Did Evolution Skip Student Hostels

Hey there! If you read one of my previous posts, “So What Now?”, you know I’ve been wrestling with a particular absurdity for a while.

Picture this: We live in the 21st century. We can summon a private car with a finger tap, track a pizza delivery, and book a flight to Durban using three different apps. But when it comes to booking a student hostel in Ghana?

did evolution skip student booking in ghana?

Seriously. You have platforms for booking anything from a cruise ship to a trotro, and the Airbnbs and TripAdvisors of the world have conquered every corner of the travel industry. So, why are we still sending students out into the heat to play a chaotic, manual game of “Hostel, Hostel, Who’s Got the Room?”

why do students have to walk around in search of hostels. are the resources not enough to curb this? is there even a problem here?

These are the questions I pondered for about a second, right before a thought hit me like a literal bag of bricks (maybe those bricks were meant for an unverified hostel, who knows?). The thought was: “Isn’t tech supposed to make our lives easier?”

The problem isn’t a resource problem; it’s a coordination problem desperately calling for a solution. So, instead of complaining about the gap, I decided to fill it.

The Name, The Sauce, The Year

First, I had to avoid the cringe.

I wasn’t going for a name filled with buzz words like hostel something or book that thing. something unique and oddly satisfying.

Say hello to Katalyma (it’s Greek for accommodation, and yes, it sounds way cooler than “HostelBooker Pro Max”).

Now, for the reality check:

It took a whole year! a whole bunch of supabase RLS violations, CSS nightmares because I usually focus on the PC view and not mobile(terrible thing to do), and existential dread…to make this a reality. It wasn’t just me, though; advice from some really woke people (you know who you are) pushed it in the right direction, especially when we figured out the tricky revenue model.

After cooking in private, I’m here, and the sauce is ready to be served! Hot!!! Katalyma is now officially in beta.

What’s Next: The Dev Log Series

To keep myself accountable and to show you exactly how messy this journey has been, I’ll be making a series on the whole development cycle of Katalyma and the problems I encountered (like figuring out how to implement group booking, still dealing with this).

If you believe in the dream of bringing Ghanaian student booking out of the Stone Age and into the 21st century, and want to support through advice or a push in the right direction or maybe you just want to see the behind-the-scenes chaos…..reach out.

Let’s make walking around in search of a hostel a bad memory.

Connect with me and let’s talk tech, hostels, or just life: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenn-osioh-85104827b