An American in Paris:
Glenn Cooper
Continued from:
An Apartment
in Paris
By
Durant Imboden
 Glenn
Cooper is the owner of Cooper Paris
Flats, one of the earliest agencies to offer short-term apartment bookings
on the Internet. We first linked to his Web site back in the late 1990s, when
most of his competitors used printed catalogs and had yet to discover e-mail or
online booking forms. After staying in one of Glenn's Paris apartments, I
followed up with several questions by e-mail:
Q: In
what year did you move to Paris? A: 1991.
Q: What prompted you to settle in Paris?
A: While in college at the University of Pennsylvania, I had a chance to come to
Paris during my sophomore year for a summer internship. I had a great summer
here and decided to come back in my junior year and study at the Sorbonne which
was another great experience. I made lots of friends, very quickly got
integrated into lots of circles of people in Paris and quickly felt very at home
here.
When I graduated in 1991, I had a job offer to come back to Paris and
work as a banker. I changed jobs several times, and ended up creating my Paris
short term rental agency, Cooper Paris Flats. Living here
for a number of years and helping people to find places to stay as they come
over for visits quickly taught me what was important to people coming here for
short stays. I decided that by creating my own company, I would be able to
provide guests with comfortable centrally located apartments and in addition,
provide my personal help with different questions they had during their stay
here.
Q: Have you got any tips for people who might want to
rent from you--e.g., how far in advance to book at different times of the year?
A: The busiest months of the year are usually April, May, June, July, September and
October and Christmas week, when we usually fill up completely. If you're
planning a trip to Paris for these months, book as soon as you know your travel
dates to make sure you get the perfect apartment for your needs.
If you can travel off season, it is fine to come to Paris in August, which
has a lot more going on nowadays than in the past.
The months of February and
March are also very good months when the city has lots of activity going on
(exhibits, parades, etc.). These months tend to be a bit quieter, so you can
wait to see if you can get last-minute air fares and then book an apartment.
Guests can check available apartments online at
www.rentals-paris.com/getpropsbydate.asp by entering the dates of their
stay.
Note: Glenn Cooper has purchased a dozen
Paris apartments over the years, and he now offers a service for expats and
other foreigners who need help in buying Paris real estate. He can help you work
with property brokers, bankers, renovation contractors, notaries, and other
specialists. (And, of course, you can rent an apartment from Cooper Paris Flats
while you're waiting for the decorators to finish remodeling your new digs.)
Back to:
An Apartment in Paris
About the author:
 Durant Imboden
is a professional travel writer, book author, and editor who focuses on European
cities and transportation.
After 4-1/2 years of covering European travel topics for About.com, Durant and
Cheryl Imboden co-founded Europe for Visitors (including Paris for Visitors) in
2001. The
site has earned "Best of the Web" honors from Forbes and The
Washington Post.
For more information, see
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