Case study · WorkWHR

Book the space,by the hour.

A booking platform for meeting rooms and coworking spaces across a member app, a member web experience and a space-host portal. Members search a space, choose a date, time and seats, add the extras they need, pay, and track every booking through to check-in.

Space bookingMobile app + webMarketplace
WorkWHR screenWorkWHR screen
What we shipped
Space search & filtersHour + seat bookingAdd-ons & servicesItemised checkoutFull booking lifecycleMember + host portal
01 — The product

One platform, three ways in

A member on a phone, a member on the web and a host managing a listing all work off the same spaces and the same bookings. The member searches and books; the host lists and approves check-ins; the booking carries the truth both sides act on.

Spaces you can filter to fit

Members search by location and filter the results, with each space showing hourly and daily pricing, its rating and reviews, seats available and its address, so a shortlist is real before anything is opened.

Booked by the hour, not the day

A space is booked for a chosen date, a number of hours and a number of seats, against the time slots that are actually free — so a two-hour meeting is a two-hour booking, not a wasted day rate.

Extras that belong to the session

Add-ons and services — an HDMI cable, markers, unlimited drinks — are priced by hour or day, stock-limited, and attached to the booking, so what the room needs is on the same bill.

02 — The problem

Why is space booking harder to build than it looks?

A booking is a promise about a physical room at a physical time, and the software has to hold that promise for a member and a host at once. Three things break a naive build: availability that must be exact, a price made of many parts, and a booking that lives long after payment.

Availability has to be exact. A space has real hours, real seats and slots that are already taken. Booking captures a date, a number of hours and seats against the free time slots, so two members cannot promise themselves the same room — a check that a calendar app or a phone call simply can't guarantee.

The price is made of parts. A total is booking charges plus add-ons, misc fees and service charges, minus a promo code. The checkout shows every line, so a member sees how the number is built instead of being handed a figure after the fact.

A booking outlives the payment. After paying, a booking moves through confirmed, completed and cancelled, with check-in, cancellation rules and a rating at the end — so the product owns the whole life of the booking, not just the sale.

3

things break a naive build — availability that must be exact, a price made of many parts, and a booking that lives long after payment.

03 — Goals & challenges

What WorkWHR had to get right

A booking is a promise about a physical room at a physical time, and the software has to hold that promise for a member and a host at once.

Goals

Make the promise exact

  • Model real availability. Hours, seats and slots that are actually free, so two members can never double-book the same room.
  • Show the price as it's built. Booking charges, add-ons, fees and promo codes itemised before payment, not handed over as one figure.
  • Own the booking's whole life. Confirmed, completed and cancelled, with check-in and cancellation rules, not just a payment and a dead end.
  • Share one truth across surfaces. Member app, member web and host portal all read and act on the same booking.
Challenges

Why it was hard

  • A space has real hours, real seats and slots already taken — availability has to be exact, not a display.
  • A total is booking charges plus add-ons, misc fees, service charges and a promo code — many parts, one honest number.
  • A booking doesn't end at payment — check-in, cancellation rules and a rating all have to be designed as part of its life.
  • Three surfaces — member app, member web, host portal — have to behave consistently off one data model.
04 — Built for

Who is WorkWHR built for?

Two sides of the same booking — the member who searches and books, and the host who lists the space and approves the check-in.

The member view
Member

The member

Searches spaces by location, books by the hour and seat, adds extras, pays and tracks every booking through to check-in.

The space host view
Space host

The space host

Lists a room and approves check-ins from their own portal, working off the same booking data the member sees.

05 — Across the platform

What does WorkWHR look like in use?

Member
01

Spaces, filtered to fit

Members search by location and see each space with hourly and daily pricing, rating and reviews, and seats available — so a shortlist forms before a single listing is opened.

Search
Member
02

Booked by the hour and the seat

A calendar, a booking-hours stepper, a seat count and a grid of available time slots turn a room into an exact reservation rather than a whole-day block.

Date & time
Member
03

Extras on the same booking

Add-ons and services are priced by hour or day and stock-limited, added straight to the booking so equipment and drinks are on the same bill as the room.

Add-ons
Member
04

Every line before you pay

The checkout shows booking charges, add-ons, misc and service fees and any promo code, so the total is built in front of the member rather than handed over.

Checkout
Member
05

Pay, with a clear outcome

Payment resolves to an unambiguous success or failure state, so a member always knows whether the space is theirs before they walk to it.

Payment
Member
06

A booking that shows its working

The booking detail carries its status, the space, date, time and seats, the add-ons, the full price summary and a check-in action — everything the member needs in one place.

Confirmed
Member
07

Confirmed, completed, cancelled

Every booking is listed by status, sortable and filterable, with check-in on the ones that are due — so the whole history is one screen, not an inbox.

My bookings

keep scrolling — the deal glides left →

06 — Inside the platform

What does the platform actually cover?

Six areas carry WorkWHR end to end, from finding a space to the loyalty and host tools that keep both sides coming back.

Search & discoverDate, time & seatsAdd-ons & servicesCheckout & paymentBookings & check-inLoyalty & hosts

Search & discover

List + map

Members search spaces by location and open a multi-panel filter, with each listing showing hourly and daily pricing, rating and reviews, seats available and address — the detail a shortlist actually needs.

