UK-Based Startup:
Swimming Pool Rental Platform
Seamless cross-platform experience with multiple user roles.
Project Overview
The case study presents a UK-based startup that operates as a private swimming pool rental platform. The company faced challenges creating an integrated, seamless system across three platforms (web, iOS, Android) while accommodating three distinct user personas: platform admins, pool owners, and renters.
The project sheds light on Cloud Interactive’s strength in complicated software projects, outstanding project management expertise, and profound experience in delivering end-to-end services to global clients. We partnered with the client from day one, guiding the founders step-by-step to sharpen their vision and deliver a game-changing platform - An easy-to-use platform with straightforward navigation and intuitive user experience, featuring local maps, swimming pool booking and payment, calendar integration, etc.
Customer Profile
This startup's founders saw the sharing economy's business opportunities during the pandemic. When public pools closed and people craved safe, private spaces, they had a bold idea: Why not help people rent out their swimming pools?
This UK-based platform aims to provide renters with a comfortable and personal experience while providing additional income for hosts.
Service
Industry
Client Challenges
Previously, this client outsourced web and app development separately, leading to a fractured system: two separate vendors, mismatched designs, and mounting frustration. They came to us with a tight deadline and a big challenge: Could we deliver a unified, seamless platform with efficient project scoping, design, development, and deployment? The answer was yes—and the transformation was incredible.
Project Challenges: Tackling Complexity Head-On
Challenge 1: The Balance Between Ambition and Tight Deadlines
The startup had a bold vision to create a seamless rental experience for all users - but with countless moving parts and an aggressive timeline, it was easy for the project to veer off the course.
A clear project scope in the early stage was crucial. We conducted focused workshops to advise must-have features and simplify or merge others. The image here is a snippet of the workshop - we categorize functionalities based on priorities, advising a more efficient approach to launch the platform in time.
Challenge 2: Complex, Multi-Role & Cross Platform User Experiences
The platform needed to support multi-role users (e.g., a pool owner might also be a renter) across three platforms (web, iOS, Android) seamlessly. What made it even trickier? Many users played dual roles—a pool owner could also be a renter, for instance. Ensuring that all user flows were intuitive, fluid, and consistent across platforms required meticulous planning and design expertise.
Challenge 3: Cross-Department Collaboration
In software development, one of the biggest hurdles is ensuring the UI/UX design is feasible for front-end and back-end development. This project pushed collaboration to its limits. With multiple platforms and multiple user personas, syncing the efforts of designers, developers, and QA testers was critical. After countless iterations, refinements, and feedback cycles, we brought the pieces together into a cohesive whole.
Solutions That Drive Success: The Pool Rental Platform
The startup's localized, data-driven, and retention-focused platform isn’t just a tool—it’s a thriving ecosystem that transforms the way people share and enjoy private swimming pools. Here’s what the solution looks like:
At the heart of the platform success is a smooth, intuitive user experience. We focused on three key areas:
- Effortless Navigation: Renters can now book pools in just a few clicks, and owners love how effortless it is to list their properties.
- Unified Multi-Role Design: Since users could switch between being renters and pool owners, we designed a seamless transition between roles, making everything—from browsing to managing listings—straightforward.
- Integrated Systems: By connecting web and app platforms to a centralized backend and third-party payment gateways, we unified the entire experience. This improved efficiency, eliminated friction and enhanced user satisfaction across devices.
- Critical Updates: Booking confirmations and key updates were sent automatically to users, ensuring clear communication.
- Promotional Campaigns: Pool owners and platform administrators could send promotional codes via push notifications to encourage repeat bookings and increase conversion rates.
- For Renters: Once a booking was confirmed, the system synced it directly with their personal calendar, ensuring dates were never missed.
- For Pool Owners: Available rental times were displayed on the platform’s integrated calendar, and owners could sync their private schedules to share availability with potential customers.
Repeat business is the cornerstone of the startup success, so we designed the platform to encourage long-term user loyalty.
- Optimized User Journeys: Smartly placed call-to-action (CTA) buttons and intuitive flows simplify the booking and payment process, making it enjoyable for renters.
- Upselling Add-Ons: We designed features that encouraged users to explore additional services and facilities, boosting revenue for pool owners.
- Streamlined Payments: Secure, fast, and integrated third-party payment options gave renters and owners peace of mind.
By combining these efforts, the platform is positioned not just to attract users but to keep them coming back for more.
Our Final Thoughts
Our client's mission was clear: redefine the way people share and rent private pools. As a startup, they needed more than a development team. We support them to tackle fragmented designs, tight deadlines, technical complexities, and an ambitious timeline to create a seamless cross-platform experience for their users.
The strength of developing your own software lies in its flexibility—the ability to adapt to unique and complex business needs while staying agile under tight timeframes. By combining the expertise of our seasoned team with the advantages of an end-to-end service approach, we built a platform tailored precisely to their goals.
But this wasn’t just a project—it was a journey of shared growth and co-creation. Together, we unlocked new opportunities for our client to thrive in the sharing economy. With a bright future ahead, this client is ready to make waves in their industry, and we’re proud to continue supporting them every step of the way.
