diff --git a/roomserver/alias/alias.go b/roomserver/alias/alias.go
index 27279aad8..6a34aacdd 100644
--- a/roomserver/alias/alias.go
+++ b/roomserver/alias/alias.go
@@ -96,12 +96,21 @@ func (r *RoomserverAliasAPI) GetRoomIDForAlias(
 		return err
 	}
 
-	// No rooms found locally, try our application services by making a call to
-	// the appservice component
-	aliasReq := appserviceAPI.RoomAliasExistsRequest{Alias: request.Alias}
-	var aliasResp appserviceAPI.RoomAliasExistsResponse
-	if err = r.AppserviceAPI.RoomAliasExists(ctx, &aliasReq, &aliasResp); err != nil {
-		return err
+	if roomID == "" {
+		// No room found locally, try our application services by making a call to
+		// the appservice component
+		aliasReq := appserviceAPI.RoomAliasExistsRequest{Alias: request.Alias}
+		var aliasResp appserviceAPI.RoomAliasExistsResponse
+		if err = r.AppserviceAPI.RoomAliasExists(ctx, &aliasReq, &aliasResp); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		if aliasResp.AliasExists {
+			roomID, err = r.DB.GetRoomIDForAlias(ctx, request.Alias)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		}
 	}
 
 	response.RoomID = roomID
diff --git a/roomserver/alias/alias_test.go b/roomserver/alias/alias_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4b9ca022d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roomserver/alias/alias_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,196 @@
+// Copyright 2019 Serra Allgood
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package alias
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	appserviceAPI "github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/appservice/api"
+	roomserverAPI "github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/roomserver/api"
+)
+
+type MockRoomserverAliasAPIDatabase struct {
+	mode     string
+	attempts int
+}
+
+// These methods can be essentially noop
+func (db MockRoomserverAliasAPIDatabase) SetRoomAlias(ctx context.Context, alias string, roomID string) error {
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (db MockRoomserverAliasAPIDatabase) GetAliasesForRoomID(ctx context.Context, roomID string) ([]string, error) {
+	aliases := make([]string, 0)
+	return aliases, nil
+}
+
+func (db MockRoomserverAliasAPIDatabase) RemoveRoomAlias(ctx context.Context, alias string) error {
+	return nil
+}
+
+// This method needs to change depending on test case
+func (db *MockRoomserverAliasAPIDatabase) GetRoomIDForAlias(
+	ctx context.Context,
+	alias string,
+) (string, error) {
+	switch db.mode {
+	case "empty":
+		return "", nil
+	case "error":
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("found an error from GetRoomIDForAlias")
+	case "found":
+		return "123", nil
+	case "emptyFound":
+		switch db.attempts {
+		case 0:
+			db.attempts = 1
+			return "", nil
+		case 1:
+			db.attempts = 0
+			return "123", nil
+		default:
+			return "", nil
+		}
+	default:
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("unknown option used")
+	}
+}
+
+type MockAppServiceQueryAPI struct {
+	mode string
+}
+
+// This method can be noop
+func (q MockAppServiceQueryAPI) UserIDExists(
+	ctx context.Context,
+	req *appserviceAPI.UserIDExistsRequest,
+	resp *appserviceAPI.UserIDExistsResponse,
+) error {
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (q MockAppServiceQueryAPI) RoomAliasExists(
+	ctx context.Context,
+	req *appserviceAPI.RoomAliasExistsRequest,
+	resp *appserviceAPI.RoomAliasExistsResponse,
+) error {
+	switch q.mode {
+	case "error":
+		return fmt.Errorf("found an error from RoomAliasExists")
+	case "found":
+		resp.AliasExists = true
+		return nil
+	case "empty":
+		resp.AliasExists = false
+		return nil
+	default:
+		return fmt.Errorf("Unknown option used")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestGetRoomIDForAlias(t *testing.T) {
+	type arguments struct {
+		ctx      context.Context
+		request  *roomserverAPI.GetRoomIDForAliasRequest
+		response *roomserverAPI.GetRoomIDForAliasResponse
+	}
+	args := arguments{
+		context.Background(),
+		&roomserverAPI.GetRoomIDForAliasRequest{},
+		&roomserverAPI.GetRoomIDForAliasResponse{},
+	}
+	type testCase struct {
+		name      string
+		dbMode    string
+		queryMode string
+		wantError bool
+		errorMsg  string
+		want      string
+	}
+	tt := []testCase{
+		{
+			"found local alias",
+			"found",
+			"error",
+			false,
+			"",
+			"123",
+		},
+		{
+			"found appservice alias",
+			"emptyFound",
+			"found",
+			false,
+			"",
+			"123",
+		},
+		{
+			"error returned from DB",
+			"error",
+			"",
+			true,
+			"GetRoomIDForAlias",
+			"",
+		},
+		{
+			"error returned from appserviceAPI",
+			"empty",
+			"error",
+			true,
+			"RoomAliasExists",
+			"",
+		},
+		{
+			"no errors but no alias",
+			"empty",
+			"empty",
+			false,
+			"",
+			"",
+		},
+	}
+
+	setup := func(dbMode, queryMode string) *RoomserverAliasAPI {
+		mockAliasAPIDB := &MockRoomserverAliasAPIDatabase{dbMode, 0}
+		mockAppServiceQueryAPI := MockAppServiceQueryAPI{queryMode}
+
+		return &RoomserverAliasAPI{
+			DB:            mockAliasAPIDB,
+			AppserviceAPI: mockAppServiceQueryAPI,
+		}
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range tt {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			aliasAPI := setup(tc.dbMode, tc.queryMode)
+
+			err := aliasAPI.GetRoomIDForAlias(args.ctx, args.request, args.response)
+			if tc.wantError {
+				if err == nil {
+					t.Fatalf("Got no error; wanted error from %s", tc.errorMsg)
+				} else if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), tc.errorMsg) {
+					t.Fatalf("Got %s; wanted error from %s", err, tc.errorMsg)
+				}
+			} else if err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("Got %s; wanted no error", err)
+			} else if args.response.RoomID != tc.want {
+				t.Errorf("Got '%s'; wanted '%s'", args.response.RoomID, tc.want)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}