Fractional CTO for TravelTech

Building seamless travel experiences with scalable booking systems, dynamic pricing, inventory management, and real-time integrations across the travel ecosystem.

Challenge

TravelTech challenges

  • Search performance: fast flight/hotel search across millions of combinations
  • Real-time inventory: syncing with airlines, hotels, car rentals, tours in real-time
  • Dynamic pricing: optimizing prices based on demand, competition, seasonality
  • Complex booking rules: fare rules, cancellation policies, visa requirements, baggage
  • Payment complexity: multi-currency, split payments, refunds, chargebacks
  • Third-party integrations: GDS, OTA, channel managers, PMS, payment gateways
  • Peak load management: handling traffic spikes (holidays, flash sales, viral moments)
  • Data accuracy: keeping hotel/flight/tour data up-to-date from all sources
  • Mobile experience: travel bookings increasingly happen on mobile
  • Customer support: booking changes, cancellations, customer service tools

How I help

High-performance search and discovery
Fast and relevant travel search results
  • Flight search optimization: multi-leg routing, fare calculation, real-time availability
  • Hotel search: geosearch, filters, sorting, real-time rates and availability
  • Search caching: intelligent caching strategies for popular routes/destinations
  • Elasticsearch/Algolia: fast search with filters, autocomplete, faceted navigation
  • Map integration: interactive maps, location-based search, distance calculation
  • Mobile-first search: optimized for touch, fast on slow connections
Booking engine and inventory management
Reliable booking systems and inventory sync
  • Real-time availability: syncing with suppliers (GDS, hotels, tours) in real-time
  • Booking flow optimization: reducing abandonment, increasing conversion
  • Inventory caching: balancing freshness and performance
  • Booking confirmation: reliable booking submission with retry logic
  • Cancellation and modification: automated workflows for changes and refunds
  • Queue management: handling booking spikes with background processing
Integration and connectivity
Seamless integration with travel ecosystem
  • GDS integration: Amadeus, Sabre, Travelport for flights
  • Hotel APIs: Expedia, Booking.com, HotelBeds, direct hotel connections
  • Channel manager integration: sync inventory across multiple OTAs
  • PMS integration: property management systems for hotels/vacation rentals
  • Payment gateways: multi-currency, regional payment methods
  • API gateway design: rate limiting, caching, error handling for third-party APIs
Dynamic pricing and revenue optimization
Intelligent pricing strategies to maximize revenue
  • Pricing algorithms: demand-based pricing, competitor monitoring, revenue management
  • Fare calculation: complex fare rules, taxes, fees, markups
  • A/B testing: testing different pricing strategies and presentations
  • Promotions engine: discount codes, package deals, loyalty programs
  • Revenue analytics: understanding booking patterns, optimizing margins
  • Forecasting: predicting demand, optimizing inventory allocation
Mobile and omnichannel experience
Seamless travel experience across all devices
  • Progressive Web App: fast, installable, offline support
  • Native mobile apps: iOS/Android for deep travel experience
  • Mobile payments: Apple Pay, Google Pay, digital wallets
  • Push notifications: Booking confirmations, flight updates, promotions
  • Offline access: view bookings, itineraries while traveling
  • Cross-device sync: start on desktop, finish on mobile
Operations and customer support
Tools for efficient operations and customer service
  • Booking management dashboard: for agents, support, operations
  • Refund and cancellation automation: automated workflows where possible
  • Customer communication: email, SMS for booking confirmations, updates
  • CRM integration: Salesforce, HubSpot for customer management
  • Reporting and analytics: booking metrics, revenue, conversion, supplier performance
  • Fraud detection: preventing fraudulent bookings, chargebacks

