WanderLust – Full Stack Vacation Rental Platform

WanderLust is a full-stack web application inspired by Airbnb that allows users to discover unique places to stay, share their own properties, and connect with travelers through reviews. The platform provides a seamless experience for browsing vacation rentals, searching destinations, filtering listings by category, and viewing detailed information about each property.

Users can create an account, securely log in, and manage their own listings. Property owners can add new accommodations with images, descriptions, pricing, location details, and categories such as Mountains, Pools, Camping, Boats, Castles, Rooms, and more. They can also edit or remove their listings whenever needed, while authorization ensures that only the owner has permission to modify their properties.

Visitors can explore all available listings, search for destinations using keywords, filter results by category, and view complete property details before leaving ratings and reviews. Images are uploaded and managed using Cloudinary, providing reliable cloud storage and optimized media delivery.

The application follows the MVC architecture and implements secure authentication using Passport.js, session management with Express Session, and MongoDB Atlas for persistent data storage. Additional security features such as Helmet, rate limiting, input validation, and protected routes help create a secure and production-ready application.

Key Features

User authentication and secure session management
Create, edit, and delete property listings
Cloudinary image upload and storage
Search listings by destination or keyword
Category-based browsing (Mountains, Pools, Camping, Boats, Castles, etc.)
Reviews and ratings for listings
Responsive user interface built with Bootstrap
Secure backend with authentication, authorization, and validation

Tech Stack

Frontend: HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, JavaScript, EJS

Backend: Node.js, Express.js

Database: MongoDB Atlas, Mongoose

Authentication & Cloud Services: Passport.js, Express Session, Cloudinary, Multer

Building WanderLust helped me gain hands-on experience with RESTful APIs, MVC architecture, authentication and authorization, database relationships, cloud-based image management, and deploying secure full-stack applications. It strengthened my understanding of building scalable web applications while following industry-standard development practices.

Future Improvements

Booking system

Wishlist feature

Interactive maps

Payment integration

User profiles

Admin dashboard