Make Instant lodging Reservations with Stay Sonoma

A New Sonoma county hospitality industry service
August 2005

Sonoma, CA - Travelers can now make real time, online reservations at staysonoma.com ~ Sonoma’s most sophisticated internet-based travel reservation service.

“Our ability to make real-time reservations went live this month and we are truly amazed at the response,” says owner, Wendy Newman. “We are receiving hundreds of hits daily, heightening occupancy levels for our member base every day. We are thrilled that we can provide this excellent service to our lodging industry.”

Stay Sonoma currently represents 148 hotels, bed and breakfast inns, and vacation rentals, most of which are in Sonoma Valley. “We are expanding to the Sonoma Coast and northern Sonoma County, and now also represent four lodging facilities in Napa, twelve in San Francisco, and four in Carmel. We plan to target Mendocino and Lake Tahoe for future expansion.”

Stay Sonoma has several unique features, which make it stand out from other services, according to Newman and her associate, Michelle Keane:

“We are the only service to maintain a call center which is open 7 days per week, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.,” says Newman. ”We are the only service in Sonoma County dedicated to representing the County in a professional manner that actually knows all participating facilities inside and out. We are the only service which offers this type of portal to the entire county – and beyond. We offer a unique look at each property from three distinct vantage points: those of the owner, Stay Sonoma, and the customer.”

The Stay Sonoma website describes each property in detail and displays exterior and interior photographs. The call center provides additional information and is staffed to answer questions a traveler may have about a specific property or a particular area.

Travelers can book spa services, wine tours, balloon rides, bicycle tours, and limousine services through Stay Sonoma, and they can make restaurant, as well as room reservations, according to Newman and Keane.

The new StaySonoma.com real-time, online booking feature is the result of 2 ½ years of extensive work, research and investment, according to Newman. “We opened in January of 2003 and had our website up and running by February. We’ve since served the industry, however the real-time booking ability catapults us to an incomparably higher level of service.”

Newman has been involved in the hospitality industry since 1985, working her way up from the position of desk clerk to director of sales and marketing and finally to a position as general manger of a hotel in San Francisco. It was her dream to own a bed and breakfast inn and in 1999 she sold her home in San Francisco to travel for an entire year through 38 states, researching the industry. After running a bed and breakfast inn in Illinois for three months, she realized her true passion. “I thought I would like greeting guests, but found that what I really loved was talking on the telephone with them and helping them get excited about their vacation plans. I consider myself a matchmaker. I love helping people find the right matches for their travels.”

Newman praises her associate, Michelle Keane, for her unwavering dedication to Stay Sonoma as both a volunteer as well as an associate, through the planning and growth, and the final achievement of the ultimate goal of a fully live online booking engine. “We attribute much of our immediate success with the online booking engine to excellent website design by Rare Brick, a Sonoma County design firm; to contracting with Blizzard, a hospitality industry internet service which has put us at the top of lodging sites on the web; and of course, to Google,” says Newman. “Our vision has come to fruition. We look forward to helping thousands of travelers discover Sonoma County and enjoy their stays here so much that they will visit regularly. We are proud to have the ability to support our industry and to partner with local businesses in bringing revenue to Sonoma County.”