SaffronStays, launches its official consumer app on the App Store and Google Play, opening to every guest for the first time. The launch is a deliberate bet on the part of the business growing fastest: the families who come back.
SaffronStays is on track to grow about 35-40% this year. New families account for most of that growth, but returning guests matter more than their size suggests: they make up about a quarter of revenue, yet drive close to a third of the growth.
The more telling signal sits underneath. Repeat revenue is likely to surge around 50% this year, materially outpacing overall company growth. For a hospitality brand with no contractual lock-ins by guests, where every day starts at zero occupancy, a repeat base rising faster than the business points to a company expanding its customer base while steadily deepening loyalty, not simply replacing the guests it loses with the ones it wins.
The app is how SaffronStays intends to compound that loyalty. Around 65% of its bookings already come direct, and the company is positioning the app less as a booking channel than as a retention and lifetime-value platform: a single place that carries a family from discovery and booking through check-in, in-stay care, local recommendations and loyalty benefits.
Built for the whole journey
Moments. A reel-style feed of real villa highlights and listing footage: a visual-first alternative to scrolling search results.
Self Check-In. Guests upload IDs, pay the security deposit, and pre-book meals before arrival, so they walk straight in.
In-Stay Support. A direct line to the caretaking team, service requests, and property information from a single screen.
Red Alert. An in-stay button that reaches SaffronStays’ senior leadership and founders, with on-ground response the moment it’s pressed.
Offline Access. Because many homes sit in places like Jim Corbett, Mulshi, Alibaug or Tirthan Valley; booking and property details stay reachable even when the network isn’t.
Guests are already adopting it. In just 2-3 weeks since a public soft launch, the app has crossed 38.6K unique downloads and ranked among the Top 120 travel apps on the App Store, and rapidly rising. In recent weeks it has drawn around 10,500 monthly active users and close to 1,000 daily, and it now contributes roughly 7% of total revenue.
Every channel we use does a different job: online travel agencies help us reach new families, our website helps them book, and the app is where the relationship actually deepens. For a brand built on families coming back for birthdays, reunions, anniversaries and the small traditions in between, an app can’t just be another booking screen; it has to be the home for that relationship. That is what we have built, from discovery and booking to in-stay support, local recommendations and loyalty benefits. For us it is an investment in repeat visits and lifetime value, in serving families better over the years, not only in winning the next booking.
Deven Parulekar, Co-founder, SaffronStays
What’s Coming Next
SaffronStays has an active roadmap for the months ahead. Collaborative Wishlists will let groups shortlist and plan together. Stay Stamps will reward every booking with a digital stamp and a shareable postcard. A Personalised Home Feed will surface recommendations shaped by a guest’s preferences over time. An AI Itinerary Planner will build full trip plans around a guest’s dates and chosen property, covering dining, experiences, and activities. And a dedicated Travel Guide for each location is in development.
Our ambition goes beyond stays and bookings. We want to own the family and togetherness space, to be part of how people spend time together once they arrive, not just how they get there. Some of what’s coming, including semi-digital game features built for the villa, is designed for exactly that: turning a stay into shared time families remember.
Sarang Purandare, Chief Product and Technology Officer, SaffronStays
