Web Platform and Website Development for Swiss Tour Operator

Vertical:

Technology:

Backend: Java, RxJava, Micronaut, GraphQL, gRPC, SOAP, CloudCMS, MySQL, Redis, Kubernetes

Frontend: React (+hooks), Apollo (for GraphQL + State management), NextJS (+custom server on NodeJS (Express)), RebassJS. Jest.

Scope:

35000 man-hours (ongoing project)

Approach:

Custom Software Development

Project Background

Hotelplan Group, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, is the largest and one of the most prominent European tour operators. They offer a full spectrum of travel services, including flights, hotels, dynamic packages, round trips, car rentals, cruises, transfers, and more. As a rapidly growing company, they sought a reliable technology partner for continuous development to keep up with their expanding software needs.

Challenge

Hotelplan needed a robust and dedicated development partner to redesign their website, enhance user experience, and integrate a variety of travel supplier APIs. Their in-house team could not keep pace with the increased demand for advanced development. They required a team capable of executing:

A complete website overhaul
A seamless booking process for multiple travel products
Scalable and reusable components
Mobile optimization
Integration with third-party APIs
A flexible content management system

Goal

Hotelplan’s primary goal was to create a fresh, user-friendly hotelplan.ch website. Key objectives included:

Redesigning the booking flow to enhance speed and efficiency
Aggregating travel supplier APIs to streamline product offerings
Implementing a scalable microservice-based backend system
Optimizing the mobile version of the website
Ensuring that the new components could be reused across other divisions within the company

Solution

GP Solutions was tasked with delivering a complete redesign, starting with the backend infrastructure:

Phase # 1: Hotelplan.ch redesign – Key Highlights

A new backend solution was implemented, optimizing the booking process across all travel products (Flights, Hotels, Dynamic Packaging, Car Rentals, Cruises, Transfers, etc.).
API integrations for travel suppliers were applied according to Hotelplan’s specific requirements.
The frontend was rebuilt using the latest technologies: React.js, Apollo Client, Node.js, and other cutting-edge frameworks for seamless web and mobile experiences.
A flexible cloud CMS was integrated with a microservice architecture, allowing future changes without disrupting the system.
QA processes were enhanced with over 5000 automated backend tests and 250+ frontend test scenarios, ensuring performance and stability.

Phase #2: Continuous delivery strategy

After the successful launch of the new website, the team implemented a continuous delivery pipeline, allowing for new features to be added and delivered as soon as they were ready.
The feature toggle technique was used to modify system behavior without altering code, ensuring flexibility and easy updates.

Results

The redesigned hotelplan.ch website delivered significant improvements:

The website saw its highest-ever daily visitor count, continuing to grow steadily.
The site was shortlisted for the prestigious “Best of the Swiss Web” award.
The reusable components, a key strategy, saved development effort and were successfully integrated into other Hotelplan projects.
The continuous delivery pipeline ensured that updates were implemented with minimal downtime and maximum efficiency.

The partnership between Hotelplan Group and GP Solutions has proven to be a long-term success, with the two companies continuing to collaborate on new projects, even during challenging times like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Custom Web Platform and Website Development for the Largest Swiss Tour Operator