Project overview
A mobile app that gives discounts on a network of hostels inside Australia. It was built to replace the printed version of the member card.
Opportunity
Hostels Australia (HA) is a group of Australia's hostels and they used to offer a printed "member card" to guests so they could claim a discount when staying in other hostels that are also part of the network. HA spent a significant amount of money to print new cards every year and most "members" would throw the card away once they went back to their home countries.
Printed Hostels Australia member card
Solution
Working together with a Developer, a Data Scientist, and our designated Sales Representative, the four of us started a Design Thinking process. We've started by researching and empathizing with their young audience of mostly backpackers. It became clear that they were extremely connected to their phones and to the digital world.
During the Define and Ideate phases, we proposed to convert HA's printed member card into a "digital member card". This would not only remove the cost of printing cards but also allow HA to provide more value and even make additional money from the use of data and partnerships.
I then proceeded to create a prototype of a mobile app using Framer which we tested with some customers and members of different hostels. Once potential users seemed happy with the concept, we implemented both Android and iOS versions using Xamarin Forms, DynamoDB, and Serverless with TypeScript.
Learnings & outcomes
Although the app is relatively new to the market, it seems to be receiving praise from users.
I had a hard time managing the project as multiple developers started but didn't finish the technical side. It took a lot longer than I expected and it demanded a lot of my time, but it also helped me learn more about programming and other subjects involved in setting up and deploying mobile apps.
