Docs / Getting Started / Phased Roadmap

Phased Roadmap

A pragmatic sequence to get ABc shipped, paying, and growing. The goal: deliver a usable MVP in ~14 weeks, then iterate with real owner feedback. Nothing here is set in stone — dates shift, but the dependency order does not.

The honest truth about timelines.

Channel manager (OTA sync) is the only piece with hard external dependencies — Booking.com onboarding alone can take 4–6 weeks. We are intentionally putting iCal as a fallback in MVP so direct revenue is not blocked on partner approval.

Phase 0 · Foundation (Weeks 1–2)

Setup & scaffolding

Repos, CI, environments, base auth, RBAC skeleton, design system, email pipeline, error tracking. No user-visible features.

Hidden but critical

Decisions to lock

Stack (Node vs PHP), hosting, domain, Razorpay account, Postmark account, Cloudflare. Nothing else can start without these.

Dependencies

Phase 1 · MVP (Weeks 3–14)

The smallest cut that lets one owner take real bookings and one traveller book a real room.

Track	Scope	Weeks
Identity	Register, OTP, email verify, sign-in, profile, basic KYC upload (manual review).	3–5
Property & Rooms	Create property, multiple properties per owner, room types, photos, base rate, enable/disable.	4–7
Pricing	Base rate + weekend rate + date-range overrides. No yield management yet.	6–8
Public Site	Search by city + dates, property page, gallery, room selection, checkout.	7–11
Bookings	Direct booking, calendar view, list view, status changes, source tagging (direct/manual for now).	8–12
Payments	Razorpay online (card + UPI + netbanking), full payment only, manual cash/UPI capture by support.	9–12
Manual Booking	Customer-support form: pick property/room/date, capture guest + payment, send confirmation email.	10–12
Emails	Welcome, OTP, booking confirmed, payment received, cancelled. Branded templates.	10–13
Team	Owner can add agents with two preset roles: Manager, Front-desk. Custom roles later.	11–13
OTA — iCal only	Export ABc availability as iCal; import OTA blocks as iCal. Cheap two-way sync without partner approvals.	11–13
QA & launch	End-to-end testing, security review, soft launch with 1 pilot property, monitor.	13–14

MVP exit criteria

A pilot property can list itself, take 10 direct online bookings, take 5 phone bookings via support, refund 2 of them, and reconcile its month-end without spreadsheets.

Phase 2 · V1 (Weeks 15–22)

Booking.com adapter

Real-time two-way sync via XML/OTA-spec. Requires partner connect and certification.

External-dependent

Partial payments

Configurable advance %, due-by date, auto reminders, balance link.

Revenue

Refunds & cancellations

Policy rules (free until X, partial until Y, none). Razorpay refund API + cash refund ledger.

Operations

Custom RBAC roles

Owner defines exact permissions per agent. Audit logs surfaced.

Access

Public account

Public users can register, see past bookings, save properties, manage profile.

Public

Analytics v1

Occupancy, ADR, RevPAR, channel mix per property. Exportable CSV.

Insights

Phase 3 · V1.1 (Weeks 23–28)

Airbnb & MMT adapters

Add the two highest-volume Indian channels.

Reviews & ratings

Post-stay email request, public review on property page, owner reply.

Inventory holds & overbooking control

Rolling 10-min hold during checkout, oversell protection across channels.

SMS & WhatsApp

Confirmation SMS, WhatsApp Business templates for upcoming check-ins.

GST invoices

Auto-generated, GSTIN on property, downloadable PDF, monthly summary.

Saved searches & alerts

"Notify me when rates drop" for public users.

Phase 4 · V2 & beyond

Yield management

Auto-adjust rates based on occupancy, day-of-week, competitor rates, lead time. ML-assisted.

Pricing

Mobile app — operations

React Native app for owners and front-desk: check-in, check-out, payments, calendar.

Mobile

Vendor / housekeeping

Assign rooms to cleaners, status board (dirty / clean / inspected), maintenance tickets.

Ops

Multi-currency

Display in INR / USD / EUR. Settle in INR via Razorpay International.

Global

Loyalty & vouchers

Repeat-guest discounts, promo codes, gift cards.

Growth

Open API

Authenticated REST + webhooks for tour operators & corporate travel desks.

Platform

Risk register

Risk	Impact	Mitigation
Booking.com onboarding delay	High	Ship iCal sync in MVP so revenue does not wait on the partner.
Razorpay account verification stuck	Medium	Kick off the merchant onboarding in Week 1, before any code that depends on it.
Overbooking from multi-channel race	High	Inventory holds + per-room-type write-locks + idempotent confirm endpoint.
OTA rate-parity violations	Medium	Channel-aware pricing rules and a parity-check job that flags drift.
Email deliverability	Medium	SPF/DKIM/DMARC day-one, Postmark + warm-up, monitor bounce + complaint rate.
KYC fraud (fake owners)	Medium	Manual review queue + verification provider in V1.