Apps and web applications
A booking system, a client portal, an internal tool, a SaaS product: software built around the one thing people open it for. In the browser when that is enough, as a native app for iOS and Android when the phone has to do the work.
Taking a reservation on your own site instead of on a platform changes two things: the guest stays with you, and so does the commission. What has to be arranged is always the same short list. What is bookable, and in which unit: rooms, tables, seats, time slots or a guide. Which overlaps are forbidden, so two people cannot take the same slot in the same second. Whether the guest pays now, pays a deposit or settles afterwards. What the confirmation and the reminder say. And what the people behind the counter see when somebody calls to move it.
That list reads differently per business. A hotel or a B&B books nights and occupancy. A theatre or an event books seats against a capacity per performance. A restaurant books tables per time slot; a tour operator books guides and departure times. We build the version your business actually needs, either connected to the booking tool you already run or as a reservation system of your own, and we say which of those two is the cheaper answer in your case.
Most of the searching around this ends at a ready-made booking product, and for plenty of businesses that is the right buy: if a standard tool covers your calendar, your payments and your exceptions, buying it beats building it, and we will tell you so in the first conversation. Where we are the natural answer is the other half of the question, a website with a reservation system inside it, where booking is part of the site instead of a link to somebody else’s page. That is a booking module on your own domain, in your own design, with your own confirmation mail. And it becomes a reservation system built to order when the standard flow genuinely does not fit: several locations, staff or resources at the same time, rules that change per season, or a booking that has to land in the system your office already works in.
A web application you sell by subscription is a different job from one you use internally: accounts and roles, a plan and a payment that renews, an invoice trail your bookkeeper accepts, and a first version narrow enough to reach real users before the roadmap eats the budget. We build the smallest version somebody would actually pay for, in your own accounts and under your own name, and the product stays yours.
A custom web application is the right answer only part of the time. When an existing tool plus a couple of connections would do the same work, we say that in the first conversation, because it is cheaper for you and it keeps the project we do take on honest.
How we work
Step 01 · Scope
What the application must do perfectly, who uses it, whether it lives in the browser or on the phone, and what stays out of version one. A small, sharp first release beats a large vague one.
Step 02 · Develop
User flows and clickable prototypes first, then interface and code: a web application under your own domain, or iOS and Android, with the connections to the systems you already run, such as calendar, payments, CRM and accounting.
Step 03 · Release
Testing with real users and on real devices, going live under your own domain or through the App Store and Google Play, and a plan for the versions after the first.
An app earns its place by being opened again tomorrow.
In the browser it follows the web, on the phone it follows iOS and Android, so nobody has to learn it.
Tested with real users and on real devices before it goes live, not after.
Structured so version two builds on one, without starting over.
A web application when people use it at a desk or occasionally on the phone, and when it has to be found and shared by URL. A native app when people do one task on the phone often, need it offline, or use the camera, location or notifications. We tell you which one it is, and sometimes the answer is a good mobile website. See web design
Yes. There are three routes: connect an existing booking tool, build a booking flow on your own site, or refer to a platform. Which one fits depends on your calendar, your payments and the number of exceptions. A booking flow we build usually covers several locations or staff members, payment at the moment of booking, confirmations and reminders by email, and a view for the people behind the counter; Roosty in our AI Lab is the same thinking taken further, as a week board for hospitality venues. Our article on booking systems walks through all three routes. Read about booking systems
The slot is held the moment somebody starts the booking and released again if the booking is not finished, and the availability check runs on the server rather than in the browser. That is the boring half of a reservation system and it is the half that decides whether your staff trust it.
Both, and it can differ per type of booking: paying in full, a deposit at the moment of reserving, or nothing until they arrive. What you choose mostly depends on how often people fail to turn up and how easily you can fill an empty slot.
That depends on the number of flows in the first version, the systems it connects to and whether it launches in the browser, on both phone platforms or all three. Scoping is the first step for exactly that reason. Our article on web apps explains what drives the cost and the payback. Read about web apps and payback
The calendar is set by the scope rather than by us. What moves it: the number of flows in the first version, how many systems it has to talk to, whether it launches in the browser only or also through the App Store and Google Play, and how quickly decisions and content come back from your side. We agree the scope and the planning together after the first conversation, and we would rather name a date we can keep than one that sounds good on a Monday.
The applications we can show run in our AI Lab: Roosty, a staff scheduling board for hospitality venues, and Kassabon.ai, a receipt and warranty assistant, both live products with their own case page there. In this studio, the enquiry flow on Solara Red Sea Tours shows the same approach on a website. See Solara Red Sea Tours
You do. A web application runs under your own domain and accounts; a native app is published under your own developer accounts. We set them up with you and guide the review.
Tell us what you want to build. We think along on the approach, say honestly what it takes, and come back with a clear next step.
