Every crew memberdeserves ahome base.
CrewNest is the first AI-powered marketplace built exclusively for airline crew. We connect pilots and flight attendants with verified crash pads, private rooms, and short-term housing near major U.S. airport hubs — because the people who keep the world connected deserve a real place to rest.
Crew housing is broken.
Every day, thousands of airline crew members face the same impossible choice: overpay for substandard housing, or take a gamble on unverified strangers from Facebook groups. The system was never built for them. So we are building one that is.
0
Verified listings on Facebook groups
Crew hunt through unmoderated posts with no photos, no reviews, and no way to verify who they are sending money to.
$1,500–2,500
Monthly crash pad cost in Miami
The most expensive hub market in the country, with zero price transparency and no standardized agreements.
72hrs
Average search time per crash pad
Scrolling through threads, DMing strangers, visiting questionable apartments — all while managing a flight schedule.
0%
Payment protection on Venmo/Zelle
No escrow, no refund policies, no cancellation terms. If a host ghosts you, your money is gone.
“I've sent rent money to three different people who turned out to be scammers. The last one took $900 and blocked me the same day. There has to be a better way.”
-- Regional airline first officer, MIA base
Founded by
An active
airline pilot
CrewNest is not built by tech entrepreneurs guessing what crew need. It is built by someone who lives the lifestyle every day.
Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University
Envoy Air / AA
Active First Officer
Born from
firsthand experience.
Daniele Delsalto didn't set out to build a tech company. He set out to find a decent place to sleep near MIA.
After graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and starting his career flying for Envoy Air at Miami, Daniele discovered what every commuting pilot learns the hard way: finding reliable crew housing is a nightmare. The options were Facebook groups full of unverified listings, Craigslist posts that turned out to be scams, and word-of-mouth referrals that led to overcrowded apartments with no accountability.
In one year alone, he experienced three failed crash pad situations -- a host who cancelled the day before check-in, a property that looked nothing like the photos, and a room with safety issues that went unaddressed. He watched fellow crew members sleep in their cars between trips, send rent to strangers who disappeared, and accept conditions no professional should have to tolerate.
“Why isn't there an Airbnb for crew? A platform built by someone who actually understands the lifestyle, the schedules, the trust that has to exist between the people who share these spaces?”
-- Daniele Delsalto, CEO
That question became CrewNest. Daniele partnered with his father, Sebastian Delsalto, a full-stack AI developer and founder of Daleki World, to build the platform he wished had existed from day one. Together, they combined deep aviation industry knowledge with cutting-edge AI technology — creating a marketplace where every user is verified, every payment is protected, and every match is intelligent.
They chose to launch in Miami — the most expensive and competitive crew housing market in the country — because if CrewNest can solve the problem here, it can solve it anywhere.
Our journey
The breaking point
After three failed crash pad situations in a single year in Miami, Daniele Delsalto decides that crew members deserve better than Facebook groups and Venmo.
The partnership
Daniele teams up with his father Sebastian, a full-stack AI developer and founder of Daleki World. They begin architecting a platform built on trust, verification, and intelligent matching.
Building in public
The team conducts hundreds of conversations with crew members across every major U.S. airline. Every feature is validated by real pilots and flight attendants before a line of code is written.
Miami launch
CrewNest goes live at MIA — the most expensive and competitive crew housing market in the country. If we can solve the problem here, we can solve it anywhere.
What we stand for
Four principles that shape every feature we build, every policy we set, and every decision we make.
Safety First
Every crew member is ID-verified. Every host is background-checked. Every payment is held in escrow. We built the trust infrastructure this industry has needed for decades.
Crew-Only Community
This is not a general marketplace. Every person on CrewNest is a verified aviation professional. The people who understand quiet hours between red-eyes, hot beds, and 4am van pickups.
Radical Transparency
Real photos, verified reviews, clear pricing with no hidden fees. What you see is what you get. Every listing shows distance to the airport, amenities, house rules, and cancellation terms upfront.
AI-Powered Intelligence
Our AI doesn't just search — it learns. It matches you to crash pads based on your schedule pattern, commute preferences, budget, and what crew like you have loved. It gets smarter with every booking.
The team behind CrewNest
Domain expertise meets engineering excellence. A pilot who knows the problem and a builder who knows how to solve it.
Daniele Delsalto
Chief Executive Officer
Active Envoy Air / American Airlines pilot and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University graduate. Daniele doesn't just understand the crew housing problem — he lives it every month. He built CrewNest because he experienced the worst of the current system and knew the aviation community deserved better.
His deep connections within the MIA crew community, firsthand knowledge of scheduling complexities, and passion for crew welfare drive every product decision.
Sebastian Delsalto
Chief Technology Officer
Founder of Daleki World and full-stack AI developer. Sebastian architects the entire CrewNest platform — from the Claude-powered AI matching engine to the secure Stripe payment infrastructure to the real-time messaging system.
His expertise in AI, Next.js, and Supabase powers the technology that makes CrewNest not just another marketplace, but an intelligent platform that learns and improves with every interaction.
A pilot who knows exactly what crew need, and an engineer who knows exactly how to build it. CrewNest exists at the intersection of domain expertise and technical excellence.
Where we are today
Q3 2026
Miami Launch
MIA Hub
6
Hub Markets
In pipeline
AI
Matching Engine
Claude-powered
100%
Crew Verified
No exceptions
We are launching in Miami because MIA is the most competitive crew housing market in the country. After Miami, we will expand to ORD, DFW, CLT, ATL, and DEN — covering the largest airline hub cities in the United States.
Ready to find your
home base?
Whether you are a crew member looking for verified housing or a host with space to share, CrewNest is where the aviation community comes together.
AI Assistant
Powered by Claude
AI responses may not always be accurate