Airbnb is an application that acts as a bridge between the travellers and the property owners who own apartments, villas, hotels, and houses. This is the platform which takes responsibility for booking accommodation all over the world. Not only stay, this portal arranges the other activities associated with the travel.
The user or the traveler can search for the hotel or accommodation by searching the location, date, and time of the travel. This application shows the places and books all the travel-related bookings. The property owner can list the properties that they have for rent. This application also provides space to share travel experiences as blogs or testimonials by the traveler who booked their travel with Airbnb. In this blog, we shall discuss some details about the Airbnb-like app that our app development company develops.
- Key Features
- Planning Phase
- Development Phase
- Execution Phase with Tech stack specifications
- Testing Phase
- Launch and Promotion
- Maintenance and Upgradation
- Cost Analysis
- Conclusion
Key Features
Some features make our Airbnb-like application unique and perfect. They are,
Sign in/Sign up:
The user entering into the app should ensure the authentication by signing in with the username and password. This prevents unauthorized access to the app. If the user doesn’t have the login credentials, they have to sign up as the registration and set the login credentials.
Search Filter:
We provide a search filter that filters the options that the users search for in the given text box. This means, the user can type the name of the service which they wish to go for, and click on the search option. This will redirect to the page or service directly. This filter reduces the time of searching for the required service. There are advanced searches for the location, price range, and other amenities are also available in the application.
Profile Management:
Our software provides all the profile data such as the name, contact details, and so on will be retrieved from the database under this profile management feature. The property owner will be displayed with the property listings, their upcoming bookings, and the history of booking along with the guest details.
Pre – Booking :
With our application, booking is the feature that allows the user to pre-book their stay and other needs. For this pre-booking, the app incorporated the calendar application with time slots for the confirmation of booking. Instant booking is also possible in the application.
Messaging:
In-app messaging is possible in our application to ensure communication between the host or the property owner and the guest or traveler who booked their travel essentials.
Display management:
Our display management is the tool that allows the host to add/delete/edit the products to be listed on the page. These displays include photos, price details, and descriptions of the products or schemes.
Reviews and Ratings:
Reviews and ratings are the feature that seems to be a more usual but motivating feature to keep the business in serving their services as per the requirement of the guests. The guests who experienced the travel with the host’s service can appreciate their likes and post their suggestions to improve the service better than before. The transparent suggestions build loyalty between the host and the guest.
Notification and Alerts:
We provide notification as the most important feature. All the actions such as booking, cancellation, modification, etc will be notified to the registered contact number for confirmation. This will act as a reminder messenger to the guest. Alert messages are also sent to the guest from the host before the day of the travel with greetings for a safe and pleasant journey. This enhances the personal relationship in the business relationship.
Payment Gateway:
Our Payment gateway is the most valuable feature of the application which ensures safe and secure payment instantly. Using the trusted payment gateway improves trust and reliability. The payment gateway provides multiple payment options such as net banking, credit/debit card payment, UPI, and so on. Using the above payment gateway the payments will be transferred to confirm booking and bill closure in minutes.
Map Integration:
We integrate Google Maps to pin the exact location of the property that the guest wishes to stay in. With the map integration, the property can be decided with the additional properties like the shortest distance from the railway station or AirPort whatever is required by the guest. The Property owner also can mention this point as an additional advantage of staying in their property.
Admin Panel:
We have designed a powerful admin panel. The Admin Panel is the backbone of the application. It provides centralized control of the entire application. It holds the power to control all the activities associated with the user details, host details, listing details, transaction, and dashboard which displays all the activities.
Help Desk:
Help Desk is the team that supports troubleshooting for all the disputes that arise with the guests who booked their trip.

Development Process of Airbnb App:
Developing an application like Airbnb involves various steps from scratch to the advanced level for us. From planning the core feature to the execution of the APIs, and the backend panel everything is done step by step.
Planning Phase
Planning is the fundamental process of developing an application with features to be implemented in the application. The application will have the features such as,
- Sign in/Sign up for user authentication.
- Profile management for both the host and the guest.
- Pre-booking of travel needs such as restaurant tables, hotels, and events if needed.
- Search filter for the location, hotel, plans, events, date, and time.
- Displaying all the programs, properties, and restaurants in a list.
- Reviews and ratings for the feedback.
- Reports from analyzed data.
- Dashboard with data charts.
- In-app messaging for communication.
- Payment Gateway integration for safe and secure payment transactions.
- Calendar application incorporation for the booking reference.
- Notification and alerts for the guests as confirmation and reminder messages.
Perform Competitor Analysis:
The next step we focus on is the competitor analysis. Competitor analysis is the process of researching the market needs and how the needs are solved by the businesses. Competitors are the people who are involved in the same business implementing different ideologies. For a particular problem, different people can find different dimensions to reach the solution. So, by doing the competitor analysis we can get the best solutions. From the competitor analysis, we can get the complete details about the problem from different angles. By doing such research, we can identify our target audiences.



