Speed Roommating on its way to the states
SpareRoom.com was launched in 2004 in the UK and with roughly 800,000 visitors to the site monthly, it is the largest British roommate website. They have taken that size offline by offering Speed Flatmating, an event that brings together people looking for roommates. SpareRoom has worked so well that it has now launched in New York and in January, the company tells AGBeat that the US version of Speed Flatmating, called Speed Roommating will also launch in New York.
The first event will be held in Manhattan and when the date is secured, they tell us it will be featured on SpeedRoommating.com. The event itself puts roommate seekers in a social environment to save everyone time from traveling all over the city to look at apartments only to discover that the apartment is beautiful but the roommate isn’t exactly a fit for you. It helps avoid what SpareRoom calls the “dreaded roommate interview.”
“If you buy or rent a property then the place itself and the location are the most important factors. When you share it’s the people who make or break it,” the company says with the theory surrounding accommodations being all about the people.
New York is even busier than London
In the past 12 months over 10,000 people have attended events in London. SpareRoom’s Matt Hutchinson said, “People in London love the events as they take the legwork out of finding somewhere to live and, most importantly, let you get a real chance to meet the people you’ll be living with. New York is even busier and harder to find accommodation in than London so it makes sense to bring the events here. We did run one or two back in 2004 but SpareRoom was just getting going in the UK at that point and we didn’t have time to be in two places at once! Now SpareRoom has launched in New York we’re looking forward to helping New Yorkers find their ideal roommates.”
