Laya Technologies GmbH

Delivering Laya's MVP in just 6 months: the power of leveraging cutting-edge technologies

About the business: 

Laya Technologies GmbH is a leading technology company in the travel industry, founded in 2014 in Germany. In 2021, they approached us for assistance with launching the new Beyond Rooms project intended for hotel brands and networks. Its aim was to extend their vacation offerings by providing additional packages distributed directly via its own channels, online travel agencies, and meta searches. This innovative solution simplifies the booking process for customers, allowing them to efficiently plan and purchase a complete trip, including accommodation, transportation, and additional services in a one-stop-shop manner. 

Business problem: 

When Laya approached us, they already had an in-house development team and a well-fleshed-out idea for the new product. To launch it, however, they needed some extra software engineering capacity and someone to lead the intricate and challenging development process. Our extensive knowledge of the travel industry is, ultimately, what brought them to us.

In addition, being a player in a highly competitive industry, Laya was facing a steep challenge in convincing B2B clients to adopt our solution for streamlining the travel package creation process. With growing competition from comparable travel solutions, the business needed to define a clear and specific development scope for 2022 and to ensure a smooth, all-encompassing user experience – from data collection to package booking and processing.

Technological challenge:

Laya's Beyond Rooms project necessitated the development of a large variety of integrations such as flight reservation, car rental, virtual tour operators and payment options. With years of experience in the travel industry and the know-how gained from being a technology partner of mature brands like HomeToGo or Kayak, we deftly navigated these, as well as other, challenges and delivered a high-quality product.

Technological and business development solutions: 

• The new product, developed using an API-first approach, enables Laya’s clients to flexibly create travel packages through a highly customizable UI.
• With a microservice architecture, we've successfully integrated over 15 diverse data providers, ensuring both flexibility and scalability.
• During the project, we also prioritized close cooperation with partners. This included regular online and face-to-face meetings, resulting in stronger relationships, greater engagement, and better mutual understanding.

Results: 

• By leveraging cutting-edge technologies, our team successfully delivered an MVP within 6 months, and the final product, including supplementary services designed to attract and retain new clients – in only 14 months.
• The  API-first product allows Laya to manage a wide variety of integrated services and solutions.
• We developed over 15 integrations that allow hotel customers to quickly and conveniently structure their journeys in a centralized manner. The platform covers everything, from flights and accommodation to lunch and sightseeing tours.
• Laya is currently onboarding its first clients and plans to release the solution to the mass market in the near future.

Partner reference:

I’ve been working with NFQ for the past year and a half, during which time it successfully led the development of a new product/platform, including architecture design and feature delivery. From the very beginning, I was very pleased with the team’s professionalism and strong focus on finding solutions to any challenge. All of its members, including team leads, are very friendly, supportive, and collaborative when it comes to working jointly with Laya’s own employees, as well as other participants of the development process.

Apart from the quick delivery of a fully functional product for users, the project’s most critical achievement was its modular and flexible setup. After 1.5 years of fast-paced software development, you sometimes get a highly complex application that eventually becomes more and more difficult to maintain. In our case, however, despite the platform’s scope, variety of features, and level of detail, its maintenance remains easy and convenient. This speaks volumes about NFQ’s professionalism and drive for excellence.

Bernhard Opitz, Head of Product at Laya Technologies