HPS (Hotel Price Scout)

This program is designed to notify hotel price managers of competitor price changes and display the discrepancies in a calendar overview. Additionally, a price thermometer is available to suggest price regulation with the average market in mind.

The P3-Project CS-21-SW-3-12 team develops the software.

Getting Started

To get a local copy up and running, follow the steps below.

Prerequisites

.NET SDK 5.0

Installation

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/KarmaKamikaze/HotelPriceScout.git

2. Navigate to the root folder of the HotelPriceScout project and run dotnet restore to install all dependencies

cd HotelPriceScout/HotelPriceScout && dotnet restore

3. Create an .xml file called mail_config.xml and fill in the necessary information in the following way:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
    <MailConfig>
        <SenderEmailAddress>SOFTWARE_EMAIL</SenderEmailAddress>
        <SenderPassword>SOFTWARE_PASSWORD</SenderPassword>
        <ReceiverEmailAddress>RECEIVER_ADDRESS</ReceiverEmailAddress>
        <ReceiverName>RECEIVER_NAME</ReceiverName>
    </MailConfig>
</configuration>

4. While in the root folder, start the server by running dotnet run

dotnet run

5. The site can be visited in a browser at the address localhost:5001

https://localhost:5001

Using the program

When the program is opened for the first time, the Settings page (pictured below) will appear.

The Settings page has the following functionality:

1. Changing the Margin value percent.

   1. This will change the program's sensitivity, i.e., how far the client's prices have to be from the average market price before it is flagged.

2. Changing the Amount of notifications.

   1. Allows the user to choose how many times a day (0-3) to notify of discrepancies between client prices and average market prices.

3. Changing the Notification time.

   1. Allows the user to change the time of day to receive the notification(s) from the program (if any).

4. Start the program with the green button labeled Start program.

   1. Clicking this will trigger a pop-up asking the user to continue to the Dashboard or stay on the Settings page.

5. After the Start program button is clicked and the program is running

   1. The green Start program button will disappear and be replaced with two smaller buttons labeled Stop program and Update program.
   2. Stop program will stop the scouting activities until the program is restarted.
   3. Update program has to be pressed whenever changes are made to the settings to bring them into effect.

6. The Dashboard button in the top-right corner is disabled until the Start program button is pressed. After this, the Dashboard button will redirect to the Dashboard page.

After navigating to the Dashboard page, either by clicking Go to dashboard in the pop-up triggered by starting the program or by clicking the Dashboard button in the top-right corner once the program is started, the interface will appear like the image below:

The Dashboard page has the following functionality:

1. Two arrow-shaped buttons change the month displayed (Maximum 3 months into the future and 0 into the past).

2. A dropdown menu to choose the room type to show prices for (1/2/4 adult(s)).

3. A dropdown menu to choose specific competing hotels; the average market price will be calculated based on the choices here.

4. An interactive calendar.

   1. The calendar will show basic information about each day (only the client's price and the average market price).
   2. To show more in-depth information, click on a day, and a new container will appear on the right side of the screen, including the prices of all selected competitors.

5. The Scout settings button in the top right corner.

   1. Will redirect to the Settings page.

License

Distributed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 License. See LICENSE for more information.

Contact

Project Link: https://github.com/KarmaKamikaze/HotelPriceScout