By locationFiltersHour / day pricing

Date, time & seats

Exact slots

A booking is set by date, a number of hours and a number of seats, chosen against the time slots that are genuinely available for that space.

Hours & slotsSeat count

Add-ons & services

Per booking

Equipment and services are priced by the hour or day, stock-limited, and added to the booking — so the room and everything in it are on one bill.

Stock-limitedOn the bill

Checkout & payment

Itemised

A price summary lays out booking charges, add-ons, misc and service fees and any promo code before payment, with clear success and failure states after it.

Promo codesSuccess / failure

Bookings & check-in

Full lifecycle

Every booking sits in confirmed, completed or cancelled, sortable and filterable, with cancellation rules, a check-in flow carrying safety instructions and host approval, and a rate-and-review at the end.

Confirmed / completedCheck-in & safetyRate & review

Loyalty & hosts

Both sides

Members earn loyalty points on completed bookings with a transaction history, while space hosts list rooms and approve check-ins from their own portal.

Loyalty pointsHost portal
08 — What we shipped

The scope, in one panel

Every number in this panel is delivered scope — what was designed, built and handed over on the space booking build for WorkWHR. It leaves out traffic, conversion and revenue on purpose: those figures belong to the client, and we don’t publish numbers we cannot stand behind.

3
Surfaces sharing one data model — app, web, host portal
7
Steps from search to a tracked booking
6
Feature areas — search to loyalty and hosts
2
Sides served — members booking, hosts listing
Industry
Space bookingCoworking & meeting rooms
Platform
Mobile app + webPlus a host portal
Users
MembersSpace hosts
What we did
UX + UI designBooking & checkout flows
07 — Pay, then confirmed

The last two screens

Where the booking closes out — a clear payment outcome, and the confirmation that the space is really theirs.

Payment, with a clear outcome
Payment, with a clear outcome
The booking is confirmed
The booking is confirmed
09 — Visual design

The look, and why

A confident orange marks the moment of booking and payment, a near-black ink keeps prices and time slots legible, and a warm mist keeps dense listings calm rather than busy.

Colour
Orange
#F15A24
Deep
#B8431A
Ink
#2A2D3C
Mist
#FBF1EC
Typography
Display · 600Book the space, by the hour
HeadingOne platform, three ways in
Body · InterA space is booked for a chosen date, a number of hours and a number of seats, against the slots that are actually free.
Label · MonoCONFIRMED · COMPLETED · CANCELLED
10 — Transferable

What does a real booking engine need to get right?

The build ran from one question — how do you let a member reserve a real room, for real hours, with real extras, and see the exact price — while a host and a web member work off the same booking?

01

Model the space and the slot first

Before any screen, a space, its hours, its seats and its availability have to be modelled, because a booking is only a promise if the availability underneath it is exact.

02

Build the price as it's charged

Booking charges, add-ons, misc and service fees and promo codes work best as line items, so the checkout total is assembled the same way the invoice is.

03

Own the whole booking life

Confirmed, completed and cancelled states, cancellation rules, check-in and rate-and-review belong to one lifecycle, not a payment and a dead end.

04

Design once, share it everywhere

A member app, a member web experience and a host portal read and behave consistently only when they're built against one data model.

05

The pattern travels beyond workspace

Searchable inventory, availability by slot and capacity, add-ons on the booking, an itemised checkout and a full lifecycle carry across most time-and-space bookings — studios, sports courts, equipment, events.

FAQ

Building a booking platform

How long does it take to build a booking platform like this?
A first release at roughly this scope — space search, hour-and-seat booking, add-ons, an itemised checkout, the full booking lifecycle, loyalty and a host portal across app and web — is a several-month programme rather than a few weeks. What moves the date most is how exact the availability model must be, how much of payments is in the first release, and how many of the app, web and host surfaces ship together.
How do you stop two people booking the same space at once?
By making availability the source of truth rather than a display. In WorkWHR a booking is taken against a space's real hours, seats and free time slots, so an already-taken slot cannot be chosen. Getting that model right first — before any booking screen — is what keeps the promise a booking makes honest for both the member and the host.
How does a space-booking marketplace make money?
Usually on the booking itself: a service charge or commission on each reservation, which WorkWHR carries as a line in the price summary. Add-ons and services are a second line, and a loyalty programme plus featured listings for hosts are levers that lift repeat use and supply without changing the core book-and-pay flow.
How much does it cost to build a booking app?
It depends on scope, and a feature list alone is not enough to quote from honestly. The main cost drivers are how exact the availability and pricing model must be, whether you build the member app, the web experience and the host portal together or in sequence, and how much of payments and loyalty is in the first release. Shanti Infosoft scopes it on a short call and returns a fixed quote within 48 hours.
Can the same pattern work for other bookable inventory?
Yes. The structure — searchable inventory, availability by slot and capacity, add-ons on the booking, an itemised checkout, a full booking lifecycle and a host or owner portal — carries across most time-and-space bookings, from studios and sports courts to equipment and events. What changes is the inventory and its rules; the booking engine underneath stays the same.
Let's build

Building a booking platform of your own?

Tell us how your business actually works and we'll tell you honestly what it takes to build — the availability model, the pricing, the lifecycle. No deck, no pitch.