An extensive guide to developing a hotel booking app like OYO rooms

Waiting in long lines to reserve a room in a hotel is, by far, the worst part of traveling to any destination. With so much happening around the world, people neither have the time nor have the energy to find and locate a hotel to stay. The renowned entrepreneur, Marc Andressen, quotes, “companies in every industry need to understand that the software revolution is coming.” The hotel booking industry, too, was revolutionized with the impact of smartphones. On-demand apps provide for instant bookings of hotel rooms without any hassles. 

From an entrepreneur’s perspective, this hotel booking market will flourish with the world being digitized every day. The market is so vast that people will inevitably need rooms whenever they travel. Apps like OYO, Airbnb, etc., have already established their business entity. If you are a budding business owner looking to venture into the market with an app like OYO Rooms, this blog is for you. In this blog, let’s take a comprehensive look at the development of an on-demand hotel booking app. 

‘The market for hotel booking apps is on a high’ 

• The global online travel booking market was valued at $765 billion in 2018. 
• The market is promising a rapid growth at a CAGR of 11% between 2018 and 2025. 
• This could mean that the online hotel booking industry will become a trillion-dollar market by 2022. 
• According to a recent survey, as many as 65.4% of total hotel bookings are made online, with only 15% of the people opting for traditional methods. 
• Almost 82% of the hotel bookings made in 2018 were online without any means of human interaction. 

All these stats prove that people are gradually inclining towards online platforms as they provide convenient ways for hotel bookings.

‘Provide a seamless workflow to enhance user experience’ 
Now that you know the hotel booking app industry’s potential market, you must develop an app that satisfies diversified users accessing it. Workflow plays a prominent role in enhancing the user experience with the app. Let’s discuss how to provide a seamless workflow with an OYO clone app. 

• Initially, users download the app and register in the app by specifying the essential details. 
• Once registered, they navigate through the app finding rooms in a particular locality with the help of search and filter options. 
• Upon finding the desirable hotel of their choice, they are displayed with the fare and the availability of rooms. 
• If the user finds the room vacant during his time of stay, he can proceed to book the room. 
• Users can pay via different payment options available in the app, including credit/debit cards, digital wallets, etc. 
• After the payment, users receive the entire details of the rooms, the time of stay, the location of the room, etc. 
• After the service, users can rate the rooms on a scale of 1-5 and can share their queries in the form of reviews. 

It must be noted that while using the app, users should not experience any hindrances or glitches. A seamless workflow greatly increases the reliability of users towards the app. 

‘Features determine the longevity of the app’ 
Features are important criteria to ensure your app is successful in the long run. The more unique your app features are, the higher the chances of the app’s success. Let’s discuss certain vital features of a hotel booking app. 

Features of User app: 

1. Registration: Users register in the app via different social media handles supported by the app. This is usually a single-step registration process. 
2. Search and filter options: Users, upon enabling their location settings, can search for rooms in their current location or any locality of their choice. They can use advanced filter options to sort rooms based on price, ratings, etc. 
3. Booking and payment: Users are displayed with all the available rooms. Besides, they are also provided with their price and ratings simultaneously. Users can book any room of their choice. They can make payment via different payment gateways available in the app. 
4. In-app navigation: In order to locate rooms, users can make use of the in-app navigation system available in the app. This way, they’ll reach their place of stay hassle-free. 
5. Ratings and reviews: Users can share their opinions for the services offered in the form of ratings and reviews. 

Features of Hotel owner app: 

1. Registration and Verification: Initially, hotel owners register in the app by providing the basic details and uploading necessary documents. The admin of the app verifies these details along with valid credentials. The rooms of these hotels are visible to users only after proper authentication by the app admin. 
2. Update Listings: With this feature, hotel owners can add or edit rooms based on their availability. 
3. Earnings tab: Hotel owners can view their daily, weekly, and monthly earnings through the app with the aid of this earnings tab feature. 
4. Push notifications: Hotel owners are notified instantly on user bookings or cancellations in the form of push notifications. 

‘The development of the app depends on your budget’ 
For an entrepreneur, any business must return investments and must generate revenue from various sources. Two types of development methods are possible. Let’s discuss them here, 

• Development from scratch: You can initiate to build a hotel booking app like OYO rooms right from scratch. Here, you’ll need to be very clear about your business requirements. An extensive market study can help you identify the demands of the market. You can either approach freelance developers or app development companies for comprehensive app solutions. This usually takes around 4-5 months and incurs a hefty budget. 
• Customizing clone apps: One of the significant trends of the market nowadays is to venture into the market instantly with the help of clone apps. These clone apps are custom-built whitelabel apps that can be modified according to your requirements. These clone apps are dramatically cost-effective when compared to developing an app from scratch. You can approach app development companies for the OYO rooms clone script. 

Wrapping up, 
In this internet era, people demand comfort while accessing any service. Smartphone applications for hotel bookings are providing people a reliable, affordable, and convenient way to do so. The market is growing exponentially at a rate faster than what is forecasted by the experts. Entrepreneurs cannot find a better time than this to venture into the flourishing market. By providing stand-apart features and uninterrupted workflow, you can attract users towards your app. With different sources of revenue generation, you can gain a stronghold of the customer base in the market!