The Project
Imagine trying to manage accommodation and properties across multiple parks across the country. Thousands of beds need to be filled, activities need to be managed with housekeeping across this inventory being a nightmare.
Over 20 years ago, Real Travel and Tourism Systems (RTTS), part of the KRS group, developed a comprehensive accommodation booking and property management system named RoomSeeker™
SANParks, the premier South African conservation authority and government agency under the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment, needed a centralised booking system for their bookable properties throughout all the parks. SANParks was limited by outdated hotel software that hindered optimised management of the nation’s vast and varied nature reserves,
RTTS had an established reputation as a trusted partner in tourism systems, hence SANParks turned to RoomSeeker for the organisation’s centralised booking system that provided an end-to-end view of the organisation and allowed for seamless management of national park stays across all the parks within the organisation’s portfolio.
The RoomSeeker solution with its real-time centralised database, provided a scalable, customisable platform, capable of managing bookable inventory across multiple channels. These channels encompassed the call centre, online platform, and walkins alongside providing an audit capability to enable SANParks to track changes and ensure security and compliance.
SANParks was enabled to effectively manage the needs and demands of visitor management, to keep a close eye on all system modifications, whether they were made by system administrators changing configurations or by users or clients changing reservations. Accountability was guaranteed, security was improved, and compliance procedures were expedited. With a resilient, secure, and flexible booking system SANParks could counter the following key challenges:
- Scalable visitor management – Handling fluctuations in visitor demand, especially during peak tourist seasons, required a booking system capable of scaling effectively without crashing or slowing down, even with high booking volumes.
- Data security and compliance – The booking system had to securely store and handle sensitive visitor information, adhering to privacy regulations like POPIA (Protection of Personal Information Act), which is critical for maintaining trust and legal compliance.
- Achieving seamless integration – For optimal efficiency, the booking system had to integrate smoothly with other systems such as payment gateways, loyalty systems and visitor communications.
Customisations to RoomSeeker™
SANParks took full advantage of the locally produced software by introducing customisations that were perfectly suited to our South African environment. With modifications to allow for efficient gate access, auditable payment processes and customised reporting and business intelligence, SANParks made RoomSeeker their own.
The customisations initially followed a traditional waterfall methodology, gathering requirements through close client interactions and documenting SANParks’ specifications while obtaining approvals from stakeholders. After these were signed off, the development team and the SANParks team collaborated on compiling the project plan, timelines and deliverables alongside weekly meetings designed to track progress and manage expectations.
This approach then evolved into an agile hybrid methodology, incorporating Scrum, Kanban, Lean, and Modern Agile principles. This shift provided faster feature delivery as updates were released in two-week sprints and allowed for SANParks to see immediate progress.
Through continuous feedback and weekly meetings, the team closely aligned with SANParks’ expectations using tools like Jira to track progress and maintain transparent communication.
Key accomplishments:
- Creation of an eCommerce platform that allowed customers to self-manage bookings and that significantly reduced reliance on the call centre.
- Compliance with evolving legislation standards that included PCI security standards, POPIA, the archiving of dormant client data, and the implementation of secure data management practices.
- Integration with third-party systems, such as SMS for booking notifications and emergency alerts, and the Wild Card loyalty system.
The Technology
- Backend: Microsoft SQL Server, Redis, RESTful APIs developed in C#
- Frontend: Aurelia, Svelte, JavaScript, Tailwind
- Deployment and Hosting: Azure
Microsoft SQL Server was chosen for its scalable, robust transactional database, while C# based RESTful APIs provided secure encapsulation of the business rules and data access. Redis was used for high-speed data caching, and the frontend stack—Aurelia and Svelte—provided flexibility and UI responsiveness essential for SANParks’ user interface requirements.
By segmenting the system into separate, interchangeable modules, scalability was further improved, and RoomSeeker was guaranteed to accommodate SANParks’ high booking volumes and changing requirements for many years to come.
SDLC
Thorough unit and integration testing was applied using a Test-Driven Development (TDD) methodology. To ensure all changes were tracked and tested before final deployment, the team recorded any necessary changes in a change control document after gathering client input after each testing step. If any new technology were introduced into the environment, or if a tricky part of the system was being changed, RTTS would do a Proof of Concept (PoC) first to ensure the client had visibility into the change and any impacts it would have on performance or service.
Every component of the technology and solution implemented had to be signed off before it was released, and this included testing, addressing bugs, and managing integrations. Builds were monitored post-implementation to ensure there were no unexpected issues and a rollback plan was put in place should the need arise.
“Over the years, the constant upskilling of the team was required, keeping everyone up to date with technology changes. The team had to react to legislation quickly and efficiently to ensure SANParks was always compliant and aligned. Our team brought project management, business analysis, scrum master, DevOps, database administration and design skills to the implementation, blending multiple skills to deliver on a successful solution.” – says Haseley Mohamed, COO of RTTS.
What the Client has to say
A sustainable relationship
Today, SANParks has a reliable booking and property management solution capable of adapting to changing business needs within an eCommerce site that enables self-service bookings and changes. Visitors can manage their bookings without needing to contact the call centre, and this has improved revenues tremendously.
The RTTS development team’s combined work ethic, commitment to service delivery, and close collaboration with SANParks ensured the project and ongoing success. RTTS continues to support SANParks with ongoing maintenance and improvements, ensuring the system is up-to-date and responsive to SANParks’ growing needs. The modular design and API integrations have equipped SANParks with the flexibility to expand service offerings, enabling future scalability without additional support costs.
Both RTTS and SANParks continue to work together to ensure RoomSeeker remains agile, operational, and relevant to the company’s needs.
