Upgrading Hotel Operations

The hotel industry relies on speed and service, but many hotels still use systems built decades ago. The Furaya Hotel Project was built to fix this.

I was recruited by a lecturer to join a team of four to build a real system for a client. Our goal was to replace their outdated desktop software with a modern, fast web application for the Front Desk.

Navigation Bottleneck

The hotel was running on a legacy desktop app from the early 2000s. It looked like an old computer BIOS screen—blocky and rigid, but the real problem was how it worked.

The Back to Menu Trap

The system did not have a navigation bar. To switch from Check-In to Room Status, a staff member had to:

1. Click a Back button to exit the current page.

2. Wait for the Main Menu list to load.

3. Click the new option.

This constant back-and-forth was too slow for a busy hotel lobby with guests waiting in line.

Speed & Simplicity

The main goal was to remove that friction. I replaced the Main Menu page with a Persistent Sidebar. Now, staff can jump from Booking to Guest List in one click, without ever losing their place.

We chose a tech stack that provided speed and stability:

• Laravel to handle complex booking rules securely.

• React + Tailwind CSS to make the interface responsive and modern.

• Inertia.js enables smooth, seamless navigation and data handling between Laravel and the frontend.

Using Inertia allowed us to build a fast, app-like experience (SPA) where pages load instantly, but kept the backend simple.

Key Features

1. The Front Desk Dashboard

Designed the dashboard to give an instant overview. Instead of digging through menus, staff immediately see Today's Check-ins, Occupancy Rates, and VIP Guests the moment they log in.

2. Visual Room Grid

In the old system, checking room status meant reading a text list. I changed this to a Data Table with Filtering and Sorting capabilities. Rooms are color-coded (Green for "Clean", Red for "Do Not Disturb"). This uses Jacob's Law (using familiar patterns) to help staff process information instantly.

3. Role-Based Access (RBAC)

We set strict security rules to ensure data safety:

• Staff: Can Check-in/Check-out guests.

• Admin: Can manage Room Rates and Inventory.

• Manager: Can only view sales reports.

Testing & Result

We tested the system to make sure it was ready for the real world.

• Stress Test: The system handled 100-200 users at the same time without slowing down.

• User Test: The new navigation was a success. Staff reported that the Sidebar workflow was much faster and easier to learn than the old Menu Index system.

The final system successfully modernized the hotel's workflow. By removing the clunky BIOS-style navigation and replacing it with a modern web design, we helped the staff work faster and reduced the waiting time for guests.

This project was my Final College Capstone, and it was accepted because it solved a critical operational speed problem for the client.