Stari Jasen Guest Guide

A bilingual digital concierge for rural Serbian accommodations, built for guests, loved by hosts.

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Inspiration

Rural accommodations in Serbia lose hours every week answering the same guest questions: what's the WiFi password, what time is check-out, how do I get to the viewpoint, where does the boat tour leave from?

Stari Jasen Uvac is a real 3-star guest house located 500 meters from Uvac Canyon — one of Serbia's most spectacular nature reserves. The host, Danijel, has a 4.94/5 rating on Airbnb and a 9.6/10 on Booking.com, largely because of his personal attention to guests. But that hospitality takes time.

International guests — English and German speakers are common at this property — arrive without any local guide and rely entirely on the host for every detail. I wanted to build something that gives Danijel his time back, while giving guests an even better experience.

What it does

Stari Jasen Guest Guide is a mobile-first, bilingual (Serbian / English) digital guest companion — accessible by QR code printed at reception.

It has 5 tabs:

Stay — Check-in/check-out times, house rules accordion, and a tap-to-reveal WiFi card.

Surroundings — A curated guide to 6 nearby attractions in Uvac Special Nature Reserve: Molitva viewpoint (500m walk), Uvac Canyon boat tour, Ice Cave, Markova Ravan camp, Pešter Plateau, and Žari Ski Resort. Each card shows distance, description, and a collapsible "Host tip" with insider advice.

Activities — Quick-reference cards for hiking, boat tours, fishing, griffon vulture birdwatching, BBQ, and nature photography.

Contact — Tappable phone, email, and WhatsApp links, Google Maps directions, emergency number, and one-tap buttons to Airbnb and Booking.com listings.

Reviews — A star rating widget and feedback form with an animated thank-you response.

A single tap on the SR / EN toggle switches the entire app language instantly — all content lives in separate JSON translation objects, so nothing is ever mixed.

How we built it

The entire app was built using MeDo through a single, structured prompt — no manual coding.

The prompt described the property in detail (real location, real host, real attractions with accurate distances), specified the 5-tab mobile layout, defined the bilingual architecture (two separate JSON objects: translations.sr and translations.en — no mixed strings), and gave design direction: mobile-first, warm earth tones, rustic-but-clean aesthetic matching the Uvac natural environment.

MeDo generated the full React + Tailwind CSS app including component architecture, state management for the language toggle, the accordion and collapsible tip interactions, the WiFi reveal mechanism, and all functional links (tel:, mailto:, WhatsApp wa.me, Google Maps, external booking platforms).

Multi-turn chat was used to refine specific behaviors: ensuring the language switcher re-rendered the full app, polishing the attraction card layout, and verifying all placeholder fields were clearly marked for the host to update.

Challenges we ran into

The biggest challenge was the bilingual architecture. A naive implementation would mix Serbian and English strings throughout the components — readable to no one and unmaintainable. Getting MeDo to adopt a clean separation (two complete JSON translation objects, a single language state at the root, and full re-render on toggle) required a precise prompt and one round of multi-turn refinement.

The second challenge was balancing real data with privacy. The property has real contact details, but publishing them in a public hackathon submission isn't appropriate without the host's consent. The solution was to use clearly labeled [placeholder] fields throughout — so the app demonstrates the full structure and UX while leaving sensitive data for the host to fill in privately.

Finally, crafting accurate hyperlocal content — correct distances, practical tips for each attraction, realistic house rules — required research across Booking.com, Airbnb, and the official Sjenica Tourism Organization website. MeDo handled the structure; the content accuracy came from real sources.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The app is built around a real property with a real problem — not a generic demo. Stari Jasen Uvac is a working accommodation with hundreds of real guest reviews. The content reflects actual distances, actual attractions, and the actual experience of staying there.

The bilingual implementation is clean and scalable. Adding a third language (German, for example — German speakers are among the most common foreign guests) would require only adding a translations.de object and a third toggle button.

The QR-code delivery model means zero friction for the guest — no app store, no account, no download. Just a QR code on a card at reception.

And the entire thing was built without writing a single line of code.

What we learned

Prompt quality is everything. A vague prompt like "build a guest info app" produces a generic result. A precise prompt that specifies the property, the guests, the content structure, the language architecture, and the design direction produces something genuinely useful.

The most valuable skill when working with MeDo isn't knowing how to code — it's knowing exactly what you want to build and being able to articulate it clearly. Domain knowledge (understanding what a rural host actually needs, what international guests actually ask for) matters more than technical knowledge.

Multi-turn refinement is where MeDo's real power shows. The first generation gets you 80% there. The remaining 20% — the interaction details, the edge cases, the polish — comes from focused follow-up prompts.

What's next for Stari Jasen Guest Guide

The immediate next step is deploying this to the actual property — with Danijel's real WiFi credentials, contact details, and a printed QR code at reception.

Beyond Stari Jasen, the template is reusable. Every rural accommodation in the Uvac / Sjenica / Zlatibor region faces the same problem. A version of this app — with updated content, colors, and property details — could be deployed for any of them in under an hour using the same MeDo prompt approach.

Potential additions in future iterations:

  • Weather widget for Sjenica (relevant for hiking and boat tour planning)
  • Boat tour booking — direct integration with the Markova Ravan camp contact
  • PWA support — "Add to home screen" so guests have a permanent icon during their stay
  • German language as a third toggle option

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Updates

posted an update —

Update: Booking links + QR code generator added

Two new features are now live in the app:

Direct booking buttons The Contact tab now includes one-tap buttons linking directly to the property's real Airbnb and Booking.com listings, so guests can share the accommodation with friends or book a return visit without searching.

QR code generator Also on the Contact tab, guests (and the host) can now generate a QR code that links directly to this app. The QR code is downloadable and print-ready, Danijel can print it and place it at reception, on the welcome card, or anywhere in the property. One scan and new guests are instantly in.

This was the missing piece that closes the loop: the app is now fully self-distributing.

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posted an update —

Update: Real contact details now live

Great news — the property owner, Danijel, has given his full approval for this project and provided his actual contact information.

The app now shows:

  • Real phone number (tappable tel: link)
  • Real email address (tappable mailto: link)
  • Real WhatsApp link
  • Direct links to the actual Airbnb and Booking.com listings

This means the app is no longer a demo — it's a fully functional digital concierge for a real, operating accommodation with a 4.94/5 Airbnb rating and 9.6/10 on Booking.com.

Danijel plans to print a QR code for reception once the hackathon wraps up.

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