CrashPadder is a global community that enables travellers to stay with like-minded people for a fair price, and enables hosts to earn cash from their extra space. It gives everyone a chance to meet new people without the cost of a hotel, or the discomfort of a hostel.

“Crashpadder.com is a glorious, utopian ideal borne out of a simple desire to travel around, without having to pay a kings ransom for a place to lay your head.

The idea for Crashpadder.com first presented itself to a young dragon slayer from the days of yore*. He would travel the country hither and thither, yonder and yonderer still, slaying dragons willy nilly and surprisingly (given the danger involved) was paid relatively little.

Then one night, as he slept valiantly – though uncomfortably – in a bush at the side of a road, the dragon slayer was visited by an astronaut from the future. Not knowing what an astronaut from the future would look like he assumed it was an angel -but that’s irrelevant to the rest of the story.”

CrashPadder was a large and pretty complex project, pulling together many technologies and areas of expertise. There are tens of thousands of lines of code powering the site, doing everything from the search algorithm, the booking process, and user registration process, to the embeddable JavaScript people can use to promote their rooms and the powerful statistics engine giving a breakdown of the site’s performance.
The design we kept pretty simple, with clear navigation and emphasis on usability. We also wrote a nifty little facebook app that allows people to promote their rooms there too.

We’re really proud of this one!