I was thinking of doing a review on the Roomorama.com website long time back. But, with the website’s merger with Lofty in April this year, I thought why not wait for some time and write about the possible changes that Roomorama might implement after the merger.
Well, now it’s almost more than two months and I feel that it was just an inventory building exercise wherein the property owners of Lofty gained, with owners already listed with Roomorama had nothing much to profit from the merger.
There have been no marked changes in the website – it was neat always, no doubt. Some of the best properties listed in the website are displayed on the homepage, making it easy for the traveler to choose from. The search is also well-defined allowing travelers to opt for various search parameters according to his needs.
Having said that, even though Roomorama.com has a good inventory of properties, some of these properties – particularly those posted by agents – are junk. For instance, when I tried searching for properties in India’s foremost tourist destination, Himachal Pradesh, I found just nine results.
However, when I started looking at all the properties, I found that a couple of them were listings of the same property. Most of these listings had no details as well to really compel me to book. A couple of them were actually hotels.
Moreover with Roomorama’s aggressive inventory building exercise, the main motive of any holiday home rental website to connect the property owner directly with the traveler/ guest seems to be diluted. There are many agent and property managers’ property listings on the website which have a direct impact on the rental rates. Since owners have to pay the agent or property manager a commission, the owner usually hikes his rates to keep himself covered. As such a traveler who books through the Roomorama website stands to actually shell out more than what he usually have to if he books from another vacation rental website – he has to pay a 12 percent booking fee to Roomorama and is again indirectly paying the commission of the agent/ property manager.
This makes things even difficult for the owner. Even if he wants to give a discount on his rentals he is unable to do so, because the commission he needs to pay the agent always plays at the back of his mind.
For a traveler to book a private vacation property, the owner’s profile has a great impact on his decision making. But when I clicked to see the “Host Information” in one of the property, I found it was a “specialized Vacation Rental, Home stays and Outdoor Vacations properties booking platform” – in other words an agent. This I think can be a major put off for a traveler.
All in all look wise and in terms of user usability Roomorama.com is a good website, no doubt about that, but as a traveler, if you are looking for offers from owners then this is not the website to book your holiday accommodation. Well, you can save that 12 percent booking fee too if you book a holiday home from another vacation rental website. I feel even owners must be feeling the impact of this.
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