The Roomlala story

Roomlala was born from the idea of a young entrepreneur who wanted to help young people find housing more easily in big cities. Philippe Roualle experienced the long queues at apartment viewings for himself, the disappointment of small 100-square-foot rooms on the sixth floor with no elevator, and the exorbitant rents in major cities. It was when he hosted a family friend, who had come to Paris for a 2-month internship, that he realized there were surely many families whose children had left home, leaving behind empty rooms. An untapped housing potential that would make many students happy!

So, what is Roomlala?

In 2009, Philippe joined the growing collaborative economy and launched Roomlala (under the name Chambrealouer.com at the time): a platform for connecting hosts and tenants for homestay rentals. This is not a real estate agency, as individuals arrange the rentals directly with each other. It's very simple, everything happens online: the host posts a listing in which they describe their home and the room available. The tenant, meanwhile, searches for available accommodation in the city of their choice and gets in touch with the hosts whose listings interest them. Everyone wins: in addition to the friendly moments shared, the host earns extra income and the tenant pays a much lower rent than they would for a studio or an apartment.

The site has already enabled 3.2 million connections through 42,000 room rental listings spread across about forty countries. Today, Roomlala's strength lies in its community of more than 1.8 million members. Everyone has joined in and is helping to boost the growth of homestay rentals around the world!

Want to know more about Roomlala? Do not hesitate to check out our press page by clicking here .
And if the startup adventure catches your eye, you'll surely be interested in our recruitment page.