App can bring services to your door

section B
business
Friday, June 5, 2015
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App can bring services to your door
By Laura Layden
[email protected]; 239-263-4818
Need a massage therapist?
Want a personal chef?
Looking for a bartender?
There’s an app for that, delivering them right to your door in
Naples.
Through the app, local residents can arrange resort-style experiences — in their own homes
or backyards.
Called Relax and Order, the app
was launched about a month ago.
Its mobile vendors, traveling from Marco Island to Bonita
Its mobile vendors
travel in the area
from Marco Island
to Bonita Springs.
Springs, offer everything from
massages and gourmet meals to
computer coaching and handgun
training.
For now, the app is zeroing in
on the Naples area, but it soon will
expand to the Tampa market.
The app is the brainchild of
Naples native James Ayres, who
has years of experience in luxury
hotel management, and a partner,
Dennis Harrison Jr., who he describes as “kind of Yoda” when it
comes to technological wisdom.
They’re looking to tap into the
luxury home services market,
which has been estimated to be an
$8-billion-a-year industry now in
the U.S. They make their money
through transaction fees when
orders are placed.
The partners met years ago
when the hotel Ayres worked for
in Panama City Beach hired Harrison, now 33, to do an information technology project. Harrison,
an IT consultant and principal in
LA Tech Pro, soon will relocate to
Florida from Louisiana.
Here’s how Relax and Order
works: Users tap on the app to review the available services, then
choose what they want.
Once an order for a service is
placed, the vendors offering it are
“pinged” immediately and can reply if they’re available.
See AREA APP, 2B
RIGHT: Relax and Order is an app
that makes it easy to find chefs,
bartenders, massage therapists and
others to bring their services to you.
IT’S YOUR
BUSINESS
DAILY NEWS STAFF
New affiliation
Private Eyes Home Watch
LLC now is an affiliate of
Your Home Watch Professionals . The company
provides home watch services to seasonal residents
in Fort Myers, Estero and
Bonita Springs. For more
information: 239-672-7295;
www.PrivateEyesHW.com
Art studo opens
Painting with a Twist has
opened at 13500 U.S. 41 N.,
Unit 7. The art studio offers
painting classes that allow
students to bring their own
wine or purchase a bottle
from the studio to enjoy
as they participate in the
class. The studio also offers open classes for small
groups and private parties
for groups of 10 or more.
For more information:
239-451-6139 and www.
PaintingWithATwist.com
Award nominees
The Bonita Springs Area
Chamber of Commerce dis-
closed the nominees for
the 2015 Small Business of
the Year award. The winner will be announced at
a luncheon from 11:30 a.m.
to 1 p.m. June 16 at Artichoke & Company, 11920
Saradrienne Lane, Bonita
Springs.
Nominees: A/C Electrical
Services, ARC of Life Family
Spinal Care, Center for the
Arts Bonita Springs, Classic
Floors & Countertops, Cosmotique Day Spa, Entech,
Norman Love Confections,
Nova Wealth Management,
Pelican Landing Dental,
Spotlight Magazines and
TLC Marketing and Creative
Services.
Information: 239-9922943; www. BonitaSprings
Chamber.com
Hired at Estero mall
Sean Carroll has been
hired as director of marketing and business development at Coconut Point
mall in Estero.
Honor from PGA
EJ McDonnell, PGA director of golf at Bonita Bay
Club, has been named the
2015 Southwest Florida
PGA Bill Strausbaugh
Award recipient. The
award is given to a PGA
professional who has made
significant contributions
to the advancement of
club relations in his or her
community and chapter.
Information: www.bonitabayclub.net; 239-949-5061
To submit your business
news directly online, go to
naplesnews.com/BIZwire or
email [email protected].
AssOcIATed PRess (2)
Al Karp, left, plays the saxophone as he rehearses with his son, Larry, and wife, saundra, at their home in North Miami Beach in May. The trio performs
old standards locally as the Karp Family to ease stress and help raise money to save the elder Karps’ home from foreclosure.
Housing debt a blue note for seniors
■ Many got caught
in the real estate
boom and bust
By Paul Wiseman
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Al and Saundra
Karp have found an unconventional way to raise money and
help save their North Miami
Beach home from foreclosure:
They’re lining up gigs for their
family jazz band.
They enjoy performing. But it
isn’t exactly how Al Karp, 86, a
Korean War veteran, or his wife,
Saundra, 76, had expected to
spend their retirement.
Of all the financial threats
facing Americans of retirement
age — outliving savings, falling
for scams, paying for long-term
care — housing isn’t supposed to
be one.
But after a home-price collapse, the worst recession since
The Karps refinanced their home, partly to pay down credit card debt,
and their mortgage swelled to $288,000. Al kept working as a tax accountant
into his late 70s, but Alzheimer’s disease forced him into retirement.
the 1930s and some calamitous
decisions to turn homes into
cash machines, millions of older
Americans are straining to make
house payments.
The consequences can be severe. Retirees who use retirement
money to pay housing costs can
face disaster if their health deteriorates or their savings run short.
They’re more likely to need help
from the government, charities
or their children. Or they must
keep working deep into normal
retirement years.
“It’s a big problem coming off
the housing bubble,” said Cary
Sternberg, who advises seniors
on housing issues in The Villages,
a Florida retirement community.