Development Phase
Once all the key features have been developed, we focus on choosing the right technology. According to the demands of the features the application provides the technology has been chosen. The other factors in deciding the right technology are the overall budget and the manpower resource availability in the particular technology. The general option of the tech stack is the following:
For Front End:
The technology used for mobile application development is,
Flutter, React Native.
The technology used for web application development is,
React.js, Angular.js, or Vue.js
For Backend Development:
Python with Django, Node.js with Express.js
For connecting the frontend with backend,
RESTful or GraphQL APIs are used.
For Database:
NoSQL databases such as MongoDB
Relational Database like PostgreSQL or MySQL
For Location Mapping:
For location mapping, we integrate Google or geolocation services.
Cloud Hosting:
For hosting the mobile application, we choose Google Cloud and AWS.
Payment Gateway:
For Payment Gateway integration, we use Stripe, Razorpay, or anything as per the requirement of the client.



Execution Phase with Tech stack specifications
The development phase involves the designing of the UI/UX design. For UI/UX design we focus on the most attractive and user-interactive designs as per the demand of the application. Our designs focus on the simple navigation of the search filter, payment settings, dashboard operations, and the
Pre-booking. For designing the UI we use Figma Adobe XD to make the wireframes and prototype before development.
Testing Phase
Once the development of the application has been done, next is a new phase which is testing. We perform various levels of testing such as unit testing to focus on the individual modules, Integration testing to ensure the working status of all the modules together, User testing for the real-time user experience of the modules, and load testing to check the traffic load tolerance of the app. We deliver the application with successful clearance of the testing phase. Hence, our software application runs perfectly with an excellent user experience.
Launch and Promotion
After the successful completion of the testing phase, we publish the app in the App Store or Play Store for iOS and Android respectively. We promote the Airbnb-like app with the required SEO techniques.
Maintenance and Upgradation
After the launch of the app, we provide free maintenance for a particular period for more updates of the application as well as bug fixing if needed. Paid maintenance also we are doing for new feature addition, modification or removal of existing features, and cloud hosting upgradation.
Cost Analysis
Before getting into the cost analysis directly, we wish to inform you that the cost of the application is purely dependent on the features, the geolocation, and the complexity of the application. Let us discuss various factors which affect the cost estimation of the application. They are,
Features we are planning to develop. More features in the application will lead to increased costs for development as well as testing.
The Location where we are developing the application majorly affects the cost of the Airbnb like app due to the different currency value all around the world.
The cost of the application varies for various platforms. For developing Airbnb-like apps on multiple platforms like Android, iOS, and web applications, the cost will be increased.
Third-party integrations like payment gateway integration, map integration, and so on will impact the cost of the app.
After all of these factors, there are some hidden costs involved in the overall calculation of the Airbnb Application such as the legal factors, promotional and brand awareness cost, and so on.
For UI/UX design the approximate cost range is 5000 – 20000 USD
For Android and iOS development the cost is anywhere between 20000 – 80000 USD individually
For Backend development, the cost range is 25000 – 70000 USD
For Third-party integrations, the cost varies from 5000 – 15000 USD
For Testing, the cost range is 10000 – 30000 USD
Over all the cost range to develop an app like Airbnb is anything between 65000 – 2,15,000 USD. This cost may vary according to terms and conditions.
Conclusion
Smarther Technologies provides apps like Airbnb to pre-book your travel needs. All the travel expectations are listed out with the association of the property owners and the hosts for the guests. We have designed our Airbnb-like application with user-interactive modules and with world-class features. Using these features travellers can make a hassle-free travel experience. With an admin panel, the host can manage every guest with individual care and support.
All the notifications and alerts are automated, hence the app keeps the customers engaged. We provide the Airbnb-like application with the right updated technology at the optimal cost. We are also providing paid after-launch support for businesses who wish to upgrade their businesses. We offer various strategies to communicate with clients for periodic reviews and updates.
With our young and dynamic technical team, the Airbnb-like application will be completed on time and published in the App Store or Play Store. In this blog, we have elaborated on the various features, development processes, and cost analysis of the Airbnb-like application we have developed.