business>>

Not Just
Lounging
Around

Four friends launch
a poolside chair
reservation business.

Zachary Lederer, Jordan Yellen, David

Weintraub and Brandon Yellen

Aaron Filipski I Special to the Jewish News

W

Where every season is the

PERFECT SEASON

.

Retire from winter at Fox Run,

a vibrant 62-plus community in

Novi. Enjoy a weatherproof lifestyle

free from maintenance and filled with

amenities like an indoor pool, fitness center,

and restaurants.

Call 1-800-989-1460
for your FREE brochure!

Fox Run

Add more Living to your Life®

41000 13 Mile Road
Novi, MI 48377

EricksonLiving.com

40 November 12 2015

JN

hen Jordan Yellen,
Brandon Yellen, David
Weintraub and Zack
Lederer became frustrated with the
hassles of finding and keeping a good
poolside spot while vacationing, they
didn't complain to the concierge. Instead,
the four enterprising friends conceptual-
ized a solution: LoungeReserve.com —
an online hub that allows resort guests to
effortlessly reserve prime poolside real
estate at participating resorts.
"We saw some families getting into
a fight on the first day of their vacation
over a set of lounge chairs:' Lederer
recalled. "One of the families was actu-
ally removed from the hotel and, while
we were sitting there, we realized there
had to be a fix for this; there had to be a
solution:'
The concept works like this: Hotels
designate a number of lounge chairs that
are accessible to guests by reservation
only. LoungeReserve then schedules the
reservations, handles the transactions
and works with pool maintenance staff
at participating hotels to ensure guests'
chairs are ready whenever they arrive.
"You can sleep in, go to the spa, go
to the gym and you don't have to worry
about getting a chair bright and early in
the morning:' explained Weintraub.
The idea is so incredibly simple it
seems surprising that it wasn't already
being done.
Lederer agreed. "I have found in my
28 years on this Earth that most grand
ideas, when they hit you, you say, 'Why
isn't anybody doing this yet?' and that's
exactly what we said:'
After an initial trial run with Aria
Resort & Casino, a number of other
Las Vegas resorts quickly signed on,
including Bally's Las Vegas Hotel &
Casino, Harrah's, Paris-Las Vegas, Planet
Hollywood Las Vegas Resort & Casino,
Rio All-Suite Las Vegas Hotel and
Casino, Vdara Hotel & Spa and Caesar's
Palace.
The growth rate is astounding, con-
sidering the site only launched in early
2014.

"We built this website, launched it
and, lo and behold, we got more and
more reservations every day:' Weintraub
said. "It caught wind in Vegas and grew
and grew; it really proved itself'
In well under two years, the partners
went from 40 lounge chair rentals to
having rented 18,000, and expanded to
include nearly 3,000 daybed and cabana
rentals.
"I'm proud to announce that in our
first year of operation we have passed
the $1 million mark in revenues:' Jordan
Yellen said.
For a first-time venture, the numbers
are pretty impressive. So is the workload,
which is why they divvy up the proper-
ties among each other. Working together
is a natural fit for the group — the four
are longtime friends from Metro Detroit
"We grew up as best friends, and
we're good at everything we do in our
friendship, so we figured that business
wouldn't be any different if we teamed
up on that as war Lederer said.
Surprisingly, the LoungeReserve web-
site is only a side-gig for the four; each
has an unrelated day job — a testament
to their hard work ethic.
By day, Lederer, 27, is a director of
mortgage banking for Quicken Loans.
He attends Congregation Shaarey Zedek.
Weintraub, 27, a Michigan State busi-
ness management graduate, works in
the family business, Kurtis Kitchen and
Bath.
Brothers Jordan and Brandon Yellen,
25 and 27, respectively, both work
for the family firm, Belfour Property
Restoration. Jordan is a Michigan State
University economics graduate. Brandon
attended Oakland Community College
and Western Michigan University and
was recently engaged to be married.
Both brothers attend Temple Israel.
All the men reside in Birmingham.
The partners aren't ready to rest on
their successes yet. For them, growth is
the only direction, and they plan to offer
their services to cruise ship operators
and passengers in 2016. *