Inspiration
Holiday Extra was inspired by a real-world problem at airports where traditional parking systems fail to handle flight uncertainty. Fixed-duration parking doesn’t reflect how travel actually works when flights are delayed, rescheduled, or disrupted. We wanted to build a system where parking is directly connected to the journey itself, not just a fixed time slot.
What it does
Holiday Extra provides smart airport parking linked to live flight status. Users book parking when they travel, and the system dynamically adjusts parking duration based on delays or early arrivals. When delays are extended beyond limits, vehicles are safely moved into a secure storage system, ensuring smooth space management and continuous availability.
How we built it
We built the system around a structured database design including ParkingTypes, ParkingSpaces, ParkingSessions, UserFlights, and VehicleStorage. A backend logic layer manages allocation, flight monitoring, delay calculations, and seamless transitions between active parking, extended parking, and storage states.
Challenges we ran into
The biggest challenge was managing uncertainty in real-world flight behavior. Delays can cascade and disrupt parking availability, so we had to design a system that can dynamically extend sessions, reassign spaces, and safely transition vehicles into storage without breaking consistency or availability.
Accomplishments that we’re proud of
We’re proud of building an event-driven parking model that goes beyond fixed-time booking. By introducing state-based vehicle flow and linking parking directly to flight outcomes, we created a system that is more adaptive, realistic, and scalable for real airport environments.
What we learned
We learned that real-world systems cannot rely on fixed assumptions. Designing for unpredictability is essential. This project strengthened our understanding of state-driven architecture, relational data modeling, and how interconnected systems like parking, flights, and storage must operate in sync.
What’s next for Holiday Extra
Next, we aim to evolve Holiday Extra into a fully real-time intelligent platform with live airline API integration, automated vehicle recognition, predictive delay handling, and dynamic pricing. The goal is to build a fully autonomous airport parking ecosystem that adapts instantly to real-world travel conditions.