The merger, which sees Lofty.com being rebranded Roomorama (the website declares the name change), brings it closer to the goal of becoming the Expedia of short-term accommodation, said co-founder of Roomorama, Frederico Folcia who spoke to WIT a few days before the announcement.

This means customers being able to book professionally-managed properties instantly as they do hotels. “We want to be the one-stop shop for people booking apartments or houses,” he said.

Lofty.com is a Europe-focused short-term rental site founded by Fabrice Grinda and managed by his team of experienced vacation rental professionals. Roomorama.com, which launched in New York in May 2008, is now headquartered in Singapore with a primary goal being to grow inventory and demand in Asia Pacific. Investors in the venture include Jose Marin, PROfounders Capital L.P., Lerer Media Ventures L.P., and Thrive Capital Partners.

“This is an exciting time for all of us,” said Fabrice Grinda (right), founder of Lofty, who is also the Co-CEO of OLX Inc. and has investments in several other ventures. “By combining the strengths of both companies, Roomorama will now be the leading marketplace for mid-range to high-end rentals.” 

Roomorama saw exponential growth last year, reporting an average gross booking value of US$1,330 with over 80% of bookings for 8-14 nights. In Asia Pacific, growth has tripled, in just over a year after it expanded into the region.

According to Folcia, the company earns a transaction fee of 8-12% from guests.

The website, available in 11 languages, currently lists 50,000 properties in more than 3,600 locations, and is aiming to more than double inventory by end of 2012, with over 20% of the listings in the region. About 80% of inventory is comprised of professionally managed private properties, and four percent is shared.

“The strength of the combined team gives me great confidence that we will deliver what the short-term rental industry and its customers have been seeking – higher quality, improved reliability, and a swifter booking process”, says Roomorama co-founder and co-COO Jia En Teo.

According to Folcia (left), the original goal of Roomorama was to make the experience of renting an apartment of strangers seamless and safe. It wasn’t that different fromAirbnb, he said, but the following year, the founders saw a bigger opportunity in professionally-managed properties.

“We wanted to solve a simple problem – build comprehensive inventory and make it seamless and safe to make a booking, like buying a hotel room.”

Being a pioneer in this space, Folcia admits there are grey issues to be tackled for example, the definition of “professionally-managed” which varies by markets as well as the issue of insurance although this is less of a concern as professionally-managed properties tend to have insurance coverage.

The key challenge, he said, is raising awareness of the concept “that staying in a house and apartment is safe”.

“In Asia, this is new. People perceive it’s shared.”

Roomorama has 45 staff in New York and a total of 24 staff spread across Singapore, Cebu and Beijing. It is launching its new website next week.

Bootstrapped from launch, the first two years were extremely difficult, said Folcia. “The market has since become more competitive, especially in Europe, with a lot of new players popping up. This is good in a way, it raises awareness of the concept but it makes it hard to grow organically. You need scale fast.”

Currently, most of the demand comes from Europe, followed by the US and Asia. “In future, Asia will be much more prominent,” he said.