New website for NYC vacation rentals

Looking for a studio in Midtown or a temporary pied-a-terre in the West Village? Try Roomorama.com, a new peer-to-peer service that helps travellers find short-term apartment rentals and spare rooms in New York City. Properties include a Williamsburg house owned by an actor who appeared in "The Departed," complete with its own Zen garden, for US$189/night. 

There's a bit of everything here, from straight vacation rentals to requests for short-term roommates and sublet tenants, so you need to read carefully to make sure you're getting what you're looking for. And the interface needs a bit of work--for instance, when you move between pages, the screen goes unnervingly grey for a few moments. For all that, it looks like a useful new addition to the New York vacation rental scene.

The service, started by two New Yorkers who've rented out space in their own Lower East Side apartment in the past, plans to expand to Boston, Chicago and Toronto this fall.