From Homestay Operator to App Developer: Gwen’s Journey to Build the Ultimate Travel Companion
Sigma School
8th August 2025
Before she ever wrote a single line of code, Gwen was running a homestay, welcoming travellers from all over the world. She loved hearing their stories and sharing local tips, but she also noticed something else, travelers were constantly juggling multiple apps just to keep their trips organized.
That observation stayed with her. When Gwen joined Sigma School’s software development program, she knew exactly what she wanted her capstone project to be: a travel app that finally brought everything together.
Even in 2025, planning a trip can feel like digital chaos. One app for booking, another for itineraries, spreadsheets for expenses, social media for sharing, and yet another app for currency conversion. For frequent travelers, it’s a constant tab-switching nightmare.
Gwen had felt this pain personally during her own travels. Her goal? Build a single, smart travel hub that simplifies every stage of the journey, from planning to sharing memories without making travelers download five different apps.
Gwen’s answer to this problem is Beta Holiday — a React- and Firebase-powered travel app that combines:
She also integrated third-party APIs such as weather and currency exchange services to make the app practical for real-world travelers. Her vision is for Beta Holiday to not only serve B2C users but also become a valuable tool for travel industry partners.
Integrating so many features wasn’t easy. Gwen had to figure out how to make booking systems, dashboards, APIs, and social features work together without breaking the user experience.
One big hurdle was real-time updates in Firebase. “The data wasn’t syncing properly at first,” she recalls. “I had to go through multiple trial-and-error cycles before I got it right.”
UI and UX consistency was another challenge. With so many tools inside one app, it was easy for the design to feel cluttered. Gwen tackled this by creating a unified style guide, ensuring every page felt like part of the same smooth journey.
Today, Gwen’s Beta Holiday app is more than just a student project — it’s a working prototype with clear potential for scaling. It solves a problem every traveler understands, and it’s built on technology that can grow with its users.
Her journey from homestay operator to full-stack developer is proof of what’s possible when you combine real-world insight with the right skills. And as Gwen puts it:
“This isn’t just an app. It’s about making travel less stressful and more enjoyable, so people can focus on the experience — not the logistics.”