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Crystal Lake Resort, a popular wilderness destination for hunters, needed a comprehensive solution to manage their unique booking process. Unlike standard reservation systems, outfitter bookings often span years in advance and are frequently paid in installments. This added complexity made accurate record-keeping essential for the resort’s operations.
Moreover, the booking process in this industry is highly personal – it involves building personal connections between hunters and outfitters. Typically, these interactions are led by the business owner, who leverages decades of experience to ensure the perfect trip for each guest. For many such resorts, which are often family-owned and passed down through generations, delegating the reservation process is a significant challenge.
Our product is designed to simplify this intricate booking environment, ensuring seamless management, trustworthy data handling, and the ability to maintain the personal touch that Crystal Lake Resort and its guests value so deeply.
One of the most challenging aspects of SDLC was the financial module’s business logic. It involved complex calculations, tax compliance, and payment processing for cash, bank transfers, online payments, and checks. Plus, handling jurisdiction requirements for diverse license types required nuanced functionality and multiple iterations during development.
Managing hunting locations and available spots was a long road too. We needed to address scenarios like whether multiple hunting parties could share a location or not. Also, we solved a puzzle of keeping prices and availability in sync for dozens of hunting trip varieties. This balancing act was critical – otherwise, the booking experience could be slow or inconsistent, so we worked on it with exceptional diligence.
In January 2022, we outlined the product's requirements and functionality. The development process took about six months from discovery to MVP, with basic functionality for outfitters only. Then, a three-month pause followed. The team then spent another year developing additional features and scaling the system.
COAX developed comprehensive hunting booking software to fully cover the needs of outfitters, customers, and our client's business goals. We started with basic features in the MVP – a booking system where you could set up a hunt, create basic invoices, and handle simple payments (cash or online).
As the project evolved, it gradually turned into a sophisticated platform with three interconnected systems. The Admin's powerhouse module managed hunting jurisdictions across vast territories. The Outfitter's system grew too. What started as a simple booking tool transformed into a robust system for creating and managing hunts.
The Admin owns the system and invites hunting outfitters to use it. They create and manage jurisdictions (regions with different hunting laws) where outfitters can operate, handle contracts, and handle agreements for hunters.
A standout feature is custom roles. Admins can create roles like bookkeepers (for financials) or promoters (with limited access). Additionally, the super admin can “impersonate” any outfitter’s account and manage everything in it.
In general, outfitters are organizations authorized to arrange and conduct hunting trips for customers. They create and manage hunting locations and set up hunting trips within different regions, like Canada and the U.S.
The system supports outfitters in every task, from booking to financial operations. Outfitters also manage all customer bookings, ensuring that the system tracks availability and pricing across all hunting excursions.
Customers search for a hunting guide, choose an outfitter, and then book hunting directly. They track all details of their hunting trip — payments, documents, and travel arrangements — through their dashboard.
The system makes booking easy and provides all the necessary info for the guided hunting experience. Customers can even add extra travel arrangements — all in one place.
Outfitters create hunting trips, add hunters, and manage bookings directly in the system. Customers can easily search for and book a hunt, but there are multiple steps leading to the final booking.
The hunting booking software we created supports direct customer bookings, allowing outfitters to handle everything from payment to documentation.
Hunters must have specific licenses to participate in certain hunts, such as the Canada hunting license. The system assists hunters in getting all permits either by adding their existing licenses or purchasing them.
Admins oversee jurisdiction-specific licenses, ensuring compliance with local laws. Outfitters select the licenses needed for each trip, with some licenses marked as mandatory by the Admin.
COAX developers made the financial system flexible for users. There are four available payment methods for invoices: cash, Flywire, bank transfers, and checks.
Any invoice can be divided into multiple parts, allowing users to combine multiple payment methods. Users can customize their payments for different expenses when creating the booking. This can include payments for the hunt, licenses, and additional costs.
Outfitters can generate public links for a specific hunting trip and share them on hunting websites or social media. These links automatically pull up images and details, making it easy for potential customers to click and book directly.
Outfitters can join associations, offering benefits to hunters. When an outfitter is part of an association, their customers receive special perks, though an additional fee is typically charged during the booking process.
We built tax handling based on detailed requirements provided by the client. The system supports two accounting methods: Cash and Accrual. Depending on which tax system an organization operates under, the platform generates detailed financial reports tailored to their needs.
Users can view relevant tax data, including the specific taxes they owe, the amounts, and the reasons for each charge.
Our engineers implemented in-account alerts and email notifications for critical updates. Notifications are sent directly to user accounts, and many of these alerts are duplicated via email to ensure users stay informed.
Additionally, there is a support section for users to reach out to an outfitter or the admin. While it’s not a live chat system, it operates almost like one, providing a reliable communication method.
Admins charge a fee for each hunt booked through the system. In addition, admins manage tax settings for different jurisdictions, ensuring that outfitters are aligned with local tax requirements.This creates a smooth relationship between outfitters and the platform, ensuring transparency in payments and taxes.
The QA team conducted various types of testing, including functional, regression, smoke, and interface testing. We created a test plan that outlines the scope, approach, resources, and schedule for all testing activities. Then went the checklist, detailing the pre-conditions, test steps, and expected vs actual outcomes for each test.
They used tools such as Cypress, WebDriverIO, Appium, Postman, Screaming Frog, and Jmeter for automation. The team focused on code quality, reliability, security, and maintainability throughout the development process.
The client received a booking system that handles long-term reservations and installment-based payments, reducing manual work and improving efficiency. They now have a centralized repository for storing customer information, documentation, and payment records. This repository enhances data retrieval and accuracy, allowing them to manage all aspects of their booking operations from a single interface.
The system preserves the personal touch crucial to client interactions while enabling seamless multi-company integration, improving coordination with other outfitters. This modernization helps the resort maintain its tradition of personalized service while streamlining management and delegation.
Our main focus is providing successful and exceptional services. We believe in long-term relationships that bring value to both businesses.
We adapt to our client’s’ business needs, constantly searching for new ways to fulfil their requirements
Dedicated and authorized teams deliver on the promised schedule.
Our quality strategy is aimed to prevent defects, not just detect them.
Our goal is to be a trustworthy partner, operating with honesty and transparency for long-term value
We rely product analytics to make the right data-driven decisions.
Our team supports you from the stage of ideation, to production
A technology-enabled support system for care at home and in communities. Utilizes best-of-breed technologies, ambient sensors, connected devices, and open APIs.
A finance management platform with ML capabilities for automated tax calculation, bookkeeping management, reporting and analytics.
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