Book and manage business rooms and conference venues
- Marketplace
- PropTech
- Booking
- Glib Skrypka - Product Owner
- Marta Jakubowska - UX Designer
- Karol Błędowski - UX/UI Designer
- Gaba Jordan - Visual Designer
The perfect space for a business event
We were tasked with creating a marketplace for the business events industry that would not only digitise the process of buying and selling events but also help people do it more efficiently.
RE:PLACE was set up as an internal start-up within Innovatika. Its goal was to streamline the process of booking and managing rental offers. We wanted to seize the opportunity to improve the then-developing Polish market for renting office, co-working and conference space.
This is how the idea of a marketplace for the best offers in Poland came into being. On the one hand, we wanted to help venue owners manage their venues and calendars. On the other hand, users could easily find an offer tailored to their needs and quickly personalise it with additional amenities.
RE: PLACE is a marketplace for users to book offices as well as conference space for events. It helps property owners manage their offers and reservations and match them to their customers’ expectations. Thanks to this platform, users can find the perfect room for business in many cities in Poland and go through the booking process easily.
I worked on the project as a UX/UI designer. I was responsible for the preparation of application interfaces, the design system library and the consistency of components across platforms (responsive website and web application). During the project I created mock-ups of new functionality and presented clickable prototypes. I worked closely with the UX designers and the product owner. I held regular meetings with project stakeholders to review new projects and updates.
Understanding the needs of both groups
Organising a meeting or event is not just about choosing a date and venue; it can involve many variables, such as seating arrangements, catering, audio equipment requirements or facilities for the disabled. It is therefore important to put yourself in the users' shoes and understand their needs.
By conducting the project in one of Warsaw's co-working spaces, we had almost unlimited access to the people who were our users. Talking to the space owners and clients who book office space, we learned about the most problematic areas of the whole process for them.
Your ideal event in an outstanding location
The design process followed an agile framework, which allowed for an iterative process where we could gather user feedback, make adjustments and test the design before final implementation. We went through several design iterations to optimise the user experience, resulting in a well-designed, easy-to-navigate and visually appealing platform.
Browse comfortably and find a place in your area using the map
With this platform you can reach more customers and fill your calendar with new events
Easy search and multiple filter options to find exactly what you need
See what space has to offer, check out the gallery and the amenities available
Communicate your special offers and discounts and showcase your space at its best
Compare different facilities, their amenities, prices and calendars
Easily check the final summary of your reservation and book your chosen date
Reduce the number of no-shows and irrelevant requests for information
Rent a space in a few minutes with quick and easy payment options
Personalise booking by choosing from the many add-ons available on site
The option of selling additional services, and an easy way to manage them for bookings
The possibility to order catering and add-ons in the same booking process
Discuss the details of your booking in a dedicated chat
Easy and instant communication between clients and venue owners
Key Takeaways
When you embark on a project to digitise and improve the booking process, you hope to address every element of the journey. After talking to venue managers and owners, we knew this might be more difficult than we thought. Venue owners told us that they tailor their offer to the needs of their customers. Some of them told us that the price list is very contractual. What influences the final price is the occupancy of the booking, the number of hours or the prestige of the company contacting them. It is a process in which the human aspect is crucial.
That is why it was important for us to give both parties enough options to streamline the process, but also to leave open the possibility of a personal contact in order to work out the details. In addition, chat with customer service became a very helpful element. One element that proved difficult to overcome was connecting the APIs of the many calendars used by the venue owners. The variety of tools they use did not allow us to show room occupancy in real time. In this case, we had to rely on them to manually update the calendar in our system.
