In Latin American Countries it's customary for children to live with their parents until they are married. It's great for saving money, eating healthy, and keeping a close relationship with your family. It's not so great for having sex with your significant other.
In Latin America there are tons of small hotels that target this specific demographic: horny 20-somethings who need to get out of their parents' house. But many of these hotels don't have sophisticated management or marketing, making them difficult to find. And if you do find one, it might already be booked solid.
That's where RoomVa comes in. RoomVa is an online booking system that has collected data for these small and medium sized hotels in Lima, Peru and built an app that allows couples to book a room in under an hour. They can see what options are nearby and how many rooms are available.
"For many years you date someone. You have a relationship. So the hard part of that is you need the private space any couple needs," said Diego Santa Maria, RoomVa co-founder and University of Chicago Booth School of Business student. "In the U.S. you don't have that problem because you live alone. In Latin America you cannot go back to your place because you live with your parents."
Santa Maria, 29, started working on the startup last summer, and it's clear that RoomVa is viewed as more than just a clever hookup tool. RoomVa won $35,000 at the 2013 Dashfire Launch Summer Program. And more recently, it won first place and $30,000 last week at the prestigious University of Chicago New Venture Challenge. RoomVa has also received $100,000 from an investor in Latin America, and Santa Maria plans to move back to Peru later in June to run the company full-time.
The site already has 11,000 registered users, and in the first six weeks it was downloaded more than 6,000 times, Santa Maria said.
"This is just the beginning," he said. "We have proven we have a market. We have people excited about this. We have users excited about this. And we are starting to get new hotels on board."
RoomVa currently has an Android app and plans to develop an iOS app soon. And the next step is to expand into other counties such as Mexico, Chile, Colombia, and Brazil, Santa Maria said.
Photo via RoomVa
