A new venture, Room 77, being described as the world’s first hotel room database and search engine, has emerged.

Published: 25 Feb 2011

A new venture, Room 77, being described as the world’s first hotel room database and search engine, has emerged.

Room 77’s promise: potential hotel guests can visualise a room product more intimately, giving incentive to book into higher tier room categories. Room 77 highlights the best attributes of rooms in a fun and engaging way.

Targeting three-star and above properties, the company has developed proprietary technology, including its Room Rank algorithm that scores every room, based on the traveller’s preferences, and the virtual Room View, which simulates the actual view from each room using Google Earth.

It offers consumers details about each hotel room at a property, including the room category, square footage, bed type, elevator proximity and if it is a connecting room.

This offering is accessible through the Web and its free iPhone app. Room 77 expects to add new features, data, mobile platforms and cities in the months ahead.

“All hotel rooms are not created equal and we have built Room 77 to open up room data and give travellers more control in getting a great room. Travellers have several options that rate and review hotels, but until now there’s nothing that breaks down hotel rooms even though the room is a critical part of the experience,” said Brad Gerstner, founder and chairman of Room 77.

Officially founded in 2009, Room 77 secured its seed round in 2010, raising $3 million dollars from leading entrepreneurs and institutional investors, including: the company’s founder Brad Gerstner, Rich Barton, Bob Pittman, Hugh Crean, Par Capital Management, Sutter Hill Ventures, and Felicis Ventures, among others.

Planning

The 16 destinations with concentrated data at launch include: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Honolulu, Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, Maui, Miami, New York, Orlando, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D..C. Currently, Room 77 has indexed over 425,000 rooms.

Room 77 is not a booking engine.

The best rooms for each traveller are automatically ranked using Room 77’s proprietary Room Rank algorithm that adjusts to each individual’s preferences for high or low floor, distance from elevator, view importance and need for connecting rooms. Each room is then scored with a colour-coded match percentage indicating: "strong match" (green), "fair match" (yellow) and "weak match" (red). These colours also correspond to an interactive floor plan map that highlights each room’s precise location within the hotel.

Once preferred rooms are identified, Room 77 makes it easy for travellers to turn this data into action through its "Request a Room" link; this section reveals helpful insider tips on how to request room (s) directly from the hotel and increase the probability of securing one.

iPhone App

The Room 77 iPhone App provides location-based hotel suggestions and hotel room data on-the-go.

According to the company, this app comes in handy before check-in, when a traveller calls the front desk and requests one of their preferred rooms..

“And, the app can be a check-in lifesaver while at the front desk: a traveler simply enters the room number offered by the clerk and Room 77 instantly advises if you should "take it" or "leave it", and offers alternate suggestions. This eliminates the pain and hassle of trekking all the way to the room, only to find it overlooks the garbage dumpster or has some other less-than-desirable attribute,” stated the company.

The app also has built-in features that make it easy for travellers to help crowd source Room 77’s growing database. In a few clicks, travellers can rate and review a room, verify data accuracy and upload interior room and view photos. Users can also help "sleuth" data on hotels not yet in the system by simply snapping a photo of the exit floor plan, typically available on the back of each guestroom door.

While the majority of hotel room data has been collected through the legwork of Room 77's staff through official and unofficial means, the company is already working directly with major hotel chains and individually owned properties to validate and expand data.

Travellers will be able to quickly identify properties that have validated data by a "Hotel Verified" badge placed on the hotel's page.