StayFLO
A smart management tool designed to simplify life for PG and hostel owners.
0 -> 1 Project
Backstory
StayFLO began with a simple realisation: managing PGs and hostels is chaotic. Owners juggle tenants, payments, and staff with outdated processes that gives stress. Wanting to bring a change, I started building StayFLO – a digital solution to simplify their work and let them focus on growing their business.
The Problem
- PG and hostel owners struggle with dis-organised tenant and rent management, leading to inefficiencies and missed payments.
- Manual processes for staff coordination and expense tracking are time-consuming and prone to errors.
- Existing tools are either outdated or too complex, failing to cater to the unique needs of small property owners.
- Tenants don’t have any platform to raise complaints or view the records of their rent paid.
Solution
Built 2 mobile application ––
- PG/Hostel Owners AppAdopted by 100+ PG/Hostel Owners across Delhi NCR and Hyderabad region
- Tenants AppOver 1200 downloads for Tenants app with an average daily retention of 400 tenants
Process
User Interview ––
Talked to few PG owners thoroughly over their day-to-day problems faced while maintaining their properties.
Interview outputs were mixed.
Managing Staff
Sometimes when the caretaker goes to the hometown, we have to manage it and that becomes a bit hectic.
There are managers in my other properties and I manage one property by myself.
Our bed inventory is managed by the caretaker. He is the one writing all this down in the notebook.
I track pending payments by myself. I have a caretaker, a cook and a gatekeeper who are full time employees helping me.
We have left all things like tenants complaints or any requests to caretaker who manages all these things and he is with us for 5 years now. We trust him.
Rent Management Feature
We have given our caretaker a mobile phone and all the tenants are added on the whatsapp. Mostly the tenants are very professional and they are not late for rent. If someone fails to pay the rent, the caretaker sends them reminders on whatsapp.
Generally the rent is on time. But yeah if automatically rent reminder will be sent, it can be a good feature.
Automated rent reminder is a good option. Show the application then only we will see how it works.
Rent reminders along with the features like who is leaving which property, and who is coming. All these things will be really helpful as a lot of tenants are regularly coming and leaving the properties, we have to track the security deposit return and everything.
Personalized Tenant Relation
I use whatsapp group for sending announcements to all the tenants like if the cook is on leave some day, I send the message in the group.
As my PG is small, I know who is leaving and how many beds are now available.
I have a small PG of around 70 beds, from which 10-20 beds are always vacant. I generally know tenants by face. Majorly I know who has paid the rent and who has not as they send message of the screenshot on the whatsapp.
Property Management Challenge
Sometimes checkout issues are there. Many times I forget to send the pending amounts of the tenants who left and they are regularly calling for the same.
Sometimes when I am not available for like 2-3 days, there are a lot of management issues which arise.
Generally there is no issues as I am used to of it now. But as I have 4 properties to manage, it is quite tiring.
Although, I have a manager in all the properties but payments and all, I do track all by myself regularly.
Tenant Issue Resolution
Tenants generally go to the caretaker and he is the one solving all their problems and if he sees something out of his scope, he then calls me and then we send the expert for that particular complaint.
Tenants generally come to me for any complaints while during the day time. If I am not available, they can call me directly.
If there are some technician problems faced by tenants, they directly reach out to use via call or they come to use, we resolve them.
Competitors ––
Found some of the mobile applications over the google and apple stores which had something similar to this concept but 2 of them were almost similar to ours.
- Crib
- The application doesn’t have a free plan.
- Crib’s user interface provides no clear vision for the user of what exactly is to be done on the application.
- RentOK
- User Feedback – “The app is made by some kid who doesn’t know the UX”
- Shows fake PG Listings.
- Very difficult to use, not at all user friendly.
How Might We ––
How might we...
- simplify the user experience to prevent feature overwhelm while still offering powerful functionalities?
- prioritize features based on user needs and make advanced options accessible only when required?
- use visual hierarchy and content strategy to make the StayFLO experience feel focused and goal-oriented?
