Israeli startup Roomer, which lets people trade their hotel reservations, has raised $5 million in a Series A financing round led by Disruptive with participation from existing investor BRM Group, . The infusion of new capital will be used to expand its services.
Have you ever made a non-refundable hotel reservation that you had to cancel? If so, did you wish that you could find someone else to use the reservation instead? If so then Roomer is the service that you have been waiting for.
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Roomer has been described as both the StubHub and the Airbnb of hotel rooms. It is simple. Sellers posts the details of a hotel reservation which they need to give up and Roomer tries to find them a buyer. Buyers scan such information for any available rooms in cities where they are traveling to and pay for them through the service.
The company declares that its vision is to, “make travel exchangeable and tradable.” Founded in 2011 by Gon Ben-David and Ben Froumine and New York City it was launched in New York, San Francisco and Las Vegas in 2013 and has been expanding its services into new cities ever since.
“The Roomer team has proved their model, ” said Tal Barnoach, general partner at Disruptive. “They have the experience, know-how, and passion to shake things up, and we’re certain their new model will become the essential, go-to platform for those seeking travel value.”
Roomer founder and CEO Gon Ben-David said in a statement, “We’re catering to daily human occurrences and filling a major need.”
As he explained, Roomer’s founders studied how companies like Airbnb and eBay handled issues of trust on the part of consumers and so it established a 24/7 emergency hotline for customer service. Roomer also guarantees that if there are any problems reservation then it will give the traveler a new hotel room with at the very least a similar price in a similar quality hotel in a similar location. Its website boasts, ”With every reservation that you book, Roomer promises to be by and on your side no matter where you are or what time of day.”
The company previously raised $2 million in seed funding and has apps for both iOS and Android.
