Breathtaking luxury moments organized in an instant: ALIXEIGHT
Anyone who wants to experience something really special but doesn’t have time to organize it can now take advantage of a new service. ALIXEIGHT offers a unique experience, but marketing a new business is a challenge. Thanks to the support of Mindnow and an appealing website, ALIXEIGHT can now make their company visible and reach their target group.
“At the end of my vacation, I have to recover from planning the vacation! That can’t be right!” is a sentence I’ve heard quite often. But are there people who really enjoy doing this and do it well?
Yes, there are, and we at Mindnow know one of these people quite well: Alix from ALIXEIGHT. Alix has been involved in the hospitality scene for over 25 years and has already gained experience in event organization in her previous companies. Planning is her thing and on a grand scale. Alix is a true one-woman show who doesn’t waste time but gets to work. And it was precisely this quality that gave ALIXEIGHT the ground to grow.
When homeowners and travelers complement each other
Have you ever walked past magnificent houses and villas on vacation by the sea and wondered how you can leave such properties empty for 11 months of the year?
I’m a homeowner and offer privacy
Renting out second homes via platforms such as Booking and Airbnb is now common, but not the first choice for homeowners, especially for luxury properties. The marketing and organization are time-consuming, and the address is practically shared publicly. This is fine for a small city apartment, but less so for a recognizable property with a private beach and pool.
I’m a guest looking for privacy
On the other hand, some people want more privacy than a small Airbnb city apartment offers. People who are willing to invest a little more to enjoy a unique experience that is tailored to their needs.
ALIXEIGHT connects luxury properties and guests
In short, many homeowners only enjoy their property for one month a year and have to make sure it is looked after the rest of the time. On the other hand, some travelers are looking for privacy that common online platforms cannot provide. The needs of these groups of people could not complement each other better, but until now there have simply been no opportunities to connect them. Until now: Because ALIXEIGHT closes this gap.
Homeowners entrust ALIXEIGHT with the responsibility of finding suitable tenants for their property. ALIXEIGHT then not only ensures that guests receive accommodation that meets their exact requirements, but also offers them a comprehensive all-round service. From a personal concierge on site and private dinners with a star chef to various activities and adventures – everything your heart desires.
How we opened the first door
What began as a small idea became a reality at the beginning of February 2024, when ALIXEIGHT was officially founded as a sole proprietorship. It quickly became clear that we had to start with a website that we could later expand and extend as we saw fit. As we had already worked with Alix in the past, it was a joyful reunion – this time with a project close to her heart. To achieve maximum scalability, we quickly decided to implement the project with a headless Content Management System, namely Storyblok.
A Content Management System (CMS) is a software application that allows users to easily create, edit, manage, and publish digital content, usually through a user-friendly interface, without the need for extensive technical knowledge.
Section by Sara Mazzoli
Middle UI DesignerOur goal: Flexible and user-friendly
The main goal of the ALIXEIGHT project was to develop a very flexible and user-friendly website. This website should be able to be constantly updated without compromising the consistent and stylish look and feel of the brand. As ALIXEIGHT is growing rapidly, it was important that the website could keep up with the increase in luxury properties. We therefore needed to design a system that was easy to update without compromising on aesthetics or usability. The tight timeframe for the project also meant that we had to work quickly and efficiently.
What we discovered...
At the beginning of the project, we realized that it would be very helpful to create a collection of versatile building blocks for the user interface. These building blocks should be easy to customize and be able to manage different types of content such as videos, texts and images while maintaining the overall brand image. One challenge was to design these building blocks in such a way that they could be easily updated without the need to redesign each time content needed to be presented differently. This showed us how important flexibility and efficiency are when designing a website.
...and how we solved the problem.
We opted for Storyblok, which allows us to easily customize the building blocks of the user interface. With special settings, we can determine which elements such as buttons or images should be displayed. This gives ALIXEIGHT the flexibility needed. By focusing on a few, highly customizable building blocks, we were able to speed up the development process and ensure that users always have a consistently good experience. As a result, we have a simple and customized CMS that meets all of ALIXEIGHT’s needs and allows Alix to effortlessly maintain her website with its luxurious image.
Section by Sara Mazzoli
Middle UI DesignerSection by Salvatore Pratico
Junior Frontend DeveloperTechnological integration and architecture
We built the ALIXEIGHT website with a combination of cutting-edge technologies to create a seamless, efficient, and scalable digital solution. We used the Next.js framework for both the front-end and static page generation. Serverside Rendering and the Storyblok CMS turned out to be excellent choices.
Serverside Rendering for SEO
We took advantage of Next.js Serverside Rendering (SSR) capabilities, which improved performance and SEO. The server prepares the website and sends it to the browser before the user sees it. This makes the website fast and easy for search engines to find it.
For an SSR site like ALIXEIGHT, it’s crucial to pass as much information server-side as possible, both to be available for SEO purposes and because it is a faster method compared to CSR. The CSR method will still be used in this case to download very heavy videos and images that are unnecessary to have on the server.
Serverside vs. Clientside Rendering
The main difference between SSR and CSR is that with the former method, a site's contents are found by search engines. A site that operates with SSR (Next.js) allows you to make requests both on the server and on the client. All client-side requests will only start after all server-side requests have been completed and the page is mounted in the browser.
Optimized workflow, deployment, and security
The ALIXEIGHT website doesn’t require its own backend, as the CMS handles all backend complexities via its API. This approach has significantly reduced the development time.
The project benefited from an optimized workflow and a smooth deployment process. We used a strategy where our code is transferred to a Google server via a secure connection (SSH). Every time we make a change to the code and save it in a specific area (branch), this change is automatically transferred to the server and becomes active immediately. This means that updates and new functions are available quickly and without downtime. This system ensures a high level of reliability and security for the service. In addition, this process enables new changes to be regularly and quickly integrated into the project. This reduces the development time and improves the quality of the product. We ensure the security of our solution through regular checks and updates.
Storyblok is a headless Content Management System (CMS) that is suitable for web projects of any size. Find out more about Storyblok.
Personal insights
This project was both challenging and fulfilling for me. It was the third project with Storyblok that I had the opportunity to work on as a developer, and with each new project, I learned to understand and appreciate this platform better. ALIXEIGHT was a particular challenge for the whole team, as we had to plan, design, and develop the project in just 4 weeks. For those who don't know: That’s an extremely short period to start and complete a customized web project. The time pressure was therefore enormous. However, thanks to our experience with Storyblok from previous projects, we were able to meet this strict deadline and successfully complete the project.
Section by Salvatore Pratico
Junior Frontend Developer
The first product in just 4 weeks
The ideas for ALIXEIGHT were and still are extensive. However, the initial launch focused heavily on an MVP (Minimum Viable Product), the basic version of the product. Focusing only on the essentials allowed us to set and stick to a timeframe of just 4 weeks for the entire project concept, design, and development.
