Mr Manager

Prayxis conceived, designed and built Mr Manager. It is our own product, not a client project, so the same team that decided what to build also wrote it.

• Product strategyResearched six competing platforms (Guesty, Hostaway, Lodgify, OwnerRez, Smoobu, Hospitable) and chose the gaps to attack: owners, cleaners, reporting and open pricing.
• DesignInformation-dense desktop screens for managers; large, thumb-first screens for cleaners on low-end phones. Two surfaces, deliberately not one aesthetic.
• EngineeringMulti-tenant web application with Google sign-in, a PostgreSQL database, an audit log on every change, and an offline-tolerant cleaner view.
• MobileA companion app for the on-the-go screens: today's brief, the calendar and a cleaner's job list.
• IntegrationsCalendar sync with Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com through their iCal feeds, and booking by WhatsApp through the WhatsApp Business Platform (see below).

Individuals and companies who manage several short-term rental properties, such as homestays, villas, cottages and small resorts, and often manage them on behalf of third-party owners. The first target is one operator with 5 to 30 units who wants to run the whole business without a spreadsheet.

• ManagerThe paying customer. Works on a desktop all day: one calendar for every unit, bulk edits, bookings, rates and reports.
• Cleaner or contractorWorks from a phone, for minutes a day. Opens a private link, so there is no account to create: a task list, a checklist and photo proof.
• Property ownerChecks in a few times a month for earnings and statements. The owner view is the next stage of the roadmap and is not built yet.
• GuestNever logs in. Guests are reached by WhatsApp or email only.

Six screens from the working application. Everything an operator sees tonight, drawn from the same inventory: the calendar, the day's cleaning jobs, every booking, and a map of each property.

Many stays are agreed in a WhatsApp conversation and then retyped into a spreadsheet. Mr Manager is built to remove the retyping, using the WhatsApp Business Platform.

• Who writesA person on the operator's team, from the operator's own WhatsApp Business number, in an ordinary conversation with the guest.
• What is readOnly messages the operator sends, and only when the first line is exactly "Booking confirmed" followed by labelled details. A guest can never create a booking by asking for one.
• What happensThe details become a reservation after an availability check, the guest is matched by phone number, a cleaning job is scheduled, and a receipt goes back in the same thread.
• Everything elseAny other message is stored and not acted on.

Where it stands: the booking logic has been tested end to end with simulated messages. It has not yet been connected to a live WhatsApp Business account, and it sends nothing except the receipt described above. Guest phone numbers and message text are personal data; see our privacy policy.