Finding Housing as a Guest
Everything you need to know about searching, booking, paying for, and staying in a verified student's room.
Finding a Place
Start by searching with your destination city and dates. Every listing is a verified student's own room, sublet for the dates they are away. You can filter by:
- Room type: Entire place, private room, or shared room
- Monthly rent: Set your budget
- Amenities: WiFi, kitchen, laundry, etc.
Who can book: Each host chooses which verified students may book their room — any verified student, students at universities in the listing's metro area, or students at the host's own university. The listing says which, and search shows you the rooms your school is eligible for.
Booking Your Stay
Stays run from 32 to 92 nights (three months). Booking has three steps, and none of them charges your card:
- Pick your dates. The quote is the host's monthly rent pro-rated by night — no cleaning fee, no security deposit, no service fee at launch. If a Roomeru fee ever applies in your state it is shown on the quote, never added later.
- Read and sign the Stay Agreement. It is written for your exact dates and rent, includes the full payment schedule, and is between you and the host. You scroll to the end, type your name, and sign.
- Save a payment method. Nothing is charged today. Your first rent period is charged 14 days before check-in and each later period on the day it starts.
Some hosts review requests before confirming. A host may also propose different dates; if you accept, the stay is re-quoted for the new dates and you sign again — still with nothing charged.
How You Pay
Nothing Is Charged at Booking
Your card is charged one rent period at a time, on the schedule you saw before signing: the first period 14 days before check-in, every later period on its start date. The host receives the first period 48 hours after you check in — time enough to raise a problem if the room is not as listed.
Every charge is processed by Stripe and paid to the host's own Stripe account. Roomeru never holds your rent, and we never store your full card details.
What's in the price:
- The host's monthly rent, pro-rated by night
- No cleaning fee
- No security deposit
- No Roomeru fee at launch — any fee that applies in your state is stated on the quote and in the Stay Agreement
If a charge fails: we retry and let you know. If the first period cannot be collected within 72 hours of its charge date, the booking is cancelled at no cost to you. If a later period cannot be collected within 5 days of its start, the stay is treated as ended by you with notice from that day, and rent for nights already stayed is still owed to the host.
Cancellation & Changes
The rules depend on the state the room is in. The listing, the quote, and your Stay Agreement all say which model applies. Either way, cancelling is free until your first payment runs.
Standard
Free cancellation until your first payment runs, 14 days before check-in.
- Free cancellation until the first payment runs, 14 days before check-in.
- Cancel 7 or more days before check-in: half of the first period is kept, the rest refunded.
- Cancel within 7 days of check-in, or no-show: the first period is kept.
- After check-in, ending your stay early takes 30 days' notice; rent is owed through the notice period unless the room is re-let sooner.
Actual loss
Free cancellation until your first payment runs, 14 days before check-in.
- Free cancellation until the first payment runs, 14 days before check-in.
- After that, the host keeps only the rent for nights the room stays empty before it is re-let, up to the first period; the rest is refunded at the end of the first period.
- A no-show (no arrival and no contact for 48 hours) keeps the first period.
- After check-in, ending your stay early takes 30 days' notice; rent is owed through the notice period unless the room is re-let sooner.
If the host cancels: every night you have not yet stayed is refunded to the card that paid it, and no future period is charged. Host cancellations count against the host.
Ending a stay early is not a cancellation. You give notice through the platform, owe rent through the notice period (or until the host re-lets the room, if sooner), and any rent paid beyond that is refunded when the notice period ends.
No Deposits
Roomeru does not collect security deposits, and nothing is held on your card. Rent is the whole price.
You are responsible to the host, under the Stay Agreement, for damage you cause to the room. Roomeru does not collect for damage or decide damage disputes; that is between you and the host. Photograph the room when you arrive and when you leave — it protects both of you.
During Your Stay
- Communication: Use our messaging system to contact your host. This keeps a record of all conversations.
- Issues: If the room is not as listed, document it with photos and contact the host right away — before the first period is released to them.
- House rules: Respect the host's rules about guests, quiet hours, pets, smoking, and roommates.
- Checkout: Leave the room clean and return all keys/access cards.