The Roomlala story

Roomlala was the brainchild of a young entrepreneur who wanted to help young people find accommodation more easily in major cities. Philippe Roualle experienced for himself the long queues at apartment viewings, the disappointment of small 10m² rooms on the sixth floor without a lift, and the exorbitant rents in big cities. When he hosted a family friend who had come to Paris for a 2-month internship, he realised that there must be many families whose children had left home, leaving behind empty rooms. An untapped potential for accommodation that would delight many students!

So, what is Roomlala?

In 2009, Philippe joined the collaborative economy and launched Roomlala (under the name Chambrealouer.com at the time): a platform for connecting hosts and tenants for homestays. It is not an estate agency, as individuals make rental arrangements directly with one another. It is very simple and everything happens online: the host posts a listing in which they describe their home and the room available. For their part, the tenant searches for available accommodation in their chosen city and gets in touch with the hosts whose listings interest them. Everyone wins: as well as the convivial moments shared, the host earns a supplementary income and the tenant pays a much lower rent than they would for a studio or apartment.

The site has already enabled 3.2 million connections through 42,000 listings for rooms to rent spread across around 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 homestays around the world!

Want to know more about Roomlala? Feel free to check out our press page by clicking here.
And if the startup adventure catches your eye, you will surely be interested in our recruitment page.