About the Client
Area Owl is a US-based startup that connects local businesses such as hotels, restaurants, homestays, and lounges with nearby travelers. On one hand, it offers travelers a one-stop search engine to discover relevant local information, and on the other, it provides businesses with a custom CRM to better serve travelers and manage their digital presence.
Business Situation and Requirements
With the rise of experiential travel, tourists increasingly seek authentic, local experiences over traditional sightseeing. They want to engage with the culture, people, and hidden gems of a destination through activities like cooking classes, neighborhood tours, and artisan workshops. This trend has created demand for digital platforms that simplify access to unique, meaningful, and personalized travel experiences.
Area Owl envisioned a local search engine connecting travelers with nearby hotels, restaurants, attractions, and homestays. The platform aimed to provide real-time information, reviews, and ratings, helping users discover the best options quickly. By aggregating local business data into a single, user-friendly interface, Area Owl sought to make travel exploration simpler, more efficient, and personalized for every traveler.
To realize this vision, Area Owl partnered with Unthinkable to deliver the following:
Traveler-Focused Search Engine allows travelers to quickly discover local information and experiences with a few clicks.
Curated Local Listings: Provide accurate, comprehensive, and up-to-date business listings.
Personalized Recommendations: Offer smart suggestions based on preferences and interests.
Cloud-Based Guest-Service Platform: Enable scalable management of guest services.
White-Label Customization: Allow businesses to fully reflect their brand identity.
Enhanced Guest Engagement: Include messaging, local guides, and service requests to boost interaction.
The Solution
The development journey for the Area Owl platform began with an in-depth Discover & Frame workshop to understand the local travel ecosystem and define the app’s goals. This phase focused on analyzing traveler behavior, business requirements, user personas, market competition, and revenue opportunities to ensure the platform addressed real-world needs while remaining scalable and future-ready.
Based on these insights, we defined a comprehensive feature set for the platform, including a traveler-focused search engine, curated local business listings, personalized recommendations, cloud-based CRM for businesses, white-label customization, and seamless guest engagement tools. A strong emphasis was placed on UI/UX design, informed by research into user behavior, to ensure travelers could quickly find information and businesses could intuitively manage their digital presence.
Once requirements were finalized, the project moved into the technical architecture and planning phase. Drupal, PHP, and MySQL were selected for the backend due to their robustness, scalability, and flexibility. A cloud-based architecture ensured responsiveness, high availability, and the ability to handle growing user demands.
The platform integrated a Stripe payment gateway to enable paid subscriptions, an admin panel for local businesses to manage profiles and promote services, connections with third-party CRM systems for automated workflows, and external APIs (e.g., Bokun.io) to facilitate seamless integration with startups.
Core Features of the Traveler Portal
Search Engine: Quickly discover nearby businesses using filters like distance, type, services, hours, and reviews.
Curated Listings: Access accurate, comprehensive, and up-to-date information on hotels, restaurants, homestays, and local attractions.
Personalized Recommendations: Smart suggestions tailored to traveler interests and preferences for an authentic experience.Interactive Engagement: In-app guides, messaging, and service requests for enhanced user interaction and convenience.
Comprehensive Features of the Business Portal
Cloud-Based CRM for Service Management: Centralize all service profiles in the cloud, allowing easy updates to business details, custom banners, menus, directions, and website links from any device.
Service Listing & Promotion: Highlight key offerings, add images or videos, and ensure services are visible and appealing to users searching locally.
Admin Panel for Web Content: Build and manage web pages, create promotional content, and maintain a consistent digital presence across the platform.
Efficient Digital Operations: Monitor user engagement, update listings in real-time, and streamline content management to save time and enhance user experience.
Features for admin
Secure Payment Integration: Enable businesses to offer paid subscriptions and premium services, with seamless payment processing through Stripe.
Subscription Management: Track active subscriptions, renewals, and cancellations, giving both the platform and users full control over payment plans.
Third-Party Integrations: Connect with external tools and platforms to automate workflows, reducing manual tasks and improving operational efficiency.
Streamlined Business Operations: Ensure data flows smoothly between connected systems, supporting tasks like invoicing, notifications, and reporting for a more efficient business ecosystem.
Impact
Area Owl successfully launched the platform on schedule, maintaining high-quality standards and seamless functionality. Within months, the platform earned strong positive feedback from travel businesses, many reporting a 37% increase in traveler inquiries.
Today, Area Owl continues to support a growing ecosystem of local businesses and travelers across the U.S., connecting users to authentic, curated travel experiences efficiently.
10,000+
Travelers Served
45
Cities Served Across the U.S.
1,000+
Businesses on the Platform
37%
Increase in Revenue for Local Businesses
