What Roomlala does

Roomlala is a privately held French online marketplace, founded in 2009 and headquartered in Paris, that connects hosts offering spare rooms or properties with travelers and tenants seeking short, medium, and long-term accommodation. The platform operates across at least 11 countries (France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Portugal, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States) with localized inventory in additional markets, and organizes listings into five accommodation categories: homestays ("chambres chez l'habitant"), shared apartments (colocations), serviced shared living (colivings), bed and breakfasts (chambres d'hôtes), and entire properties ("logements entiers").

The core product is a self-serve web marketplace where hosts publish free listings with photos, descriptions, pricing, and availability, while tenants and travelers search, filter, contact hosts directly, and book online. The platform is differentiated by a trust-and-safety stack: identity-verified member profiles, included booking insurance, secure online payments, a 24/7 help center, and a public review system designed to reduce friction in stranger-to-stranger rentals. Pricing on the platform ranges from approximately €25 per night for a budget homestay to €950 per month for a furnished studio. The company does not offer a native mobile application, published API, or SDK, and there is no disclosed AI-driven matching, recommendation, or pricing functionality.

Roomlala monetizes through a transaction-based commission model: listings are free to publish and the company earns a service fee only on completed reservations. Customer segments are primarily students seeking affordable housing near campuses, young professionals on temporary assignments, budget travelers, and individual hosts monetizing spare rooms. The company operates with a small team (11-50 employees) and has raised approximately $1.38 million across disclosed funding events (notably a 2014 round); ownership is described as independent with no disclosed institutional investors or parent company.

Name

Roomlala

Legal name

Roomlala

Website

https://fr-fr.roomlala.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Roomlala is a French online marketplace founded in 2009 that connects individual hosts with travelers and tenants for short, medium, and long-term alternative accommodation across Europe, North America, and other regions, monetizing via transaction fees on completed bookings.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Accommodation Marketplace

NAICS

Other Traveler Accommodation (72119), All Other Traveler Accommodation (721199), Rooming and Boarding Houses, Dormitories, and Workers' Camps (721310)

SIC

Hotels, Rooming Houses, Camps & Other Lodging Places (7000)

akta.pro primary industry

Hostel & Shared Accommodation Booking Platforms (Short-Stay Shared Inventory) (THAMALAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Owner-Occupied Private Rooms (Homestays) (THAMABAA), Bed & Breakfast–Style Rooms in Private Homes (THAMABAF), Unhosted Private Rooms (Off-Site Host) (THAMABAC)

Keywords

• Room rental marketplace
• Alternative housing rental
• Homestay accommodation platform
• Shared housing marketplace
• Short-term lodging booking

Headquarters

HQ city

Paris

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Service Fee / Commission: Free for hosts to publish listings; reduced service fees apply only when receiving a reservation. Transaction-based revenue model where Roomlala takes a cut on completed bookings.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Roomlala is an online peer-to-peer marketplace where individual hosts list spare rooms, shared apartments, colivings, bed and breakfasts, and entire properties, and travelers or tenants search, communicate directly, and book accommodations for short, medium, or long-term stays. The platform monetizes by charging hosts a service fee only when a reservation is completed; listings are free and unlimited. Built-in features include verified member profiles, included insurance, secure online payment, and a 24/7 help center.

Product overview

Roomlala operates as a unified marketplace platform connecting hosts with travelers seeking room and housing rentals. The platform offers five distinct accommodation product categories: Chambres chez l'habitant (homestays with local hosts), Colocations (shared apartments), Colivings (shared living with services), Chambres d'hôtes (bed and breakfasts), and Logements entiers (entire properties). The core offering is supplemented by trust and safety features including verified profiles, included insurance, 24/7 support, and a review system. Since 2009, the platform has facilitated millions of bookings across France and Europe, serving students, young professionals, and travelers for both short and long-term stays.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Chambres chez l'habitant (Homestays) Homestay accommodation where travelers stay in a private room inside a local host's home, providing an economical and personal lodging experience for budget-conscious travelers and cultural explorers.
• Colocations (Shared Housing) Shared housing listings enabling users to find rooms in shared apartments or advertise rooms available in existing colocation arrangements, primarily serving students and young professionals.
• Colivings (Shared Living with Services) Managed shared living spaces with included services and communal facilities, designed for users seeking more than basic accommodation and a community-oriented living arrangement.
• Chambres d'hôtes (Bed and Breakfasts) Bed and breakfast accommodations offering a personalized welcome and breakfast included, providing traditional hospitality for travelers.
• Logements entiers (Entire Properties) Entire property rentals including houses, apartments, and studios for exclusive guest use, available for nightly stays or long-term rentals.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Student.com: Global student accommodation marketplace focused on purpose-built student housing. Comparable to Roomlala on the student persona and cross-border mobility segment, though more PBSA-focused.
• Spotahome: Online marketplace specialized in mid- and long-term rentals, with verified listings across Europe. Closest direct peer to Roomlala in terms of category focus (medium- and long-stay) and target users (students, professionals in mobility).
• Homestay.com: P2P homestay marketplace where travelers stay with local hosts. Highly comparable to Roomlala's Chambres chez l'habitant category and its student/young-traveler positioning.
• HousingAnywhere: European marketplace for student and young-professional mid-term rentals. Directly comparable to Roomlala on student housing, colocations, and cross-border mobility use cases.

Broad incumbents

• Vrbo (Expedia Group): Major vacation rental platform with significant European inventory. Overlaps with Roomlala's entire-home and family-vacation categories, backed by Expedia's demand funnel.
• Booking.com: Largest European-headquartered accommodation platform. Overlaps with Roomlala across alternative lodging categories and benefits from huge direct traffic, making it a dominant demand-side competitor in Europe.
• Airbnb: Global leader in short-term and increasingly mid-term rentals. Directly competes with Roomlala on homestays, entire homes, and longer-stay inventory, but with vastly larger scale, brand, and capital.

Emerging players

• BedyCasa: French-based homestay and B&B marketplace. Smaller-scale direct competitor to Roomlala in the French home-stay category, with similar positioning on cultural immersion and budget travel.
• EasyRoommate / SpareRoom: Flatmate and shared-room marketplace with strong European presence. Comparable to Roomlala on colocations and shared-room categories, especially for student and young-professional segments.

Regional players

• Abritel (HomeAway/Expedia): Leading French vacation rental marketplace, part of the Expedia Group. Comparable French-language home-rental competitor overlapping Roomlala's entire-home and vacation-stay inventory in France.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/RoomlalaFR
• Facebookfacebook.com/RoomlalaFR
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/roomlala
• Instagraminstagram.com/roomlalaoff

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Roomlala