Hostella
A property management system that replaces manual register-keeping with structured resident records, room occupancy tracking, bookings, payments, inventory, and maintenance workflows.
The Problem
Hostel managers were running operations on paper registers and WhatsApp messages β no single place to answer who is in which room, what they owe, or which beds are actually free. Partial payments, refunds, room transfers, inventory, and maintenance requests were tracked manually and frequently inconsistent.
What We Built
A full-stack property management platform built around two core concepts: the Resident (a person who may stay multiple times) and the Stay (a single occupancy tied to a room, dates, and payment state). Administrators manage bookings, allocations, payments, refunds, inventory, and maintenance requests through a Django admin portal. Room status transitions automatically on check-in and checkout. Residents receive email notifications at key points via Brevo.
Key Features
- Resident & Stay separation β Returning residents keep their profile and history across multiple stays β no duplicate records.
- Room state machine β Rooms move through Available, Occupied, Maintenance, and Reserved automatically β no manual updates.
- Booking management β Reservations captured and tracked from request through check-in and checkout.
- Partial payment tracking β Running balance against total due per stay, so outstanding amounts are always clear.
- Refund workflow β Admin-approved refund requests with a full audit trail before any funds are marked returned.
- Inventory tracking β Property inventory β furniture, appliances, supplies β logged and monitored per unit.
- Maintenance requests β Issues logged, assigned, and tracked through resolution instead of getting lost in chat threads.
- Email notifications β Automated booking, payment, and checkout emails via Brevo HTTP API.
Status
Deployed and in active use. Backend on Render, frontend on Vercel. Replaced manual register-keeping for the property it was built for.
