A Travel DApp On The Ethereum Blockchain Made Accommodation-Booking Securer And Faster

As a trusted blockchain development company, we were the client's first choice for putting its vision from paper to the real world. In the discovery meeting with the client, we finalized the scope of the project. We even took stock of the client's expectations from the blockchain-powered app and decided on the app flow. The client and our blockchain developers settled on a flow that included users booking accommodations and flights through the OTA app. Once the booking was made, the users would be given $CANDY tokens as rewards. Moreover, we used our deep blockchain app development expertise to create dedicated modules that helped the users stake the earned tokens and get heavy returns. The earned tokens could be re-staked to earn more rewards - that was how the client wanted the token circulation to happen across the travel ecosystem. Basically, we made sure any user booking any service in the travel ecosystem would earn rewards in the form of $CANDY tokens.

Once the flow of the app was set in stone, our development team held multiple internal meetings to decide the technology stack it would use for building this application. After detailed discussions, our team decided on using the MERN stack and the Ethereum blockchain. Our blockchain developers believed that the combination of the MERN stack and the Ethereum blockchain has always been ideal for developing such feature-rich blockchain web applications. We finally started preparing the app and adding functionalities to it. The blockchain app we were developing should enable the users to earn cash back in the form of $CANDY tokens whenever they use their functionalities. Moreover, our blockchain developers even prepared different plans to enable the users to stake their earned $CANDY tokens.

Additionally, there was one more reason for choosing the MERN stack for building this blockchain application - the application had multiple APIs. The thing was, the web application was supposed to have integrations with many hotel service providers. That was the reason why every hotel service provider had its own API, which was integrated into the app. Because of so many APIs, the development team created a booking engine that could handle all of them. The engine even had a smart algorithm that helped exclude hotels that offered similar deals and discounts. Not just that, our developers created different schedules in the blockchain application for performing certain activities at a specified period.

Frontend

Our front-end developers used React.js to build the user interface (UI) of the app. Having rich experience in creating secure and easy-to-use frontends, our team made the project's UI fluid and responsive on different devices and operating systems. Here are some of the key highlights of the project's front end.

• Added social media logins to help users log in to the application using their Facebook or Gmail accounts
• Implemented two-factor authentication to beef up the security of the application
• Streamlined how people searched for hotels and made the bookings
• Sent booking-related invoices and receipts to a user's registered email
• Ensured that the application was mobile-responsive and compatible with the latest versions of different browsers - Chrome, Safari, Microsoft Edge, Brave, etc.
• Used Web3.0 elements and concepts to improve the app's user experience
• Optimized the UI to become faster and user-friendlier than ever

Backend

Our development team has built the backend of the blockchain application in a way that the admin will have complete control over it. Basically, the backend development for this project was done to help the admin have complete visibility into different application activities. Here are some of the key features of the backend we developed for the project.

• Added extensive reporting and website management options for the admin
• Hosted the application on AWS
• Used SendGrid - the email delivery API - to send emails
• Connected the app with the Mailchimp API for running extensive email campaigns
• Worked with JSON Web Token, or JWT, to strengthen the platform's token security
• Included SSL for improving HTTP security
• Leveraged 2C2P payment gateway for simplifying payment processing
• Integrated social media logins using different APIs
• Wrote complex smart contracts and developed tokens using the Ethereum blockchain
• Encrypted data for maximizing data security
• Stored and managed application data with the help of MongoDB Atlas Database

Development Process

We followed agile methodologies to develop this project. Because we wanted the project execution to be completely flexible, we followed a well-defined scrum framework. We set the sprint duration to two weeks, and every goal in each session was achievable. Moreover, all the scrum ceremonies were scheduled and executed on time. That way, we made sure that the project was built and deployed seamlessly. Here are the steps we followed to develop the web application from the ground up.

• Gathered project requirements and outlined milestones
• Established a team that included blockchain developers, web developers, a scrum master, and a project coordinator
• Held daily stand-ups to make sure the project deliverables were on track
• Quality-checked the deliverables before sending them to the client
• Prepared in-depth user manuals for the web application