Agoda’s Codegoda Challenge: How A Global Coding Competition More Than Doubled Its Registrations

An online travel platform, Agoda has been working since 2005 to make travel joyful and hassle-free for its customers. Agoda’s attractive deals on accommodation, travel and activities have helped it spread to 31 markets in the last decade and a half. 

With reviews from 35 million+ travelers, Agoda is one of the most trusted online travel platforms in the world. It continues to shape the future of global travel by capitalizing on technology and a diverse community of 6,600 Agodans (employees) from 90 nationalities.

Agodans’ shared passion to go beyond what’s familiar and a willingness to learn equips Agoda to solve the world’s complex travel problems. Naturally, these problems would hit a firewall, if not for Agoda’s tech team - a group of 1,500+ individuals interspersing technology with travel to create a stress-free experience for customers. 

In this case study, we’ll take a look at how Agoda utilized a global coding competition to increase its penetration in the India market, found end-to-end tech support, and increased brand awareness. 

Dude, Where Are My Coders?

Agoda started its flagship programming competition Codegoda in 2019. In its first season, it received 400 participants. The number increased to 12,642 in 2021. And then Agoda hit a road bump. 

Agoda wanted to boost the competition's reach, while also increasing its penetration in India. 

But scaling up the competition and opening it to a wider audience came with its own set of challenges. Codeagoda happens to be one of the most intense programming challenges, which means it requires sturdy tech support.

Caught between a rock and a hard place, Agoda struggled to ensure that increased participation did not lead to a breakdown of the system. The solution? A full-stack platform experienced in conducting intensive, tech-based competitions with a large pool of participants. In other words, Unstop. 

Developing A Robust Program

After the team at Unstop understood Agoda’s problem, it knew the answer lay in leveraging the dual strength of Unstop’s community and tech expertise. Thus, in 2022, Unstop took on the mantle of conducting Codeagoda. 

Codeagoda is one of the biggest and most intensive online programming competitions. The competition allows only individual participation. And it comprises a single round - a 3-hour-long challenge where participants have to solve six different algorithmic problems. 

What it means for the platform hosting the competition, i.e. Unstop, is providing end-to-end support. In other words, Unstop had to make sure that irrespective of the number of registrations, the platform does not crash or face any technical glitch during the 3-hour period. 

Did Unstop deliver? The long answer is listed below. The short answer is Agoda conducted Codeagoda 2023 on Unstop. 

The only difference between the two seasons was that in 2023, the competition didn’t include a hiring interview. Because Agoda had already closed the hiring for its tech team. Yet, the registrations increased the second time around.

A New Language Of Success

Agoda is all set to conduct its next season of Codeagoda on Unstop. Because the outcome of the past seasons looks like this: 

• In 2022, its first year with Unstop, Codeagoda received 49K+ registrations - a jump of over 50% from 2021. Agoda had a practice of ringing a bell every time it achieved a new milestone. When Unstop took over Codeagoda, the bell never stopped ringing at Agoda. Talk about the sweet sound of success. 
• In 2022, Codeagoda on Unstop reached 49 lakh aspiring engineers and coders. In 2023, the number jumped to 69 lakh - an increase of 20 lakh. 
  
• Codeagoda on Unstop enabled Agoda to build a stronger connect with engineering students. In 2022, Agoda was also aiming to hire engineers and developers for its tech team through Codeagoda. Thus, the competition included an interview round. Since the participants (undergraduate and postgraduate engineers) had a golden opportunity to work with a leading travel platform like Agoda, Codeagoda received heavy participation. But in 2023, Agoda was only looking to connect with engineering students - and not hiring. Yet, there was an increase in the number of registrations. From 49,465 registrations in 2021, the number rose to 50,233 in 2022. 
• In both years, 2022 and 2023, Codeagoda surpassed its past registration records. And in both years, the competition passed without a glitch. Unstop was responsible for the entire execution, helping Agoda save considerable time and resources, and still, enjoy the benefits of increased registrations. 

With Codeagoda, Unstop and Agoda scripted a new language of success. If you too are looking for ways to revolutionize your hiring and branding strategies, reach out to coffee@unstop.com