Roomoramais New York City’s answer to the west coast bornAirBnB, one of a few innovative companies looking to harness the power of social, online communications to revive the travel industry.
Roomorama was launchedby two avid travelers who wanted to inspire young urbanites to ditch the concrete and get out into the world to travel. Founders Jia En Teo and Federico Folcia are both travelers caught up with lifelong wanderlust. Roomorama is an online marketplace for short term rentals that vary from living room sofas to entire villas in the south of France. It’s best used if you’re looking for a room for a few days while traveling, or if you have a spare room and are looking for an easy way to earn easy cash. All payments are done securely through the website, so home owners don’t need to worry about following up on payments.
The site launched in January 2009 in New York City and expanded to all of the major U.S. cities throughout the year. From 2010 to 2011, they doubled their destinations, reaching into over 200 cities with over 60,000 members on the site.
To celebrate, Roomorama is offering 20% off booking fees for the month of January, but they will be extending this discount exclusively toThe Next Webreaders for the month of February- simply send an email to Perks@roomorama.com for discount code, subject line “BIG 200”. For those of you interested in SXSW, Roomorama is making a big push to host in Austin. They are runninga special promotionto to encourage people to post their Austin properties and save. If you list your Austin property you get a $40 Roomorama credit. You may also want to start looking at properties in Amsterdam for our upcomingThe Next Web conference!
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Most recently, the company is expanding itsPerks program, which the company feels sets them apart from AirBnB and other similar services. The Perks include eco-friendly laundry and dry cleaning services,Mintcars, daily Crunch Gym passes and in home wine tastings. “These are things we hope add enough value for people to book on our site,” says Jia. The Perks span across 180 cities. 10% of them serve all cities, and more than half serve every city in North America.
And Roomorama is extending a few perks to TNW readers for New York City’s upcoming Fashion Week. Fashion Week in New York City takes place on February 10th-17th. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of that week, the 14th through the 16th, Roomorama is inviting 10 lucky readers backstage to hangout in their lounge. Expect WiFi, goodie bags, coffee, cocktails, small bites, yoga, make up touch ups and mini massages.
The idea is to give people a place to chill out in between the shows, “to feel at home within your lounge,” in a Roomorama property. To win all access passes, please become a The Next Web fanon Facebook, and either onthe event pageor in the comments below, tell us a personal traveling story in 140 characters or less. The best stories win.
To see more details, please click this link to visitour events page.
Story byCourtney Boyd Myers
Courtney Boyd Myers is the founder of audience.io, a transatlantic company designed to help New York and London based technology startups gr(show all)Courtney Boyd Myers is the founder ofaudience.io, a transatlantic company designed to help New York and London based technology startups grow internationally.
Previously, she was the Features Editor and East Coast Editor of TNW covering New York City startups and digital innovation. She loves magnets + reading on a Kindle.
You can follow her onFacebook,Twitter @CBMandGoogle +.
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