“A growing number of seniors
are struggling with what to do
about their home and their mortgage and their retirement.”
The baby boom generation
already was facing a retirement
crunch: Over the past two decades, employers largely have
eliminated traditional pensions,
forcing workers to manage their
retirement savings. Many boomers didn’t save enough, invested
badly or raided their retirement
accounts.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Office for Older Americans said 30 percent
of homeowners 65 and older
See HOME DEBT, 5B
Apple: Watch to be sold in stores soon
Associated Press
SANFRANCISCO— Soon you will be able
to buy an Apple Watch like you’d buy
most other watches — in a store.
Two months after Apple began
taking online orders for its newest
product, the company said Thursday
it plans to begin selling some models
in its retail stores in two weeks.
Apple also said it’s cutting through
a backlog of online orders, with most
watches ordered by the end of May to
be shipped within two weeks.
The smartwatch has been on display in Apple stores in the U.S. and
eight other countries, where customers can examine and try them on. But
they couldn’t buy one and wear it out
the door. Apple has said that was be-
cause supplies were limited.
Just how many watches Apple has
sold isn’t clear. The company based in
Cupertino, California, hasn’t released
any sales figures, prompting some industry analysts to speculate demand
was lower than expected. Others cite
reports of manufacturing problems in
Asia as evidence supplies were constrained unexpectedly.
Apple also said Thursday that it will
begin selling the watch in more countries this month, adding Italy, Mexico,
Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and Taiwan.
“The response to Apple Watch has
surpassed our expectations in every
way,” Apple Senior Vice President Jeff
Williams said in a statement Thursday, without offering details.
AssOcIATed PRess
A customer tries on an Apple Watch at an Apple store in Hong Kong
in April. The watches in stores have been for display purposes only.
2B » Friday, June 5, 2015 »
N A P L E S D A I LY N E W S
AREA APP
from 1B
The orderer then can
choose a vendor, book
the service and pay for it,
using Apple Pay, Google
Wallet or a credit card.
When a vendor arrives
in the driveway, the app
automatically notifies the
orderer.
After the service is
done, a customer can use
the app to write a review
and pay a tip.
“We think it’s going
to be something to help
people keep their life at
home,” Ayres said.
50 businesses
More than 50 local businesses have signed up to
offer services through the
app. They include chefs,
bartenders, auto detailers, electricians, massage
therapists, musicians, yoga
instructors, housekeepers
and senior caregivers.
“We’re a hospitality
company first and foremost,” Ayres, 40, said. “But
if you need a painter, we
have those.”
So far, some of the most
in-demand services are
car detailing and massages. Some of the more
unusual vendors include
firearm concierges and a
grill cleaner.
Every business is interviewed and screened, like
a job candidate for a luxury hotel, before it’s chosen
for the app, Ayres said.
“We use all of our ninja
tricks that we learned in
the hospitality business,”
he added.
Close working relationships already have developed with the vendors, he
said, with them becoming
“parts of the family.”
The app soon will feature a “local order of the
day,” as a way to highlight
its vendors. A version of
the app is being tweaked
to work on a desktop computer.
Work on the app began
James
Ayres
Dennis
Harrison Jr.
in late September, and its
creators revised it many
times to get through the
rigid app-store approval
process.
The app has brought
Ayres back to Naples,
where he graduated from
Barron Collier High
School many years ago.
He last worked as a general manager at Angler’s
Boutique Resort in Miami
Beach, a top-ranked hotel on the travel website
TripAdvisor. He managed
numerous other hotels in
Florida and Georgia, including the former Registry Resort in Naples.
Ayres was introduced to
the hotel industry by his
father, John Ayres, who
formed Coral Hospitality
in 1988. The full-service
hospitality and investment
company owns hotels, resorts, golf clubs, residences and spas.
John Ayres also is a cofounder and managing
partner of Relax and Order, bringing his business
expertise to the venture.
“He’s an invaluable
source for marketing,”
Harrison said. “He’s been
doing it a while.”
Hospitality Help
The company behind
the app now has more than
a half-dozen employees,
all with hospitality backgrounds. They include
Brennan Brossman, the
head sales manager for
Naples and Marco Island.
Brossman’s job is to sign
up local businesses and to
help with local marketing.
In the first month, he
said, the app has had more
than 250 downloads, with
a strong marketing cam-
Stories of Hardships,
Hustles and Hope.
Relax and Order was designed to make it easy to find
businesses that will bring
their services to your door.
The app has a feature you
can use to verify your order
was completed satisfactorily.
paign behind it, including
television commercials on
such channels as ESPN,
Fox News and the Food
Network.
Brian Jones, who lives
in Fort Myers and owns
Personal Defense Consulting, is offering his services through the app. His
services include showing
people how to use their
guns for personal protection and teaching them the
rules for carrying their
guns. He already has had
a few orders.
“The idea itself is interesting. It’s something different,” he said of the app.
Sid Kurrimbukus, a
full-time chef at the Lely
Country Club at Ole in
East Naples, is looking to
boost his income by serving his cooking services
through the app. He hasn’t
gotten any orders yet, but
he expects to soon.
“I really like it,” he said
of the app. “I think it’s going to go really well.”
For more information, see
relaxandorder.com.
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