How a guest-first mobile app helped a coliving brand turn browsing into bookings

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How a guest-first mobile app helped a coliving brand turn browsing into bookings

Mobile App

iOS

UX/UI Design

Development

A look at how we helped Nestly Living – a European coliving brand – turn its idea of flexible urban living into a sleek mobile app that makes finding a new home feel as simple as booking a weekend stay.

About the project

In modern cities people don’t just book hotels – they “try on” neighborhoods, lifestyles, and ways of living. Nestly Living runs a network of design-forward apartments for mid-term stays (from a few weeks to several months) and wanted to give guests a way to discover and book these homes directly from their phones.

The goal was to create a guest app that combines:

the emotional feel of “I’m moving into my new place”
with the clarity and speed of a classic booking flow.

Instead of sending PDFs, links and photos across messengers, Nestly wanted one mobile entry point where a guest can land, explore options, compare stays, and confirm a booking in a couple of minutes.

Challenge

Mid-term rentals sit somewhere between hotels and long-term leases. That creates its own friction:

Guests compare several cities and apartments at once and often feel overwhelmed.
Property details are scattered between emails, WhatsApp chats, and website pages.
Booking conditions (deposits, cancellation, what’s included) are not always clear on mobile.

Nestly wanted to:

Offer a clean, mobile-first booking flow that feels closer to hotel apps than to real-estate portals.
Give guests enough detail to confidently choose a place to live, not just a room for a night.
Keep the brand’s tone of voice — warm, trustworthy, human — across the entire journey.
Launch an app that could scale across cities and buildings without redesign each time.

Our Approach

We started from a simple question: what does “I found my place” look like on a phone screen?

From there, we designed the product as a single, continuous story:

Journey & Roles Alignment
We mapped the full journey from “I’m thinking about moving” to “I’ve booked a place” and identified three key moments: first impression, discovery & comparison, and deep dive into one property. These moments became three main screens: onboarding, search, rental.
UX and Visual Strategy
The app follows a calm, content-first layout with large imagery, generous spacing, and clear typography. We focused on:
- one primary action per screen (start, search, book),
- predictable patterns (search bar, cards, bottom navigation),
- and microcopy that sounds like a conversation, not a contract.

Mobile Architecture
We designed the app to work as a white-label shell: the same structure can support multiple brands or buildings by swapping content, colors, and assets, without breaking the UX.
Design System for Future Features
Buttons, cards, tags, icons, and spacing tokens were turned into a small but solid mobile design system so Nestly’s team can grow the app (filters, profiles, payments) without redesigning from scratch.
Every feature was designed not only for ease of use, but also to build trust, ensure transparency, and support operational clarity — three essentials for any hospitality brand that relies on direct bookings and returning guests.

Key Features

Emotional Onboarding
The first screen sells the feeling of “this could be my home”: a full-bleed cozy photo, one clear message, and a single Let’s start button. No extra choices, just a gentle entry into the product.
Personalized Search Home
A friendly greeting — “Hi, Julia” — plus a familiar search bar quickly set the context. “Best offers for you” and “Nearby stays” surface relevant options right away, without forcing guests into complex filters.
Rich property details
The property screen puts everything needed to decide on one page: imagery, “From $…” pricing, a short description, key highlights, and a list of available rooms. A persistent bottom bar with the price and Book now keeps the next step obvious at any moment.
Favourites & shortlist
A simple heart icon lets guests save and revisit options in a personal shortlist. It makes comparing places easier and supports slower, more thoughtful decision-making.
Designed for mid-term stays
Content and structure are tuned for living, not just overnight stays: focus on kitchen, workspace, and comfort over weeks or months. This aligns the app with the expectations of people who are actually moving in, not just passing through.
Automation Tools
Customizable email and SMS campaigns to promote listings within private networks.Promo and discount codes for early booking or returning guests.
Guest Notes and Insights
Owners can leave internal notes on guests, helping to maintain quality, track preferences, and personalize future stays.

Tech Stack

Frontend: React Native, TypeScript

Backend: Node.js, GraphQL API

Infrastructure: AWS, PostgreSQL

Integrations: Google Calendar, Stripe, analytics (Amplitude), push notifications (Firebase)

Design: Figma

Results

Mobile MVP launched in 3 months, then evolved into a scalable guest app used across all Nestly Living locations.

Time to book reduced by 35% thanks to a cleaner three-step flow from onboarding to confirmation
Share of direct bookings increased by 25%, as guests preferred the app over third-party platforms for repeat stays.
Support workload dropped by 20% because clear property details and policies reduced “just to clarify” questions from guests.

Why This Matters for Hospitality Brands

For colivings, serviced apartments, and extended-stay hotels, a guest app is no longer a “nice to have”. It’s the place where brand, operations, and guest expectations meet.

The Nestly Living mobile app shows how:

a focused, three-screen journey (onboarding → search → rental) can already remove friction from the booking process,
clear UI and copy reduce anxiety around price, conditions, and what’s actually included,
and a flexible design system lets the product grow with the business — new cities, new buildings, new features — without losing coherence.