Introduction
Palmetto Dunes, a destination resort offering vacation rentals, golf, activities, dining, and marina experiences, wanted a more cohesive digital experience for its guests. Working with Gallus Golf as the app platform provider, Endertech helped reimagine the Palmetto Dunes mobile app and designed the middleware and integrations needed to connect reservations, activities, access control, and messaging into a single guest journey.
Through a structured planning phase and a subsequent development engagement, Endertech translated a long feature wish list into technical blueprints, then into a working middleware layer, Gallus CMS customizations, and admin tools to support a modern hospitality app.
Client Context
Palmetto Dunes already had a Gallus-based mobile app focused on golf and basic resort information. As the resort’s operations and digital touchpoints grew, so did the need to consolidate more of the guest experience into that app, including:
Vacation rental information and check-in details
Booked activities and on-resort experiences
Door and access codes for rental units
Targeted reminders and notifications tied to specific reservations and activities
The existing Gallus app and CMS alone did not provide the design flexibility, data integrations, or guest-specific logic that Palmetto Dunes and Gallus envisioned. They needed a technical partner to bridge multiple systems and turn a concept into an implementable, maintainable solution.
The Challenge
The project centered on several interrelated challenges:
Unifying data across multiple systems. Guest information, reservations, activities, and access codes lived in separate third-party platforms including Inntopia, Dormakaba, Mobiniti, and Gallus CMS. The app needed a single, coherent view for each guest.
Improving the guest journey. Guests should be able to log in, see their vacation rental details and booked activities, access their door code when it is ready, and receive timely reminders and updates, all in one branded app experience.
Reducing manual staff work. Staff were heavily involved in distributing access codes and answering basic “when and where” questions. A more self-service app experience promised to reduce repetitive contacts.
Enabling targeted push and SMS messaging. Marketing and operations teams wanted to send reservations- and activity-aware notifications via push and SMS, targeted by property, location, or activity category.
Handling evolving upstream APIs and data sources. Activity and reservation data came from different providers and endpoints, with changes over time that the system needed to accommodate.
The Opportunity
By solving these challenges, Palmetto Dunes and Gallus Golf aimed to create an end-to-end digital companion for resort guests. The envisioned solution would:
Give guests mobile access to their rentals, activities, and unit access information
Provide a branded resort experience on top of the Gallus platform
Empower staff with better tools for messaging, data management, and troubleshooting
Create a technical foundation for future hospitality features without rewriting core systems
Endertech’s Role
Endertech served as a strategic technical partner from early planning through implementation. Our responsibilities included:
Leading a hospitality app planning phase, producing detailed wireframes and technical documentation for the guest experience and underlying architecture
Running a dedicated planning effort for Gallus CMS and front-end changes based on provided Figma designs
Designing and implementing a middleware layer to normalize data and communications across Inntopia, Dormakaba, Mobiniti, and Gallus CMS
Developing Gallus CMS custom modules and app pages for login, 2FA, rentals, activities, and support
Implementing integrations, imports, logging, admin tools, and deployment scaffolding needed to operate the system
Our Approach
1. Planning Phase: From Vision to Blueprints
Palmetto Dunes and Gallus Golf provided an extensive list of desired features ranging from login and reservations to resort maps, support tools, and notifications. Endertech structured a planning phase to turn this into actionable design and architecture.
Key planning deliverables included:
Wireframes for core guest flows: login and authentication, landing and home pages, vacation rental details, activity lists and details, general resort info, maps, and support pages.
Branded design direction layered on top of the wireframes, aligning the new app experience with Palmetto Dunes’ visual identity.
Technical architecture documentation defining user management, identity correlation with Inntopia, Gallus CMS, and Dormakaba, notification logic, CMS integration, resort map strategy, and support request handling.
Feature grouping and prioritization to define a clear version-one scope, estimates, and a development proposal.
The result was a shared understanding between Palmetto Dunes, Gallus Golf, and Endertech of how the guest app should behave and what infrastructure would be needed to support it.
