A Next-Gen Airline Meets Next-Gen Automation
Akasa Air, one of India’s youngest and fastest-growing airlines, places strong emphasis on operational efficiency and crew comfort. While the airline rapidly scaled its operations, it continued to manage crew hotel bookings manually, leading to logistical inefficiencies and service inconsistencies.
Geelani Consultancy & Solutions partnered with Akasa Air to build a smart, automated hotel booking platform for crew members, along with a secure OTP-based check-in process — a first-of-its-kind feature in airline crew logistics automation.
This solution not only replicated our successful implementation for other airlines like Air India and Air India Express but also introduced enhanced verification and fallback workflows, making crew lodging smooth, secure, and traceable.
Goals
Automate hotel bookings for crew layovers
Reduce manual coordination with hotels
Provide secure room allocation via OTP
Send automated WhatsApp/email alerts to crew
Empower hotels with an interactive portal
Add fallback mechanism if issues arise during OTP verification
Provide a centralized admin dashboard for airline support staff
Key Features Delivered
Crew Data Integration
System fetches crew duty schedule from Akasa Air’s internal system
Detects date, time, airport location, and crew group size for hotel allocation
Automatically processes upcoming booking batches for selected hotels
Hotel Booking Automation
Structured booking emails sent automatically to assigned hotel partners
Hotel receives all required booking data with crew IDs and check-in details
If hotel has limited capacity, partial confirmations are auto-forwarded to the next available hotel
Hotel Partner Portal
Dashboard for hotel staff to:
Accept or reject booking requests
View upcoming check-ins
Track booking confirmation history
Integrated communication trail for hotel and airline team visibility
OTP-Based Crew Check-In (New Feature)
How It Works:
Crew arrives at hotel and shares their Staff ID at the reception.
Hotel staff logs into the Hotel Portal and selects “Confirm Check-In”.
System verifies the booking and sends a unique OTP to the crew member via WhatsApp.
Crew shares the OTP with the hotel receptionist.
Upon successful verification, the system marks the check-in as confirmed, and the room is allotted.
In Case of Issues:
If the crew member does not receive the OTP, hotel staff can click on “Issue with OTP”.
A form opens where the staff selects the type of issue (e.g., network delay, number mismatch).
Once submitted, the room is allotted manually and the incident is logged for reporting.
This ensures:
Secure access to accommodations
Prevents unauthorized room allotments
Smooth user experience, even with network delays
All check-in attempts and fallbacks are logged for audit
Alerts & Communication
Crew receives booking alerts via WhatsApp and Email
Notifications include:
Hotel name and address
Check-in date/time
OTP code for verification
Room number once checked-in
Hotel and crew communication logs are synced with the admin dashboard
Admin Dashboard for Akasa Port Support Staff
View all crew bookings (confirmed, pending, fallback)
OTP verification logs
Manually override bookings if needed
Trigger re-send OTP or assist hotel teams remotely
Track crew feedback after stay
Feedback System
After checkout, crew receives a WhatsApp link to submit feedback
Rating system for hotel cleanliness, staff behavior, and comfort
Optional comments section for quality improvement
Feedback stored in hotel performance dashboard for the airline
Business Impact
Reduced manual booking operations by 90%
Ensured 100% verified check-ins through OTP
Improved transparency between crew, airline, and hotel
Hotel performance now measurable and reportable
Better crew experience with real-time alerts and fallback workflows
Significantly fewer missed bookings or room misallocations
Technologies Used
Backend:
Odoo ERP (v16) – Customized modules for crew logistics and hotel communication
Python – Logic for OTP generation, crew validation, and fallback handling
PostgreSQL – Storing booking, check-in, and alert data
Scheduler/Cron Jobs – Periodic booking processing and reminder dispatch
Frontend:
Figma – For designing the crew experience, hotel UI, and fallback forms
HTML5, Bootstrap, JavaScript – Responsive and accessible hotel portals and staff dashboards
Communication & Alerts:
WhatsApp Business API – OTPs, alerts, and feedback links
Email SMTP – Structured booking confirmation and updates
Error Logging Engine – Captures and classifies issues with check-ins or OTP delivery
🚀 Conclusion
This project showcases how Geelani Consultancy & Solutions blends automation, security, and seamless communication to support the evolving needs of modern aviation logistics. The OTP-based check-in is now setting a new standard for secure and traceable crew accommodation.