dashboard supports occasional deeper analysis when needed.
Key Capabilities
The platform includes:
- Intelligent event-based pricing engine
- Competitor price monitoring across major booking portals
- Real-time occupancy and availability insights
- Push notifications for high-impact events
- Min/max smart pricing ranges
- Automated daily price suggestions
- Mobile-first UI optimized for speed and accessibility
Why It Matters
This case exemplifies how AI-first product strategy and user-centric research can radically reshape a project. By challenging the original desktop assumption, we delivered a solution that fits the real workflow of small hotel owners: fast, mobile, and automated.
The project highlights Excality’s core strengths in:
- AI-Enhanced Product Design
- AI-Powered Development
- Rapid MVP Delivery and Market Validation
By combining market research, automation, and intelligent pricing models, the client unlocked a new market segment and expanded their data ecosystem. An added advantage for their enterprise offering: pricing data from small hotels now enriches their models for large hotel chains, improving global prediction accuracy and strengthening their competitive edge.