- integrate smart reminders and notifications to improve user engagement?
Design Goal...
Simplicity & Ease of Use
Ensure an intuitive and clutter-free interface that even non-tech-savvy PG owners can navigate effortlessly.
Freemium Application
Create the free tier in the application so that user can explore different features and then if they want they can upgrade to premium plan.
Clarity & Actionable Insights
Provide clear dashboard to help users track occupancy, finances, and maintenance requests at a glance.
Ensure that every screen leads users toward meaningful actions rather than just displaying information.
Seamless Collaboration
Enable smooth coordination between PG owners, staff, and tenants through intuitive communication channels.
Design ––
30+ Screens
Typography:
Used the modern and versatile sans-serif typeface, Inter, to give the application a clean and aesthetic look. Alongside, Inter offers a wide range of font weights and good letter spacing making it ideal for accessibility and usability.
Inter
Regular / Medium / Semibold / Bold
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1234567890
Color Scheme:
Primary
#0D7EE5
This blue tone was chosen for its trustworthy, calming, and professional appeal.
Secondary
#F3954F
The warm orange acts as a strong complementary accent to the blue.
Other Colors Used
Result
The application was well received in the market and over 15+ active PG owners started using the application.
After the thorough testing by the PG owners, they suggested few iterations on some major modules like Expenses, Collections and Tenants.
StayFLO
A smart management tool designed to simplify life for PG and hostel owners.
0 -> 1 Project
Backstory
StayFLO began with a simple realisation: managing PGs and hostels is chaotic. Owners juggle tenants, payments, and staff with outdated processes that gives stress. Wanting to bring a change, I started building StayFLO – a digital solution to simplify their work and let them focus on growing their business.
The Problem
- PG and hostel owners struggle with dis-organised tenant and rent management, leading to inefficiencies and missed payments.
- Manual processes for staff coordination and expense tracking are time-consuming and prone to errors.
- Existing tools are either outdated or too complex, failing to cater to the unique needs of small property owners.
- Tenants don’t have any platform to raise complaints or view the records of their rent paid.
Solution
Built 2 mobile application ––
- PG/Hostel Owners AppAdopted by 100+ PG/Hostel Owners across Delhi NCR and Hyderabad region
- Tenants AppOver 1200 downloads for Tenants app with an average daily retention of 400 tenants
Process
User Interview ––
Talked to few PG owners thoroughly over their day-to-day problems faced while maintaining their properties.
Interview outputs were mixed.
Managing Staff
Sometimes when the caretaker goes to the hometown, we have to manage it and that becomes a bit hectic.
There are managers in my other properties and I manage one property by myself.
Our bed inventory is managed by the caretaker. He is the one writing all this down in the notebook.
I track pending payments by myself. I have a caretaker, a cook and a gatekeeper who are full time employees helping me.
We have left all things like tenants complaints or any requests to caretaker who manages all these things and he is with us for 5 years now. We trust him.
Rent Management Feature
We have given our caretaker a mobile phone and all the tenants are added on the whatsapp. Mostly the tenants are very professional and they are not late for rent. If someone fails to pay the rent, the caretaker sends them reminders on whatsapp.
Generally the rent is on time. But yeah if automatically rent reminder will be sent, it can be a good feature.
Automated rent reminder is a good option. Show the application then only we will see how it works.
Rent reminders along with the features like who is leaving which property, and who is coming. All these things will be really helpful as a lot of tenants are regularly coming and leaving the properties, we have to track the security deposit return and everything.
Personalized Tenant Relation
I use whatsapp group for sending announcements to all the tenants like if the cook is on leave some day, I send the message in the group.
As my PG is small, I know who is leaving and how many beds are now available.
I have a small PG of around 70 beds, from which 10-20 beds are always vacant. I generally know tenants by face. Majorly I know who has paid the rent and who has not as they send message of the screenshot on the whatsapp.
Property Management Challenge
Sometimes checkout issues are there. Many times I forget to send the pending amounts of the tenants who left and they are regularly calling for the same.
