YIDANA-HOSTELS

Inspiration

During my time at the University of Ghana, I noticed that students struggle to find reliable hostels, compatible roommates, and manage payments, while hostel owners still rely on manual tracking and paperwork. We wanted to create a platform that simplifies student accommodation and helps hostel owners digitally manage their properties.

The idea was inspired by apps like Uber and Airbnb, combined with AI assistance, to make hostel living smarter, faster, and more transparent.

What it does

YIDANA HOSTELS is an all-in-one platform for students and hostel owners:

For students:

Browse hostels with photos, amenities, and prices Book rooms online with instant confirmation Find compatible roommates via smart matching algorithm Submit maintenance requests Make payments and track payment history Chat with an AI assistant 24/7 for guidance

For hostel owners:

Add and manage hostels with room details Approve or reject bookings Track payments and revenue automatically Handle leave requests and maintenance tasks Send announcements to residents

AI Assistant (Yidana):

Answers questions like “How do I book a room?” or “Find me compatible roommates” Available 24/7 for students and owners Uses three AI models: Claude 3 Haiku (fast), Claude 3 Sonnet (balanced), Claude 3 Opus (complex problem solving)

How we built it

Backend: Node.js, Express.js Database: MongoDB (Mongoose) Authentication: JWT (JSON Web Tokens) AI Assistant: Claude API (Anthropic) Emails: Nodemailer (Gmail) File Uploads: Multer Scheduling: Node-cron Security: Crypto, CORS Frontend: HTML, CSS, JavaScript (React optional if used)

We combined real-time hostel data with AI-powered assistance and a smart roommate matching algorithm to create a seamless experience.

Challenges we ran into

Integrating the AI assistant with live hostel data Designing a roommate matching algorithm that balances multiple student preferences (budget, habits, cleanliness, noise) Handling real-time booking updates and room availability Coordinating payment tracking, receipt generation, and notifications automatically

Accomplishments that we're proud of

First AI-integrated hostel management system in Ghana Fully automated booking, payment, and maintenance workflows Smart roommate matching with compatibility scoring Real-time dashboards for students, hostel owners, and administrators AI assistant providing 24/7 support for all users

What we learned

Bernice learnt how to deploy with github and render as well as using claude AI for fast code and build real world solutions in the quick and faster way, Victor learnt how to use claude AI to debug and use Claude AI API keys

What's next for YIDANA-HOSTELS

Mobile app development for iOS and Android More advanced AI features, like predictive maintenance alerts Expand to universities and real estate investors across Ghana Enhanced analytics and reporting dashboards for hostel owners and admins Integration of digital payment gateways for seamless transactions

Built With

• any
• cors-apis-&-ai-services:-claude-api-(anthropic)-for-ai-assistant-nodemailer-(gmail)-for-emails-scheduling-&-automation:-node-cron-for-recurring-tasks-and-notifications-platforms-&-deployment:-can-be-deployed-on-heroku
• css
• express.js-for-backend)-html
• hosting
• javascript-(frontend;-optional-react-for-ui)-database-&-storage:-mongodb-(with-mongoose-for-schema-modeling)-multer-(for-file-uploads)-authentication-&-security:-jwt-(json-web-tokens)-crypto
• javascript-(node.js
• node.js
• or
• vercel