Common use cases

Specialized solutions for different TravelTech sectors

Online travel agencies (OTA)
  • Flight, hotel, car rental aggregation
  • Package deals and bundling
  • User reviews and ratings
  • Loyalty programs
  • Mobile booking apps
Hotels and accommodation
  • Direct booking engine
  • Channel manager integration
  • Property management system (PMS)
  • Revenue management
  • Guest communication tools
Tours and activities booking
  • Real-time availability and booking
  • Resource management (guides, equipment)
  • Dynamic pricing and seasonality
  • Multi-day tours and packages
  • Supplier/partner management
Corporate travel management
  • Policy compliance and approval workflows
  • Expense management integration
  • Traveler profiles and preferences
  • Duty of care and traveler tracking
  • Reporting and analytics for travel managers
Vacation rentals
  • Property listings and management
  • Calendar synchronization
  • Cleaning and maintenance scheduling
  • Owner/guest communication
  • Trust and safety features

Technology stack and architecture

Modern technologies for travel platforms

Frontend
  • React, Next.js, Vue.js
  • React Native (mobile)
  • Progressive Web Apps
  • Tailwind CSS, shadcn/ui
  • Mapbox, Google Maps
Backend
  • Node.js, Python, Java
  • .NET/C#
  • GraphQL, REST APIs
  • Microservices architecture
  • Event-driven systems
Databases and search
  • PostgreSQL, MongoDB
  • Redis (caching)
  • Elasticsearch (search)
  • RabbitMQ, Kafka, SQS
  • CQRS patterns
Third-party APIs
  • Amadeus, Sabre, Travelport
  • Skyscanner, Expedia API
  • Booking.com API
  • HotelBeds, direct hotel APIs
  • Channel managers
Infrastructure and monitoring
  • AWS, GCP, Azure
  • CDN (CloudFront, Cloudflare)
  • Stripe, Adyen, PayPal
  • DataDog, New Relic, Sentry
  • PagerDuty for alerts

How it works

1

Month 1: Discovery and integration assessment

Weeks 1-4

Audit current integrations and performance, identify bottlenecks in search/booking flow, review supplier APIs and data quality, quick wins (caching, query optimization), define key metrics and SLA

2

Months 2-3: Core optimization

Weeks 5-12

Search performance optimization, booking flow improvements, API integration standardization, payment processing optimization, mobile experience improvements

3

Months 4-6: Advanced features and scaling

Weeks 13-24

Dynamic pricing algorithms, personalization and recommendations, multi-channel distribution, operations dashboard and tools, team training and documentation

Results you can expect

Performance improvements
  • Search: reduced from 5-10s to <2s (3-5x faster)
  • Booking completion: from 60% to 85%
  • API reliability: from 95% to 99.5%
  • Mobile conversion: 2x improvement
  • Infrastructure costs: reduced by 30-50%
Business impact
  • 20-40% increase in conversion
  • 30-50% reduction in booking abandonment
  • 15-25% improvement in average booking value
  • Faster time to market for new suppliers
  • Reduced customer support volume (automation)
Technical maturity
  • Reliable third-party API integration
  • Production-grade monitoring and alerts
  • Automated testing and deployment
  • Disaster recovery and high availability
  • Clear documentation and guides

Who this is for

Pre-Seed/Seed stage
Building first version of travel platform, MVP for niche travel market, direct booking engine for hotels/tours.
Series A
Scaling booking volume, integrating with multiple suppliers, developing mobile app.
Series A+ and scaling
International expansion, complex pricing and inventory, corporate travel management.

Pricing

Suitable packages for Travel Tech companies

Contract Length:

Most popular

Growth CTO

10 hours per week, 40 hours per month

Post-Seed to Series A startups actively building product and team (3 to 10 engineers).

  • Weekly call with founders (1 hour)
  • Bi-weekly sprint reviews with the team
  • Active hiring involvement: sourcing, interviews, offers, onboarding
  • Product architecture and technical roadmap ownership
  • Emergency availability for critical situations
  • Slack support (24-hour response time)

Package price

$6,000per month

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Frequently asked questions

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Fractional CTO for TravelTech - Anton Golosnichenko - Fractional CTO