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SOUTH SHORE ENTREPRENEUR: THEY'LL FIND YOU A HOME AWAY FROM HOME; Cohasset couple own renting agency for places in France

By ANDREW LaVALLEE
The Patriot Ledger

COHASSET - Staying at Le Holiday Inn is not everyone’s idea of an authentic vacation in France. But searching the Internet for short-term rental opportunities can produce an overwhelming flood of results.

However, travelers can find another way to stay in Paris, thanks to a Cohasset couple’s 6-year-old apartment rental company.

Connie and Nader Afshar own Panache Paris Apartment Rentals, a company founded out of their love for France, and have a network of property owners with homes to rent.

A former radio and TV producer, Connie Afshar, 54, had worked at a Boston rental business for four years, gaining contacts in the Paris market. When Nader Afshar, 55, left his technology job, the husband and wife began Panache out of their home in 1999.

In September 2001, they purchased One World Travel, a company that represents owners of properties in southern France. They now rent 150 apartments in Paris, and 75 to 100 other homes in Provence, London, Venice and Scotland.

The company’s web site, panacherental.com, features photos and descriptions of its rentals. Thanks to paid advertising through Google and Overture, travelers find the site when searching online for Paris apartment rentals, and the Afshars field calls from as near as Hingham and as far away as Hong Kong and Nigeria, they said.

Site visitors can contact the Afshars by phone or e-mail. Once they provide their itineraries, budget and other lodging preferences, the Afshars contact them within 24 hours with a list of options. The two visit Paris at least twice a year, staying in the properties they market so that they can even tell travelers what time the corner grocery closes, Connie Afshar said.

Jan. 2 is consistently their busiest day of the year, she said, as people begin planning April trips to Paris, and the peak season continues to spring. They also receive many calls in the fall for Christmas vacations. At any time, they typically have about seven clients staying in their properties. Most travelers stay for a week to 10 days, although the Afshars can accommodate even one-year subleases.

Many people enjoy staying in a home instead a four-walled hotel room, she said.

The cost ranges from $185 a night, with a five-night minimum stay, to $700 a night for a three-bedroom penthouse on the Seine. But since the apartments have fully equipped kitchens, guests looking to save money don’t have to eat out for every meal, Connie Afshar said.

‘‘Every time you eat at a café, it’s expensive,’’ she said. ‘‘When you eat in your home, you’re still eating French food.’’

Guests also like the authenticity of the apartments, from the solicitous concierges to ‘‘bonjours’’ in the hallway to browsing neighborhood shops off the beaten path, she said.

That was one reason Greg Bertovich will book a second stay with Panache. A Cohasset resident and the owner of Boston-based Creative Office Pavilion, Bertovich and his family spent eight April days in a three-bedroom apartment owned by opera singer Renee Fleming.

‘‘You really felt like you’re living in a neighborhood,’’ he said. With five of them staying in the home, ‘‘we had lots of room to move and relax after a day walking around,’’ he said. ‘‘It was nice to be in more of an apartment-style living environment instead of being in a hotel room, jammed in.’’

The Afshars have steadily increased their portfolio of rental properties primarily through referrals from current owners they work with.

Linda Allen, a Santa Fe, N.M., resident who owns a house in the French village of Gassin with a view over the Bay of St. Tropez, has worked with the Afshars since they bought One World, her rental partner, in 2001.

‘‘They sort of inherited me,’’ Allen said, but ‘‘they’re very attentive to details ... (and) very good at bringing me tenants for the off-season months.’’

Andrew LaVallee may be reached at alavallee@ledger.com.

Copyright 2005 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Monday, November 07, 2005