Sometimes when I am not available for like 2-3 days, there are a lot of management issues which arise.
Generally there is no issues as I am used to of it now. But as I have 4 properties to manage, it is quite tiring.
Although, I have a manager in all the properties but payments and all, I do track all by myself regularly.
Tenant Issue Resolution
Tenants generally go to the caretaker and he is the one solving all their problems and if he sees something out of his scope, he then calls me and then we send the expert for that particular complaint.
Tenants generally come to me for any complaints while during the day time. If I am not available, they can call me directly.
If there are some technician problems faced by tenants, they directly reach out to use via call or they come to use, we resolve them.
Competitors ––
Found some of the mobile applications over the google and apple stores which had something similar to this concept but 2 of them were almost similar to ours.
- Crib
- The application doesn’t have a free plan.
- Crib’s user interface provides no clear vision for the user of what exactly is to be done on the application.
- RentOK
- User Feedback – “The app is made by some kid who doesn’t know the UX”
- Shows fake PG Listings.
- Very difficult to use, not at all user friendly.
How Might We ––
How might we...
- simplify the user experience to prevent feature overwhelm while still offering powerful functionalities?
- prioritize features based on user needs and make advanced options accessible only when required?
- use visual hierarchy and content strategy to make the StayFLO experience feel focused and goal-oriented?
- integrate smart reminders and notifications to improve user engagement?
Design Goal...
Simplicity & Ease of Use
Ensure an intuitive and clutter-free interface that even non-tech-savvy PG owners can navigate effortlessly.
Freemium Application
Create the free tier in the application so that user can explore different features and then if they want they can upgrade to premium plan.
Clarity & Actionable Insights
Provide clear dashboard to help users track occupancy, finances, and maintenance requests at a glance.
Ensure that every screen leads users toward meaningful actions rather than just displaying information.
Seamless Collaboration
Enable smooth coordination between PG owners, staff, and tenants through intuitive communication channels.
Design ––
30+ Screens
Typography:
Used the modern and versatile sans-serif typeface, Inter, to give the application a clean and aesthetic look. Alongside, Inter offers a wide range of font weights and good letter spacing making it ideal for accessibility and usability.
Inter
Regular / Medium / Semibold / Bold
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1234567890
Color Scheme:
Primary
#0D7EE5
This blue tone was chosen for its trustworthy, calming, and professional appeal.
Secondary
#F3954F
The warm orange acts as a strong complementary accent to the blue.
Other Colors Used
Result
The application was well received in the market and over 15+ active PG owners started using the application.
After the thorough testing by the PG owners, they suggested few iterations on some major modules like Expenses, Collections and Tenants.
StayFLO
A smart management tool designed to simplify life for PG and hostel owners.
0 → 1 Project
Backstory
StayFLO began with a simple realisation: managing PGs and hostels is chaotic. Owners juggle tenants, payments, and staff with outdated processes that gives stress. Wanting to bring a change, I started building StayFLO – a digital solution to simplify their work and let them focus on growing their business.
The Problem
- PG and hostel owners struggle with dis-organised tenant and rent management, leading to inefficiencies and missed payments.
- Manual processes for staff coordination and expense tracking are time-consuming and prone to errors.
- Existing tools are either outdated or too complex, failing to cater to the unique needs of small property owners.
- Tenants don’t have any platform to raise complaints or view the records of their rent paid.
Solution
Built 2 mobile application ––
- PG/Hostel Owners AppAdopted by 100+ PG/Hostel Owners across Delhi NCR and Hyderabad region
- Tenants AppOver 1200 downloads for Tenants app with an average daily retention of 400 tenants
Process
User Interview ––
Talked to few PG owners thoroughly over their day-to-day problems faced while maintaining their properties.
Interview outputs were mixed.
Managing Staff
Sometimes when the caretaker goes to the hometown, we have to manage it and that becomes a bit hectic.
There are managers in my other properties and I manage one property by myself.
