What if the eight-hour gap between your 7 AM red-eye and 3 PM hotel check-in didn't have to be a caffeine marathon? That's the problem software engineer turned founder Jared Lerner of Nappr set out to solve, first with nap shops, then a consumer hosting pivot, and finally, a hotel marketplace that's now pacing at approximately 250 bookings a month.
On the latest episode of SaaS That App: Building B2B Web Applications, Jared walked through the winding path from personal pain point to a growing, win-win platform for travelers and hotels.
From Sleep Struggle to Market Opportunity
Jared's story starts with his own sleep issues, especially while traveling. The idea was simple: people work and live better when they're rested. In 2014, he launched Nappr with a brick-and-mortar membership model: physical spaces where anyone could drop in and nap.
After three years, he pivoted to a consumer hosting model. Then the pandemic forced a reset. In 2023, Nappr relaunched as a hotel marketplace focused on short-term day use, the exact use case that countless travelers hack around by booking extra nights they don't really use.
That focus proved sticky. Hotels often have a 9 AM to 6 PM vacancy window because about 30% of guests check out early and 30% check in late. If you can make those idle rooms bookable in small blocks, say 8-2 or 10-2, everyone wins.
Why Hotels Said “Yes”
Convincing hotels to break out of the overnight-only mindset sounds hard. In practice, Jared says, it wasn't. Lead with new revenue, keep logistics light, and remove risk. Nappr charges a commission only when a booking happens, so properties can list inventory without any fixed cost. Operationally, it's manageable: housekeeping can prep a day-use room as bookings come in. And because pricing and time blocks are set by the hotel, they can protect their overnight yield while monetizing daytime vacancy.
Inventory flows in two ways:
- Direct-to-Hotel via a portal: Properties add/remove blocks and rates in real time.
- Aggregation through partners: Nappr also pulls existing day-use inventory through partner APIs.
On the confirmation side, the system syncs bookings back, and the front desk receives an email. It's simple, predictable, and cheap for them to operate.
A Booking Flow Designed for the Exhausted
Nappr's north star is speed. The booking flow is intentionally friction-free: create an account, search like any OTA, book in around 30 seconds, and pay at the hotel. That last step matters.
The UX also reflects real travel chaos: if you land late, you can still book a block that's already started. That kind of flexibility is exactly what traditional OTAs don't offer.
Who uses it? A lot of travelers with layovers, red-eyes, or meetings between flights, roughly 40-50% of use cases. Bookings skew morning blocks, and the audience is about two-thirds male today, with female usage rising.
Lightweight Tech That Scales the Essentials
On the product side, Nappr runs a lightweight stack: React Native for web and mobile apps, mostly JavaScript on the back end, plus Java (Android) and Objective-C (iOS) in the mix. With a seven-person remote team, they've prioritized speed over ceremony. Jared still jumps into the front end and even handles live support, responding to chat within 30 seconds when he can.
He'll ship small UX fixes himself when he sees patterns in feedback, looping in devs for bigger items. Is that scalable to 50 people? Probably not. But at this stage, it's a superpower. The team is now exploring AI-powered suggestions and hotel pricing assistance, areas where a touch of intelligence could unlock more conversions and revenue without inflating the product.
The Business Model
Nappr is a marketplace, not a SaaS subscription. Hotels list for free, set their own day-use blocks and rates, and pay only a commission when Nappr generates a booking. Because hotels control pricing and availability, they can capture incremental revenue without cannibalizing overnights.
For travelers, day blocks are cheaper than an overnight and far more flexible. For Nappr, commission economics scale as network effects kick in.
That flywheel is starting to spin: after launching with 5-10 hotels, Nappr brought on a new CMO in December. This month, the platform is pacing 250 bookings with 10–20k monthly visitors, and Jared's eyeing 1K+ bookings per month on the horizon as inventory deepens.
Final Thoughts
Nappr's culture mirrors its product: flexible, human, and refreshingly Type-B. The team is remote, naps are encouraged, and weekends aren't a stealth on-call rotation. The brand doesn't take itself too seriously either, rolling a branded bed around Manhattan to the Brooklyn Bridge, City Hall, and Washington Square Park made for a memorable stunt and a flood of UGC. It's playful marketing with a point: rest is normal, useful, and, yes, bookable.
Jared’s Background
Jared Lerner is the co-founder and CEO of Nappr, a tech-driven platform revolutionizing how travelers book short-term hotel stays for rest and relaxation. With a background in software engineering and startup culture, Jared combined his technical expertise with his personal experience dealing with sleep challenges to create an innovative marketplace solution. After pivoting from a brick-and-mortar concept in 2014 to the current hotel marketplace model, he has successfully built a platform that connects tired travelers with available hotel rooms during off-peak hours. Under his leadership, Nappr has grown to serve hundreds of monthly users while maintaining a strong focus on company culture and work-life balance.
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