French Travel Planner

Girls Guide to Paris Website Introduces Travel Club

NEW YORK, NY. January 18, 2012 -- Seeing and visiting Paris like the average tourist thumbing through the pages of a guidebook is so yesterday! Today's smart and trend-conscious woman visiting The City of Light does not even buy her ticket before going online and reading www.girlsguidetoparis.com. Everything you always wanted to know about Paris, and much more, can be found on this highly-personalized online city guide popular with savvy travelers, even if the only word they know in French is "Bonjour."

Founded in 2009 by noted Francophile, Doni Belau, this is a website which reveals those special secrets to experiencing Paris like a true insider. Among the scores of tips and suggestions, the site provides times of the year when Hermès holds its rare sale on its signature scarves. It also shares the menu of a little known chef whose brasserie will win a Michelin star after you have been among the first to savor its succulent oysters. Here you can find dozens of good-value independent hotels, filled with charm and character, which have been tested and selected. Belau and her team of local writers have visited hundreds of art galleries, bistros and designer boutiques and sampled offbeat tours of Paris to share with their readers the "best of the best" among the city's must-see and discover attractions.

In order to meet the needs of its users, nearly 85% of whom are planning a trip to Paris while visiting the site, Girls Guide to Paris has also created a new Travel Club which provides savings and value, as well as VIP treatment. Within the site's newly-created Travel Club, Belau's hand-picked group of 100 partners is dedicated to the special care and comfort of members who come from around the world to see the city of Hemingway and Gertrude Stein's colorful adventures. Girls Guide is careful to choose for the Club the more unusual, more offbeat and more interesting places, hotels and tours, moving beyond the usual Moulin Rouge show and Seine river cruises.

For starters, anyone can sign up on a complimentary basis for the site's Les Amis (circle of friends) to enjoy access to a monthly newsletter, as colorful as it is informative. A team of insider editors and

writers shares everything from the new, must-taste French vintage to a featured recipe of the month, which can be prepared at home and will turn the reader into Julia Child in no time. Special benefits for Les Amis also provide discounts and timely offers to stretch the Euro beyond one's budget.

To bring the Paris experience up a notch in enjoyment, the site's Passport to Paris status rewards website readers for only $95 per year. For that modest annual fee, the choice of "Paris perks" reads like a traveler's wish list. Among the featured highlights are travel discounts beginning at 10% off, check-in privileges, room upgrades at select hotels, and a VIP welcome amenity. Ten do-it-yourself Girls Guide Walking Tours to Paris are available to help plan your day. Discounts on spas of 15%, members'-only savings on airport transfers, up to 60% off on tours and classes, and as much as $100 off luxury apartment rentals, plus special pricing at boutiques, restaurants and bars can be enjoyed throughout Paris. Total trip savings can equal $500 or more.

For those who want every detail taken care of, Le Club travel club status is available at $325 or $575 per year, depending upon how many days (three or seven) a full-service concierge may be needed in Paris. The Girls Guide concierge can help plan a trip in every detail, and is able to create some very special experiences not available to the average traveler, such as shutting down a store for an exclusive shopping experience or arranging helicopter service for private dinner at a chateau. The full-service concierge will work to make members feel pampered and 100% happy during their stay, and members will also receive all the benefits which Passport to Paris members receive. Even more important, Le Club members can experience VIP Parisian memories with invitations to exclusive fashion shows, previews at art galleries, film screenings, and private parties.

"Based upon the great success which Girls Guide to Paris has enjoyed in just the first two years, we are enhancing the experience to meet the needs and expectations of today's plugged-in traveler, with the recent introduction of mobile apps a key part of our technological offering. Our new apps provide self-directed walking tours, foodie walks, shopping and sightseeing tips, all visible on one's smart-phone and highlighted by see-as-you-go maps. As long as Paris is the world's most famous and beloved destination for visitors, Girls Guide to Paris will continue to enhance the resources offered to our members to enjoy the trip of a lifetime. We know of no other travel club that offers the variety of partners and experiences in Paris that ours does," says Belau. Additionally, Girls Guide to Paris is currently offering a special discount of $20 per Passport membership for those who follow Girls Guide on Facebook or Twitter, or who subscribe to their newsletter.

For more information on Girls Guide to Paris or The Travel Club, visit www.girlsguidetoparis.com or e-mail . Details can be found here on the travel club and check out the Girls' Guide iphone apps here: Paris highlights, Foodie Walks and Shopping and Sightseeing. Digital images are available upon request.

About Girls Guide to Paris
New York-based GirlsGuideToParis.com, an all-encompassing online city guide created in 2009, currently features and manages over 4,000 pages of fun ideas, services and insider-tips when shopping, dining, and visiting Paris - all tested and personally selected with care by founder Doni Belau and her team of locally-based editors. With more than 32,000 users and 70,000 page views monthly, 6,500+ active Facebook fans, and 13,000+ Twitter followers, the Girls Guide to Paris community comprises approximately 200,000 readers per year from the United States, France, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. The site has various projects under development including its recently launched Travel Club, i-Phone applications, downloadable walking tours and a weekly radio show. For more information, access the website at www.girlsguidetoparis.com.