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| Date | Press Release |
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| Wed 16 Oct 2002 | Victorian Tourism Award Entrant gets into the Spring Spirit at the Stonnington Garden Show | Most of us need to get away for a short break every now and then. Whether it's for relaxation pure and simple, or to enjoy a romantic escape, be it an occasion to celebrate or a chance to discover an unfamiliar destination, invariably we want to find a great place to stay. www.GreatPlacesToStay.com.au is a web site dedicated to promoting a host of wonderful B&Bs and Cottages Victoria wide, with excellent pictures and information. This smart but simple to use web site has approximately 90 property profiles at present, with new places being added all the time.
www.GreatPlacesToStay.com.au attracts some 13,500 visits per month. "People from the Melbourne Metro area are our core users" says Cherryl Houben, the editor and webmaster, adding "These people are generally looking for a weekend getaway maybe two or three times a year. Being a web site we're accessible to people day in day out; they don't have to look around for a current magazine or rummage through drawers for clippings they might have saved. Plus there's always something new that's been added since their last visit."
www.GreatPlacesToStay.com.au took to the recent Stonnington "Spring into Gardening" Show at the Victoria Gardens on Sunday October 13, with a range of pictorial displays which showcased some of the outstanding gardens of properties represented on the web site. Burswood Historic Homestead in Portland, The Potager in Castlemaine, Nanga Gnulle in Bendigo and Hillingdon at Tussie Mussie Farm on the Mornington Peninsula were among the boutique Bed & Breakfast properties featured for the show.
High Res jpeg photos can be downloaded from www.greatplacestostay.com.au/springshow
www.GreatPlacesToStay.com.au is among 134 entrants commended by Minister for Tourism, John Pandazopoulos for nominating for the Yellow Pages 2002 Tourism Awards.
Mr Pandazopoulos praised www.GreatPlacesToStay.com.au for investing their time and commitment in aiming to be counted among Victoria's best. "Those operators who seek recognition at the level of the Victorian Tourism Awards are truly among the best that Victoria has to offer," Mr Pandazopoulos said.
It is the second time that www.GreatPlacesToStay.com.au has entered the Tourism Awards. This year's Victorian winners will be announced on November 25, before going on to compete for the National Tourism Awards, held in February 2003 in Adelaide.
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| | Mon 04 Mar 2002 | Local World Wide Gems and Great Places to Stay in Victoria | With each passing year more and more people are turning to the world wide web to source leisure and holiday options. If you fancied escaping to a secluded county cottage with a wood fire, a spa and a serene outlook you generally had to scour around for a book or magazine or get in touch with a regional Tourism Office to access this kind of information year round. Now even some of the tiniest places have their patch of limelight on the Web for all to find – if they can.
Some of the most useful internet resources for discovering those local accommodation gems are specialised online directories. The best of these have excellent information and photos on a diverse selection of places to stay. One such web site covering B&Bs, self-contained cottages, and luxury retreats, Victoria wide, is www.greatplacestostay.com.au
Since opening in 2000, this privately operated web site has become a favourite choice for finding those idyllic Victorian getaways and classic B&Bs. Several thousand people visit the site each month.
"Our approach is to take as much of the hard work and trial and error out of the equation as possible. You don't need to be an Einstein to use our site. It's very straightforward but it's also very flexible in sorting and delivering a range of places according to your interests" explains site owner, Cherryl Houben, adding; "We also cater for internet-savvy visitors with some smart features such as the ability to keep a personal list of favourite properties which they can access whenever they log in again."
The web site www.greatplacestostay.com.au also provides general information on regional attractions and major events. These extras supplement the core focus of the site which is to present informative and consistent content describing each property. Great Places to Stay currently boasts of having detailed profiles on over 90 properties.
It's worth noting, no single directory site has a definitive list of accommodation. For now, there are many sites who would aspire to this, however, it's still early days for Australia in this regard. Remember when you do come across a web site that you find useful, save it in your browser's favourites list so you can find it again without becoming frustrated with the ever changing World Wide Web.
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| | Mon 05 Mar 2001 | How to find Great Places to Stay in Victoria
Check out Victoria's diverse B&Bs - before you check in! | The seductive dream of a relaxing weekend retreat can very quickly become a nightmare when the "quaint cottage in secluded setting" turns out to be a dilapidated sleepout in someone's back yard - and just arriving in a town and having to search for somewhere to stay is not the ideal start to 'getting away from it all'!
Even searching online to find just the right accommodation in just the right area with just the right facilities can be a frustrating experience, and consolidating information from many different websites requires real dedication to the task.
As veterans of the battle to find great places to stay for weekend getaways and holiday trips around Victoria, Cherryl Houben and Neville Franks have drawn upon the wealth of knowledge and experience they have gained as intrepid weekend wanderers to set up www.greatplacestostay.com.au - an easily navigated website that makes it simple to browse through a showcase collection of bed & breakfast accommodation, self-contained cottages, small resorts, country guesthouses, romantic getaways, and other interesting or unusual places to stay.
Informative regional profiles and a current calendar of events tell you what there is to see and do, plus what's on and where, and then it's quick and easy to search for suitable accommodation in the area - whether a romantic hideaway for two or family-friendly accommodation where you can relax because you know the kids are welcome. When you've found just what you're looking for, make your booking enquiry then and there via the direct email link (or by phone if you prefer!).
"We've made the site exactly what we wished we could find," says Cherryl. “We see www.greatplacestostay.com.au as a dynamic, evolving resource. It’s a central point where other getaway lovers can save precious time and find the perfect place for their next retreat, as well as keeping track of their favourites and sharing their discoveries and experiences through our interactive forum."
"We are adding more great places to stay each week (as we discover them) and would love to hear from anyone who knows of somewhere special that we don't have listed."
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| | Mon 05 Feb 2001 | PR Company, Connecting Images appointed by GPTS | Great Places to Stay today appointed Connecting Images to develop and implement promotional activities for the web site.
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| | Thu 26 Oct 2000 | Low Key Opening for Great Places to Stay Web Site | Great Places to Stay finally opened to the public on 26 October 2000 after months of fine tuning and testing. An official launch will be scheduled when property numbers are deemed sufficient.
"We've put a lot of thought and effort into the design of our web site. Before we even started on the design, we analyzed the shortcomings, and the good points of other sites that were operating in the area. Few Austrailan sites seemed willing or able to take a sophisticated approach, or even a true customer focus. Ours is a complex site although the user interface is very clean, uncluttered and easy to use. I believe we have developed a resource that is extremely informative and relevant for our audience" said Cherryl Houben, the Managing Director.
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