MisterB&B
A travel booking website for renting LGBTQ-friendly
accommodations
As part of travel software development services, we built a platform that allows gay-friendly hosts to earn money and the guests to stay in safe places without being misunderstood or judged.
Tourism
Industry
16 specialists
Team size
Paris, France
Location
From 2015 to now
Project duration
Business context
Misterb&b like many great startups was born out of necessity. One day Matthieu Jost, Misterb&b co-founder & CEO, booked a shared apartment in Barcelona with his partner. Upon arrival, it was clear the host was not comfortable with gay men staying in her home.
That homophobic incident made clear to him that a short-term rental service for gay men was needed to help provide not only a safe and comfortable experience but also one where gay men can connect and expand their sense of community. This is how our client decided to create Misterb&b.
When the client reached us, he already had a website, but he wanted to improve its efficiency, increase performance, and achieve a better level of security. The Onix team was glad to assist with realizing and improving his brilliant idea.
Product scope
Our team needed to:
Build a dedicated team capable of working daily with an in-house client’s team to enable the startup company to focus on marketing and refining customer service
Customize and set up the fine-tuned software development process
Specify requirements to define product functionality and objectives
Migrate from outdated technologies to achieve better performance and extend the platform functionality
Update outdated versions of LGBTQ travel booking mobile applications for iOS and Android and ensure their proper functioning
Integrate several third-party services to extend platform functionality
Automate finance process and add an opportunity to hold secure payments
Achieve a high level of security to down fraud attempts to minimum
How much does it cost to hire a dedicated team for a travel & hospitality project?
Specify the number of experts and technologies you need and get an approximate team cost for your project!
Our solutions
First and foremost, we had to create around-the-clock production delivering technology fast and cost-effectively.
The key requirement was to build a fully-functional and well-structured travel booking platform, where LGBTQ travelers could get access to a number of features to find welcoming accommodations all around the world despite their sexual orientation. Moreover, the website was supposed to be a social networking service, travel guide, and community for gay travelers around the world.
Our client already had a LGBTQ travel booking website and mobile apps for iOS and Android, but we needed to improve performance and extend the product functionality. Since the current tech stack was outdated, we offered more advanced and reliable technologies that would guarantee high-quality product operation.
Also our team needed to update outdated versions of mobile applications and ensure the proper functioning of all app features on the selected platforms: iOS and Android. Moreover, we decided to implement reliable third-party services to add extra vital features.
The Onix team offered the following solutions:
Set up regular communication enabling our team and clients to deal with a transparent development process and deliver a valuable product on time
Provided an improved search engine that allows quick search within a 2M+ listings database using various filters
Migrated from outdated technologies to more reliable ones. For the backend, we used RoR and React for the frontend. Using reliable technologies allowed us to guarantee the high-quality app operation, enhance the product capacity, and broaden functionality
Ensured proper integration with property listing aggregators and providers like Booking.com, Rentals United, Guesty, Ospita, and BookingSync. This allows our client to significantly increase the base of the listing and expand business opportunities
Built a fraud detection system to detect illegitimate and high-risk financial activities such as credit card transactions, theft, cyber hacking, and suspicious messages. This feature enabled us to reveal scams in time, keep business and users' finance safe, and achieve a high level of security
Integrated the Stripe, Paypal, Payoneer, and Adyen payment systems that allow users to accept payments and send payouts online securely. This feature provides an opportunity to automate the finance process and track payments within the platform
Core technology
Ruby on Rails
React
Nginx
WebSocket
PostgreSQL
Redis
Stripe
PayPal
Payoneer
Adyen
Shufti Pro
Elasticsearch
Results
The Onix team helped our client to build a reliable and well-performing platform that delivers a revolutionary and long-overdue travel accommodation service for the LGBTQ community. The service is available on a website and two mobile apps: iOS and Android. Today, Misterb&b is considered the largest gay hotelier in the world and even was called the "gay Airbnb" by Forbes.
The platform matches prospective LGBT travelers with LGBT-friendly hosts worldwide and perfectly meets the strong demand for collaborative tourism in the booming niche of gay travel. Along with the standard private properties and LGBTQ-friendly hotels, Misterb&b offers guides to major destinations, Gay Pride events worldwide, and other valuable information to the community.
As a result of Onix’s collaboration, our client now promotes cultural exploration, fosters friendships and connections across the global LGBTQ community, furthers charitable causes, and creates a more tolerant world.
Achieved results
900K+
LGBTQ members
Misterb&b
was called the "gay Airbnb" by Forbes
1 million
accommodations in 200 countries
Misterb&b
is considered the largest gay hotelier in the world
Today, the client is still improving and updating its LGBTQ travel accommodation platform in cooperation with Onix. We wish our client considerable success and are ready to share more details soon.