2. Gallus CMS and Front-End Design Planning
Gallus Golf also engaged Endertech to analyze Figma designs for new app layouts and CMS capabilities. This focused on how Gallus CMS editors could control the app’s look and navigation.
Endertech documented how to implement:
Branded splash, welcome, and permissions screens
Login and 2FA pages (both branded and unbranded variants)
Configurable home pages, account pages, and “My rentals” and “My activities” sections
Footer menus, folders, and sub-pages managed from the CMS
Manager tools for onboarding flows, style pages, custom CSS, and feature flags
This planning gave Gallus a concrete technical path for extending their CMS and app framework to support Palmetto Dunes and future clients with similar needs.
3. Development Phase: Middleware and Integrations
With planning complete, Endertech moved into implementation. The development proposal and project backlog defined a middleware-driven architecture: a central service that connects third-party systems, manages guest-specific data, and exposes a clean API to the Gallus-based app.
We set up development scaffolding with a dedicated code repository, staging environment, backend framework, and deployment workflows, then iterated through epics for reservations, activities, authentication, notifications, access codes, and Gallus CMS integration.
What We Delivered
Middleware as the Central Integration Layer
Endertech implemented an administrative middleware application to act as the hub between Inntopia, Dormakaba, Mobiniti, and Gallus CMS. The middleware is responsible for:
Data normalization and storage for reservations, activities, and related metadata so the app can present a consistent view regardless of source system.
API integrations with Inntopia for lodging and activities, Dormakaba for door/access codes, Mobiniti for SMS messaging, and Gallus CMS for push notifications and app configuration.
Logging of requests and responses to each external system, improving visibility and debugging for operations teams.
Admin roles and CRUD interfaces for properties, units, reservations, activities, and message definitions.
This architecture separates business rules and data orchestration from the mobile client, making the system more maintainable and adaptable as external APIs evolve.
Guest Authentication and 2FA
To respect privacy and protect guest data, the system requires authentication before exposing personal reservation and activity details. Endertech implemented middleware-based authentication that:
Authenticates users by email address or phone number
Generates and tracks time-bound two-factor authentication codes
Delivers codes via email or SMS
Provides clear error states and retries when codes are invalid
The Gallus app presents branded login and 2FA screens, while the middleware manages the underlying verification flows and access control logic.
Vacation Rentals Experience
For vacation rentals, the goal was to give guests a clear, self-service view of their stays. Endertech delivered:
Data structures for properties, units, and reservations managed in the middleware
Admin tools to import, update, and export property and unit data
APIs to retrieve a guest’s past and future lodgings from Inntopia and present them in the app
Reservation filtering and search in the admin UI to quickly locate bookings and support guest inquiries
On the front end, authenticated guests can view their booked rentals under a dedicated “Your Vacation Rental” section, with details sourced from Inntopia and enriched by resort-managed content via Gallus CMS.
Activities and Resort Experiences
Activities are a major part of the Palmetto Dunes experience, from golf and tennis to marina outings and dining. To support this, Endertech:
Defined entities for activities, locations, lines of business, and categories used for display and message targeting
Implemented import and synchronization commands to pull booked activities and events from Inntopia and related providers
Filtered and formatted activity information into consistent, app-ready objects
Enabled guests to see past and upcoming activities in a “Your Activities” section
The system also maps activities to points of interest on an interactive resort map, so guests can quickly understand where each experience takes place.
Door and Access Code Integration
One of the more sensitive and operationally important flows was delivering unit access information to guests. Endertech integrated the middleware with Dormakaba so that:
Reservations from Inntopia can be associated with access control data
Authorized staff can generate and view unit access codes through admin tools
The middleware can provide the most relevant code for a reservation to surface within the guest app
The guest-facing goal is simple: once authenticated and when the unit is ready, a guest can open the app and find their current access information without calling the front desk. Behind the scenes, the middleware coordinates with Dormakaba and logs interactions to support reliable operations and troubleshooting.
