Roomer
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Travel services |
| Founded | 2011 |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
Key people | Gon Ben David (Founder, CEO) Ben Froumine (Founder) |
| Website | Roomertravel.com |
Roomer is a travel marketplace company headquartered in New York. It develops, markets and operates the Roomer website and apps in which users can list their non-refundable hotel reservations for sale and offer them to buyers at a discounted price.[1][2][3][4][5][6] Roomer was founded in Tel Aviv by Ben Froumine, Gon Ben David and Adi Zellner in September 2011.[6]
History
[edit]The Roomer idea came from one of the co-founders, Gon, who had to cancel his visit to New York and was obligated to pay a significant cancellation fee for a hotel room that he did not use.[7] As a consequence, there was a pricey hotel reservation that could not be made and cancelled without significant fees.[7]
Roomer raised $2 million from the BRM Group, and the Waze co-founder, Uri Levine whose co-founded company acquired by Google for $1 billion, sits on the board of Roomer.[7] Since its startup in January 2013, in less than a year, Roomer has expanded its business to operate worldwide.
The second round of funding was raised $5 million from Series A by Disruptive on November 25, 2014 as reported by Fox Business.[1][3][4][5] Its rapid expansion is partially the results of the enthusiasm from its customers, since more than 75% of sellers are sharing their stories and experiences on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks.[1] One of the important services of Roomer is its discounted reservation offer. After its startup for about one year, the average discount rate of unused hotel reservations from Roomer was 37%.[1]
It launched its first mobile apps for iOS and Android in 2014.[8]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Karol, Gabrielle (25 November 2014). "Roomer Raises $5M for Secondary Travel Marketplace". Fox Business.
- ^ "Roomer Announces Partnership with ABC Global Services". PR Newswire. 23 October 2014.
- ^ a b Kokalitcheva, Kia (25 November 2014). "Roomer grabs $5M to help you sell your nonrefundable hotel reservations". Venture Beat News.
- ^ a b Flamm, Matthew (25 November 2014). "Roomer, the StubHub of travel, raises $5M". Crain's New York.
- ^ a b Fischer, Ben (25 November 2014). "Roomer, a Stubhub for hotel rooms, raises $5 million". New York Business Journal.
- ^ a b Schaal, Dennis (25 November 2014). "Hotel-Booking Startup Roomer Raises $5 Million in Funding". Skift.
- ^ a b c Angulo, Natalia (20 November 2013). "Startup Lets Travelers Sell Last-Minute Hotel Cancellations". Fox Business.
- ^ Woods, Ben (28 May 2014). "Roomer Launches iOS and Android Apps for Booking Unwanted Hotel Rooms". The Next Web News.