Our bed inventory is managed by the caretaker. He is the one writing all this down in the notebook.
I track pending payments by myself. I have a caretaker, a cook and a gatekeeper who are full time employees helping me.
We have left all things like tenants complaints or any requests to caretaker who manages all these things and he is with us for 5 years now. We trust him.
Rent Management Feature
We have given our caretaker a mobile phone and all the tenants are added on the whatsapp. Mostly the tenants are very professional and they are not late for rent. If someone fails to pay the rent, the caretaker sends them reminders on whatsapp.
Generally the rent is on time. But yeah if automatically rent reminder will be sent, it can be a good feature.
Automated rent reminder is a good option. Show the application then only we will see how it works.
Rent reminders along with the features like who is leaving which property, and who is coming. All these things will be really helpful as a lot of tenants are regularly coming and leaving the properties, we have to track the security deposit return and everything.
Personalized Tenant Relation
I use whatsapp group for sending announcements to all the tenants like if the cook is on leave some day, I send the message in the group.
As my PG is small, I know who is leaving and how many beds are now available.
I have a small PG of around 70 beds, from which 10-20 beds are always vacant. I generally know tenants by face. Majorly I know who has paid the rent and who has not as they send message of the screenshot on the whatsapp.
Property Management Challenge
Sometimes checkout issues are there. Many times I forget to send the pending amounts of the tenants who left and they are regularly calling for the same.
Sometimes when I am not available for like 2-3 days, there are a lot of management issues which arise.
Generally there is no issues as I am used to of it now. But as I have 4 properties to manage, it is quite tiring.
Although, I have a manager in all the properties but payments and all, I do track all by myself regularly.
Tenant Issue Resolution
Tenants generally go to the caretaker and he is the one solving all their problems and if he sees something out of his scope, he then calls me and then we send the expert for that particular complaint.
Tenants generally come to me for any complaints while during the day time. If I am not available, they can call me directly.
If there are some technician problems faced by tenants, they directly reach out to use via call or they come to use, we resolve them.
Competitors ––
Found some of the mobile applications over the google and apple stores which had something similar to this concept but 2 of them were almost similar to ours.
- Crib
- The application doesn’t have a free plan.
- Crib’s user interface provides no clear vision for the user of what exactly is to be done on the application.
- RentOK
- User Feedback – “The app is made by some kid who doesn’t know the UX”
- Shows fake PG Listings.
- Very difficult to use, not at all user friendly.
How Might We ––
How might we...
- simplify the user experience to prevent feature overwhelm while still offering powerful functionalities?
- prioritize features based on user needs and make advanced options accessible only when required?
- use visual hierarchy and content strategy to make the StayFLO experience feel focused and goal-oriented?
- integrate smart reminders and notifications to improve user engagement?
Design Goal...
Simplicity & Ease of Use
Ensure an intuitive and clutter-free interface that even non-tech-savvy PG owners can navigate effortlessly.
Freemium Application
Create the free tier in the application so that user can explore different features and then if they want they can upgrade to premium plan.
Clarity & Actionable Insights
Provide clear dashboard to help users track occupancy, finances, and maintenance requests at a glance.
Ensure that every screen leads users toward meaningful actions rather than just displaying information.
Seamless Collaboration
Enable smooth coordination between PG owners, staff, and tenants through intuitive communication channels.
Design ––
30+ Screens
Typography:
Used the modern and versatile sans-serif typeface, Inter, to give the application a clean and aesthetic look. Alongside, Inter offers a wide range of font weights and good letter spacing making it ideal for accessibility and usability.
Inter
Regular / Medium / Semibold / Bold
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1234567890
Color Scheme:
Primary
#0D7EE5
This blue tone was chosen for its trustworthy, calming, and professional appeal.
Secondary
#F3954F
The warm orange acts as a strong complementary accent to the blue.
Other Colors Used
Result
The application was well received in the market and over 15+ active PG owners started using the application.
After the thorough testing by the PG owners, they suggested few iterations on some major modules like Expenses, Collections and Tenants.