Paris Planning Made Simple
WEB-EXCLUSIVE: Newport Beach-based travel booking site CobbleStay.com embraces simplicity.
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When it comes to travel booking, name recognition is everything.
That being said, the Newport Beach-based CobbleStay.com hasn’t yet rivaled its well-established competitors Expedia and Orbitz, and quite frankly, how could it? Without a catchy jingle, a celebrity spokesperson or an over-the-top commercial, the upstart CobbleStay.com was sure to disappear into the abyss that is the World Wide Web.
But instead of fighting the competition, CobbleStay.com creators decided to embrace what their counterparts can't: simplicity. By eliminating the stress and frustration that accompanies hotel hunting, limiting hotel options so quality outweighs quantity and really personalizing travel, Founder and CEO Drew Graham has carved out a niche for the travel-booking website that could be the secret to its success.
For further simplicity, CobbleStay.com, founded in 2008, focuses wholly on vacations in Paris. With distinct Parisian accommodations for couples on romantic escapes, family groups, parents with young children, and budget-conscious travelers, the site accommodates all traveler types with its collection of charming, upscale apartments overlooking the beauty of Paris.
“The feedback we often get from people looking for apartments abroad is that they’re overwhelmed on the Internet,” Graham says. “CobbleStay.com provides a clear selection process that makes booking an apartment a lot easier."
From the Roof Top Townhouse that offers two breathtaking views of the Eiffel Tower to the Left Bank Penthouse, just a block away from the Luxembourg Gardens, the properties alone are incentive enough to book a trip.
“Each of these unique properties have been carefully selected to offer travelers the most authentic and memorable Parisian experience possible,” Graham says. “We offer apartments in a range of price-points to accommodate all travel budgets.”
All the apartments listed on CobbleStay.com are privately owned and maintained, ensuring Paris will feel much less than the 5,000-plus miles it is from home.
CobbleStay.com recently added four new properties to its online portfolio and isn’t stopping there. By the end of summer 2010, Graham plans on adding 15 more accommodations.
All bookings – ranging from $200 per night to $1,200 per week – include damage deposit waivers and optional travel insurance with television, Wi-Fi, phone service to the United States, and early/late check-in/check-out, all free of charge.
Yet, what really continues to set CobbleStay.com apart from the millions of other travel-booking online services is its ever-expanding marketplace for sellers to showcase their personalized Parisian properties.
“We don’t want CobbleStay.com to be another website where people go and become overwhelmed,” Graham says. “The goal of CobbleStay.com is to make it as fun to plan a vacation as it is to go on vacation.”
