- Platform
- Web App and Mobile App
- Duration
- 14 weeks
- Industry
- Hospitality
- Read time
- 6 min read
City Break Apartments had 250 Bluetooth locks installed across their Dublin properties. Guests were still picking up physical keys.
The locks were there. The infrastructure existed. What the business was missing was a platform that could actually use it. Guests booking online were redirected away from the City Break website to RMS Cloud's external pages during checkout, breaking the brand experience at the moment it mattered most. And once they arrived, staff had to coordinate physical key handovers across apartments spread across the city.
They came to us to solve both problems at once: a booking website that kept guests on the City Break brand from search to confirmation, and a mobile app that turned those 250 Bluetooth locks into functional keyless entry.
We built both in 14 weeks. The website went live with a direct booking flow sitting on top of the existing RMS Cloud backend. The mobile app activated the locks already on the doors, with digital check-in, Bluetooth access, service requests, and stay management built in. Within two months, 580+ guests were using the new website. Self check-ins grew 7x. Direct revenue rose 25%. Staff recovered 20+ hours per week they had been spending on manual key coordination.
Working with RaftLabs has been amazing. The team is super responsive and quick to address our needs. They built a booking platform that's been a game changer for our team and our guests.
before & after
What changed
- Booking flow redirected guests to RMS Cloud's external pages, breaking brand trust at checkout
- Physical key handovers required staff involvement for every arrival, across apartments spread across Dublin
- 250 OmniTec Bluetooth locks were installed and unused: the mobile app to activate them did not exist
- The old mobile app offered minimal functionality and had no City Break branding
- Property listings gave guests little detail, making it harder to book with confidence
- No direct guest communication channel built into the platform
- Branded booking website keeps guests on the City Break domain throughout checkout, powered by RMS Cloud behind the scenes
- Guests complete digital check-in and open their apartment with Bluetooth on their phone
- All 250 OmniTec locks activated via the new mobile app, with no physical key required
- Rich property listings with photos, amenities, and availability let guests book confidently
- In-app service requests, push notifications, and direct communication replace ad-hoc emails and phone calls
- Admins manage bookings, guest data, and platform settings from a single dashboard
What we had to solve
- 01
An older City Break app was already registered in the App Store
When we submitted the new app for review, Apple flagged it as a duplicate of the existing listing. The old app was registered under the same name and developer account. Apple's review process treats this as a conflict: the new submission cannot go live until the existing listing situation is resolved. We worked with the City Break team to navigate the Apple developer process, align the account setup, and get the new branded app properly listed. This was a logistics problem, not a technical one, but it had to be solved before any guest could download the app.
- 02
Getting 250 installed Bluetooth locks to work from a new app guests had never used
The OmniTec locks were already on the doors. The challenge was integrating with OmniTec's API to generate time-bound, encrypted Bluetooth keys tied to each reservation, then delivering those keys to guests via the app before they arrived. The keys had to expire at checkout automatically, work even when the phone's internet connection was unstable, and give admins visibility into which locks had been accessed and when. Getting this right required close coordination between our mobile and backend teams and several rounds of on-site testing at the apartments.
outcomes
What we achieved
Despite 250 Bluetooth locks already installed, every guest arrival required staff to coordinate physical key handovers across apartments spread around the city.
The booking flow redirected guests to RMS Cloud's external pages at checkout, breaking brand trust and leaving City Break with no direct control over the booking experience.
Check-in required staff presence or coordination for every arrival. Lost or unreturned physical keys added replacement costs and operational overhead on top.
What clients say
Most clients stay.
Some say so on camera.
Three-year average engagement. Founders and operators describing the work in their own words. No marketing varnish.
IrelandWorking with RaftLabs has been amazing. The team is super responsive and quick to address our needs. They built a booking platform that's been a game changer for our team and our guests.
Guests are experiencing friction at check-in while your team handles manual processes?
the build
What we built
The platform has two sides: a branded booking website that sits on top of RMS Cloud, and a mobile app that handles everything from the moment a guest arrives to the moment they leave.
Guests book directly on the City Break site without leaving the branded experience
Guests browse detailed apartment listings with photos, amenities, pricing, and real-time availability. When they book, the transaction flows through RMS Cloud as the booking engine, but guests never leave the City Break domain. The branded checkout experience replaced the redirect that had been breaking trust at the final step. Rich property detail pages and an advanced search with location, dates, and budget filters give guests confidence to book directly.
