Lufasi Lodges is a premium eco-stay: six geo-domes, full board, Lagos. Vishu Pratap built the brand website and the booking engine (booking.lufasilodges.com) so the lodge owns inventory and checkout instead of renting them from a commission platform.
Small inventory, high cost of a double book
Six units is not a hotel tower. One double booking is a ruined stay and a public review. The engine therefore treats availability as a transaction, not a display. Guests pick check-in, check-out, duration, and party size against live calendar state. The same pattern powers Jara Beach Resort: row locks, one winner, no silent oversell.
Payments and the Ikoyi office
Reservations capture payment in the flow. The digital path is not the only path: the system surfaces the Ikoyi Booking Office (Little Company Nigeria Limited) - hours, contact, support - so a guest who wants a human still lands in the same inventory. Digital and desk must not diverge.
Brand is part of the product
Lufasi sells “wild meets sophisticated comfort.” A generic OTA skin would tax every booking and flatten the brand. Custom UI/UX and full-board package presentation (welcome lunch, dinner, breakfast, drinks) are product requirements, not decoration.
What shipped
Vishu Pratap designed and shipped Lufasi Lodges’ full-stack booking platform: real-time geo-dome availability, payments, and brand site, live at booking.lufasilodges.com. Stack: Next.js, booking engine, payment integration, PostgreSQL-style reservation integrity. Timeline: 8 weeks. Related: custom booking engines vs commission OTAs.