Interview: Mathieu Quintart, Cocoon Barcelona CEO
Diary: La Vanguardia (Spain)
Release date: December 17th, 2011
Mathieu Quintart in the apartment Palau Modernista
In only 4 years, Cocoon Barcelona has established itself as one of the strongest companies in Barcelona for promoting holiday rentals, thanks to its policy based on providing high quality apartments at very competitive prices. CocoonBarcelona has offices in Barcelona and Stockholm.
When was Cocoon Barcelona created?
Our history goes back to 2007, when I was 27 years old and worked at an advertising company in Barcelona. My intention was to create an attractive website dedicated to holiday apartments in the city center of Barcelona for daily rent because of its huge tourist attraction. Today we have a portfolio of 400 apartments ranging from basic apartments of €80,- per night to the luxury apartments with mark up prices till €600,- per night.
How do you differentiate yourself to the other rental agencies?
No doubt our privileged relationship with the owners combined with a high volume of sales per property. This gives the customers a great selection of quality apartments at very competitive prices. Our staff visits each property and carries out a rigorous selection of the most attractive apartments. This makes a huge difference to all the websites which can´t guarantee the quality of its properties as they don’t have local staff. Thanks to the recommendations of our customers, Cocoon has been recognized as a leading holiday rental agency by the international press such as “The Times” or “National Geographic”.
What´s your team of profesionals working in the company like?
Cocoon staff is composed by 14 employees which are highly qualified in online marketing and customer service. We are 8 different nationalities speaking a total of 6 languages.
Which customers are you approaching?
Any tourist who wants to spend a couple of days in Barcelona and prefers the freedom and facilities of a private apartment to a hotel room. The costs of an accommodation can be less than 50% the price of a room in a similar category.
Do you have any plans for the near future?
In 2010 we had nearly one million visits on our websites and we sold a total of 78.000 nights. We are leaders on the French market, but we also have a strong presence in countries as Holland, Belgium, Germany, Scandinavia, Great Britain, United States and Canada. In 2012 we are planning to open in Madrid, Rome, Lisbon, Berlin and London as increasing our presence on the Spanish and Italian market.
MORE INFORMATIONS:
www.cocoonbarcelona.com
www.cocoonstockholm.com
www.cocoonrome.com
Original article in spanish
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