traveler24

Plan to go back to Paris in the fall..or may be spring-2011
Did the "hotel" thing last Sept. and it was great. How ever grand-daughter thought next time it would be "cool" to have an apartment for a week.
(It took her there last Sept. for 21st. birthday present)
Feedback appreciated.

Christina

Sure, a lot of people have, you can find some comments on bad results on here and other websites (I think Tripadvisor has some apt. comments, but I'm not sure == slowtrav.com does).

I've rented a few apts that had a couple features I didn't like so well or that I wish had been different (like one that was across from a noisy Arab cafe that played at real loud volume Arab music starting early in the morning), but I never had anything horrible happen or any problem with the contracts or monies or things like that, or any substantial misrepresentation. I only rent from reputable French agencies that have been in business a while and are registered with the city, however.

zeppo2

I've read a few horror stories here and elsewhere, but they really do seem to be the exception. For the most part, gross misrepresentation or problems with money transfer just leads to bad reviews and loss of business, so I think most of the time things go ok as long as you have reasonable expectations and do your homework. I've stayed at many VRBO places in the last few years and have been happy every time, although I tend to go with cheaper places so that I can stay longer. I do my homework, "walk by" the property using street view in Google Maps (looking for those noisy cafes), and send inquiries to several property owners. If the communication is really slow or problematic, I don't rent from them, figuring they may be problems later on. I figure that eventually the odds will catch up with me and I'll have a bad experience, but isn't that true with hotels, too?

tod

Like yourself traveler24, we have always relied on hotels in Paris but this August are taking the plunge and renting an apartment for a week. I have had no problems with the Lease Agreement and have paid over half the rent as a deposit. The other half gets given to the keyholder upon our arrival.
This is what we have to look forward to:
http://www.vrbo.com/103254

Celticharper

We were also very reluctant to rent when we started looking at including large security deposits, paid in cash in a fareign country that we would have no recourse, if we didn't have the deposit returned. So when we found VIP (vacationinparis) we were thrilled.

We had a limited budget so we rented one of the more inexpensive apartments, Classique #08 on the Rue Saint Dominique

http://www.vacationinparis.com/apts/id_08.htm

There is no real view as one the bedroom window looks out onto the courtyard and the living/dining room window looks over the neighbors back garden raised terrace, so it would be very quiet at night even though it is on a busy street.

Vacation in Paris was very easy to work with. There is a NJ office so the price for the rental was charged in dollars and I liked the idea of not having to provide a security deposit of several hudred euros, we were able to use our credit card which made me more comfortable as well.

This was our first rental in Paris and vacationin paris made it a lovely experience. We will rent from VIP again for our next trip.

We rented a lovely tiny one bedroom apartment in the 7th last month from vacationinparis. It worked out well for us, we loved having an apartment, some nights we were too tired after walking around the city all day to go out to a restaurant, so we just cooked up a simple meal for an early evening.

It was perfect for us.

nytraveler

There have been some reports here of problems - but most seemed to be either unrealistic expectations or unasked questions, although a couple of people did have substantial problems.

I think the key is doing a huge amount of homework and understanding the differences between apartments in europe versus in the US (usually much smaller, often walk-up versus elevator, rarely have AC, and appliances much different that we would expect). Can esp be a problem for people who have only lived in houses and are not familiar with the compromises inherent in any sort of apartment (group) living.

loveyblue

Do NOT rent from Jeanette Cousins! She came highly recommended from this board with several references. She phoned the night before we were to leave the states telling us that the apartments was not going to be available. We had paid a deposit which she gladly returned - with a bad check! Actually she sent a second check to replace the first one and it was bad also.