Targeted Push and SMS Notifications
To keep guests informed and engaged, Endertech implemented a notification engine that works across push and SMS channels. Within the middleware and Gallus CMS, admins can:
Define scheduled messages linked to reservation or activity timing
Target notifications by property, location type, activity category, and similar attributes
Compose messages with a rich-text editor
Send real-time operational alerts when urgent issues arise
Clone existing messages to speed up drafting of recurring communications
Under the hood, the middleware schedules SMS delivery via Mobiniti and push delivery via the Gallus CMS API. Messages can deep-link to specific app pages, helping guests move from notification to action in one tap.
Gallus CMS and App UX Enhancements
Endertech extended the Gallus CMS and front end to support the new hospitality experience while preserving Gallus’s role as the core app platform. Enhancements included:
Custom modules and pages for login, 2FA, rentals, and activities
A configurable footer navigation with icons and internal routing
App editor controls to assign menu items and icons for key sections like “Your Vacation Rental” and “Your Activities”
Support pages and reporting flows for guest issues, including text-based contact options and forms
Embedded pages and booking links so guests can access full property or activity details and make new bookings within a web view
These changes gave Palmetto Dunes and Gallus more flexibility to design the guest experience and adjust content and navigation without redeploying the entire app.
Operations, Deployment, and Resilience
Beyond the visible features, Endertech handled critical operational aspects:
Setting up repositories, staging environments, and backend frameworks for the middleware and app
Defining database migrations and entity structures for reservations, activities, access codes, and messaging
Implementing scheduled import and sync processes to keep data current
Logging integration traffic and authentication activity to support monitoring and debugging
Adapting to upstream changes such as new endpoints or data formats from activity providers
This focus on operations means the system is not just feature-complete but also supportable in day-to-day use.
Complexity Handled
This project required Endertech to manage several layers of real-world complexity:
Coordinating multiple third-party systems with different authentication schemes, data models, and reliability profiles
Designing a middleware architecture that can authenticate users, correlate identity across systems, and keep local data synchronized
Implementing phone- and email-based 2FA flows that are user-friendly while protecting guest information
Building data import pipelines robust enough to handle changing endpoints and canceled or updated events
Extending a third-party CMS and app platform (Gallus) while respecting its constraints and multi-tenant future
Balancing security and usability for sensitive features like unit access codes and personal reservation data
Results and Business Value
While formal post-launch metrics are not available in the provided materials, the project achieved several important outcomes:
Clear technical and visual blueprints for a hospitality-focused guest app, enabling confident scoping and estimation of development work.
A centralized middleware foundation that unifies reservations, activities, access codes, and messaging across Inntopia, Dormakaba, Mobiniti, and Gallus CMS.
Richer guest-facing experiences planned and implemented, including “Your Vacation Rental”, “Your Activities”, interactive resort map views, and embedded booking pages.
Enhanced staff tools for managing properties, units, reservations, activities, and communications from a single admin interface.
A more flexible Gallus-based app with branded layouts, configurable navigation, and CMS-driven content and design controls.
Together, these elements position Palmetto Dunes and Gallus Golf to offer guests a more connected stay and to expand hospitality capabilities on the Gallus platform over time.
Why This Work Matters
This project demonstrates how Endertech helps hospitality and resort operations go beyond off-the-shelf apps. By introducing a dedicated middleware layer, carefully planned integrations, and extensible CMS features, we turned a complex systems landscape into a coherent guest experience and an operationally manageable platform.
For organizations that rely on multiple SaaS and legacy systems, this approach shows a practical path to:
Unify data and identity across vendors
Add hospitality- or resort-specific logic without rewriting core platforms
Give internal teams better visibility and control over guest communications
Create a solid foundation for future digital enhancements
Related Services
Endertech applies similar thinking to other complex digital initiatives, including:
Custom hospitality and resort app development
Systems integration and middleware architecture
CMS and app platform extensions
Customer portal and self-service experiences
Ongoing hosting, support, and optimization
Have a similar hospitality, resort, or multi-system integration challenge? Endertech can help you design, build, and evolve the digital systems that support your guests and your operations.