Guests arrive ready — no front desk queue, no paperwork exchange
Before arrival, guests complete digital check-in through the app (identity verification, payment confirmation, and stay details) without waiting at a front desk or exchanging paperwork. Automated email and SMS notifications keep guests informed at every stage of the process. Staff no longer need to coordinate arrivals individually across the city.
Guest opens their apartment with their phone — no key card, no staff coordination
At check-in time, the app generates a time-bound encrypted Bluetooth key tied to the guest's reservation. The guest walks to their apartment and opens the door with their phone. No key card, no staff involvement, no coordination across the city. The key expires automatically at checkout. Admins see access logs and can revoke or extend access from the dashboard. The 250 OmniTec locks already installed became useful on the first day the app launched.
Guests request help through the app — admins see everything from one dashboard
Guests submit service requests, report issues, and manage their stay through the app without calling the office. Admins see all bookings, guest data, and support tickets in one dashboard, with analytics to track which apartments have the most activity and where engagement is highest. Promo codes can be applied at checkout for direct bookings, with controls for always-on offers and time-limited campaigns.
Engagement
How we worked together
- 01Weeks 1–2
Discovery and scoping
We map the problem before writing code. Two weeks of technical audit, stakeholder interviews, and prototype — so both teams align on scope and risk before sprint one.
- 02Ongoing
Two-week Agile sprints
Each sprint ends with working software, not a status update. You review a real build, request changes, and approve before we move forward. No surprises at handover.
- 03Ongoing
Daily async updates
Slack for daily progress, Asana for task visibility, weekly video calls for decisions. You have full visibility without needing to attend every meeting.
- 04Final
Handover and warranty
Full code handover with deployment runbooks and documentation. Thirty-day warranty period for production issues at no extra cost.
stack
Why we chose this stack
- 01The booking website needed server-side rendering for fast property listing pages and a clean API layer to sit on top of RMS Cloud. Next.js handled both without requiring a separate backend service, which kept the architecture straightforward.Next.js
- 02City Break needed the app to work on both iOS and Android without maintaining two separate codebases. React Native gave us a single codebase with native-level Bluetooth performance, which was critical for the OmniTec lock integration to work reliably.React Native
- 03The backend handles Bluetooth key generation, reservation sync with RMS Cloud, and push notifications. AWS gave us the infrastructure to do this reliably with the ability to scale as the property portfolio grows.AWS
Frequently asked questions
No. In this project, RMS Cloud stayed as the booking engine backend. What we replaced was the guest-facing experience on top of it. The booking website wraps RMS Cloud so guests complete the entire process on the City Break domain, while RMS handles reservations, availability, and confirmation behind the scenes. The integration keeps the system of record intact and adds the branded layer that was missing.
The locks are one part. The other part is a backend that generates time-bound encrypted keys tied to each reservation, delivers them to the guest's phone before arrival, handles key expiry at checkout, and gives admins visibility into access logs. For OmniTec locks, this meant integrating with their SDK via React Native and building the key lifecycle management on the server side. On-site testing at the actual apartments was essential, as Bluetooth reliability varies by lock firmware and phone model.
The booking confirmation email includes a download link for the app. For guests who book directly on the website, the flow is: book online, receive confirmation with app link, download before arrival, complete digital check-in, and use the app to open the apartment. Guests who book through third-party channels can still be directed to download the app for the self check-in experience.
City Break had an older app already registered in the App Store under the same name and developer account. When we submitted the new app, Apple flagged it as a duplicate and blocked the listing. The fix required working through Apple's developer account process to decommission the old listing properly before the new app could go live. It was a process problem, not a code problem, but it had to be solved before any guest could download the app. We worked through it with the City Break team directly.
The direct savings are in staff time. City Break recovered 20+ hours per week that had previously gone to coordinating physical key handovers across the city. Beyond that, lost and unreturned keys have replacement costs and security implications. The indirect benefits are in guest experience: self check-in scales without adding staff, works at any arrival time, and removes the coordination friction that leads to complaints. The 7x growth in self check-ins and 25% rise in direct revenue represent the business outcomes when the guest experience improves end to end.