TrueTravel

Framing the Problem

Imagine booking a flight and a hotel room, only to realize at checkout that you have been charged extra simply to sit next to your travel companion, access a step-free room, or store your essential medical supplies.

For the 1.3 billion people globally living with significant disabilities, travel is often not just stressful - it is financially penalizing. Low-cost airlines and major hotel groups frequently unbundle services aggressively. What they call "ancillary upgrades" are actually absolute non-negotiables for passengers with accessibility needs (e.g., companion adjacent seating, step-free wet rooms, round-the-clock door entry, and refrigeration for insulin or fluid medications).

These opaque fee structures rob travellers of their dignity, make comparing actual holiday costs nearly impossible, and result in an average hidden surcharge of £142 per booking.

Idea Explanation

Our project is TrueTravel - a beautiful, transparent, and gamified pricing unmasker that brings dignity back to travel planning.

TrueTravel protects travellers by doing three key things:

• The Dignity Matrix & Unmasker: We allow users to select their specific accessibility configurations upfront. The app dynamically calculates and unmasks the "True Cost" of the journey across multiple operators instantly, assigning letter grades (Grade A to F) to hold corporations accountable.

• The Dignity Guardian Assistant: Users can lock in their absolute "Non-Negotiables" (like guaranteed carer seating). If an operator charges extra for these basic human needs, our assistant flags it immediately.

• The "Hidden Gems" Treasure Chest: We know that seeing rising fees can be scary. To keep the experience positive and helpful, TrueTravel uncovers Hidden Gems - pointing users to free municipal transfer programs, charity travel grants, and accessible companion flight programs. This shifts the focus from anxiety to empowerment, making TrueTravel an asset that ethical airlines and hotels will actively want to invest in!

Implementation

TrueTravel is built as an immersive, highly responsive Single Page Application (SPA).

• The Frontend Interface: Built using HTML5, Tailwind CSS, and Lucide icons. We chose the premium Plus Jakarta Sans font and designed a glassmorphic, responsive cosmic UI that dynamically adapts between a starry Dark Cosmic Mode and a bright Light Sky Mode.

• Dynamic Math Engine: Implemented in vanilla JavaScript to instantly compute base fares plus accessibility upcharges for multiple operators (Ryanair, EasyJet, Wizz Air, Spirit, Frontier, Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, and Radisson) in real-time.

• Interactive Architectural Vector (SVG): On the hotel portal, we built a custom SVG "Hotel Windows Matrix." When users toggle different required features, the actual hotel windows light up and pulse, visually representing their room's safety setup.

• Gamification Core: To hook users, we created a dashboard where they earn Experience Points (XP) and rewards for verifying factual reviews and auditing hidden upcharges. This system is designed to allow partners to sponsor real-world discounts.

Our current prototype runs entirely in-memory for lightning-fast speeds. For production, the frontend will connect to a Firebase Firestore database to query live carrier APIs and secure verified community audits.

Challenges

As a two-person team (Lara and Tahira), we faced two massive hurdles:

• The Time Crunch & Multi-Asset Alignment: Designing custom vectors, balancing the physics of a moving airplane, and coordinating complex math on a tight schedule was stressful! We overcame this by staying organized, dividing tasks clearly, and building a modular codebase where features could be seamlessly integrated.

• The "Sued/Positive Spin" Challenge: Initially, we worried that exposing corporate markups might seem overly critical or scare off travellers. We solved this by introducing Hidden Gems and User Rewards. By gamifying compliance, we turned TrueTravel into a positive, forward-looking platform that encourages friendly competition among hotels to earn higher "Dignity Grades."

Accomplishments

We are incredibly proud of what we achieved in just 48 hours:

• Fostered True Accessibility: We went beyond basic colour contrast guidelines to build a platform specifically centred around the needs of neurodivergent, elderly, and physically challenged travellers.

• Mastered SVG & Micro-Interactions: We successfully built custom pilot mascot animations, twinkling starry skies, and the interactive hotel matrix.

• Gamification Mechanics: We designed a robust, clean levelling-up user dashboard that turns financial auditing into an exciting game.

Most importantly, we proved that transparency doesn't have to be boring - it can be beautiful, reassuring, and fun!

Next Steps

We have big dreams for the future of TrueTravel:

• Crowdsourced "Fact-Check" Database: We plan to hook our prototype up to a cloud database so travellers can upvote and verify whether hotel wet rooms or airport ramps are actually functional in real life.

• Real Rewards Integration: Partnering with progressive travel groups to let users redeem their earned "TrueTravel XP" for genuine travel discounts.

• AI Travel Buddy: Expanding "Sky," our pilot mascot, into an AI-powered conversational assistant to guide neurodivergent travellers through their itineraries step-by-step.