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Description
Travel is an essential factor of rehabilitation for seniors and people with disabilities as it helps prevent their social exclusion and improve the quality of life. However, travels of such people are limited by the scarcity of information about the availability of tourist facilities and their adjustment to their needs. Only a few percentage of them have used travel agencies in the recent years, as the existing booking platforms do not include adequate search criteria.
We are developing an on-line booking platform for people with limited mobility looking for accommodation in Poland. It will introduce search criteria that include detailed description of disability or mobility limitations (such as requirements of individuals who use crutches, cane, walking frame, wheelchair, are visually impaired, have labyrinthine issues, chronic joint disease, broken leg, etc.). In addition to accommodation, the platform will include information on other sites and services, together with their accessibility score (catering, entertainment, service, transport, communication facilities), and descriptive sections (determination of distances in meters, quantification, determination of the area in square meters, determination of the slope angle, and the time required to move to a specific place). To feed the new booking platform, Rekta Consulting will commission a large database of accommodation facilities with appropriate amenities (18,400 facilities will be vetted), with the option for owners to add new ones.
The application called “Prosta Polska” [Easy Poland] will fit into the trend of regional tourism, now on the rise, especially among the elderly and individuals who suffer from chronic diseases, also as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The contribution of the Norwegian partner, Forte Digital AS, will include consultancy activities concerning technology, software selection, compatibility, product delivery and testing, as well as technology mentoring.
Summary of project results
The goal was to create the simplest, understandable and linguistically and technically friendly the selection module of accommodations` objects. All filters included on the website should be created on the basis of market research reports commissioned by the Beneficiary. The selection criteria, the way they are presented and formulated, and their implementation in the form of working filters are, in our opinion, the greatest challenges the project.
The result of the work is: a prototype of a search engine with an implemented accommodation database,4 market research studies were carried out, based on which a survey was developed which was the basis for the selection of facilities, selection of accommodation facilities was carried out, 1 report was prepared on the security of reservations and transactions on the Internet, 4 visits to the partner in Norway were carried out, combined with mentoring.
The most important result is the prototype of an accommodation search engine built by the Norwegian partner, Forte Digital from Oslo. The search engine ultimately contains 1,631 accommodation facilities (holiday, stay, tourist) in Poland, selected in accordance with users'' preferences.
4 market research studies were carried out, by consulting companies INN Alina Puto and Linkent Jacek Kadaj. All companies were selected in the procedure and published in the official competitiveness database.
1 report was prepared on the security of reservations and transactions on the Internet. The author Linkent Jacek Kadaj, was selected in the procedure and published in the official competitiveness database.
The most important result is the prototype of an accommodation search engine built by the Norwegian partner, Forte Digital from Oslo. The selection criteria of the objects, the way they are presented and formulated, and their implementation in the form of working filters are, in our opinion, the greatest differentiator - an innovation that has never existed on the market yet. The search engine ultimately contains 1,631 accommodation facilities (holiday, stay, tourist) in Poland, selected in accordance with users'' preferences.
The prototype is located on the Azul Microsoft online platform, from which design work and data implementation were carried out. Search engine address https://rektabooking-web-int.azurewebsites.net/
Summary of bilateral results
Working with the Norwegian partner, Forte Digital, is very good and efficient, with maximum mutual understanding and commitment.Its basic goal, which was to develop innovative software and build a prototype of an online platform for searching and booking accommodation for seniors and people with broadly understood mobility limitations, was achieved on time. The Partner''s knowledge and knowledge of the IT environment and the latest solutions in the industry played a key role in the professional implementation of the project. Partner''s work methodology: the number of specialists involved and the parallel pace of work on individual panels of the platform enabled efficient implementation of the task and solving emerging problems. A team of 6 programmers and two people coordinating the project carried out work on the so-called front-end, i.e. the website intended for the end user, and the closely and functionally related "back-end", i.e. the application program. All stages of work were completed on time and received by the Beneficiary according to the schedule.Thanks to the Partner''s know-how, in accordance with the project''s assumptions, a selection module filtering objects was created as simple, understandable, linguistically and technically friendly as possible. All filters included on the website were selected on the basis of market research reports commissioned by the Beneficiary.We achieved common results such as solving a specific problem by sharing knowledge and experience; there was an expansion of knowledge and mutual understanding between both parties of cooperation, especially in the field of IT solutions and project management.The partner contributed to building skills in the project through mentoring, as 4 visits to the partner in Norway combined with mentoring were made.