logos999

Travelling a lot, it's still stunning to me where this huge difference in quality (and service as well) comes from. The "cheap" hotel room in i.e. France offers a standardized product, room, lousy breakfast chain hotel style. A few years ago, it was dirty too.
Still, today it is light years away from what I get for the same price in Germany..

The reason, imo? Those German places are still family and independently operated by small business owners, yet they offer far better quality than the chains for little money..The difference between German and French hotels and Garnis is so drastic and the difference in value you get for you money so enormous.

Buy the products of these small businesses, don't let the chains take over like they did in so many places abroad.

Underhill

I have to disagree. We've found small French hotels that are individually owned, clean, and offer good breakfasts--certainly hot hotel-style. There are many good B&Bs as well. You must have had a long streak of bad luck to find French lodgings so bad.

What do you mean by Garnis? Never heard of it.

Russ

What you say is absolutely true. There is still a lot of pride and old-fashioned diligence, hospitality, and attention to detail in small German operations. That many are family operations is an important part of it. But it's also a matter of character. Germans tend to be hard-working and dedicated in their professional and family lives, and consequently, they also really value their own vacation time. Empty-nesters who start up a Pension in their retirement years seem to remember how much their own vacations meant to them and treat their guests accordingly.

The fact that they do a great job so cheaply has a lot to do with the fact that they don't have as much overhead. Their homes tend to be large by European standards and paid off; when the kids leave, a little remodeling and refurbishing, and they have an inn with no building loan.

iris1745

Agree with Underhill; We found many family run B&B'S in France that were very inexpensive. Never had a dirty room. They do have different ideas on breakfast. Perhaps that's why the French are so much leaner than the Germans. But we loved places we have stayed in both France and Germany along with the breakfast in each country. All that sausage for breakfast in Germany-love it. But Logos999's middle name is 'controversary' and that's why this thread was started. Richard P.S. For the summer months, found A/C everywhere we went in both Germany and France-so take that Logos999

pja1

I don't know anything about France, but we always stay in family owned and run Pension's, Garni's and Gasthof's in Germany, Austria and the Italian Dolomites. We've never had a bad experience (about 80 nights last 10 years) and would stay in every one again. I couldn't imagine a better expeience for even twice the money at a "hotel".

Chain hotels... don't really care for them. Even for our bike trips to the Catskills (NY state) here at home, we stay in "local" motels. We'd rather help them out.

nytraveler

Are you comparing apples to apples. I've stayed in numerous gasthauses in Germany - but they were all in the countryside or very small towns. Were the places you stayed in in France also in the country - or near a large city or resort area - which would naturally be much ore expensive?

Ingo

I've had bad experiences in B&Bs in Germany, too. Bamberg and Gengenbach come to my mind. A family run small hotel in Konstanz was not good either, wouldn't stay there again.

markan

I can't compare France to Germany since I've never been to France. However, I generally have had very good experiences with my visits to Germany (mostly Franconia) with getting really good quality for very little cost at small privately owned establishments. This applies to hotels, meals, and especially beer. It is a wonder how things are so inexpensive there. Family members sometimes ask me why I vacation in Germany so often instead of somewhere in the US or Carribean. One answer I typically give is "Because I can afford to vacation in Germany."

flpab

Rothenburg had the best place in all my visits to Germany. Edith, who owns both the inn and restaurant speaks great English and was so quick to reply to all my questions via email before we arrived. We did the room and half board which was a great deal. The soup, salad, entree and spaetzle were amazing. When I thought nothing could get better she brought us fresh mades strudel with cream and ice cream. Good thing we did the night watchmen's tour after! The next night her husband cooked homemade brats with kraut and potatoes. He made the best soup and we had a mousse cake. Breakfast was great and the room was clean and comfy. Parking on the street in front of the guesthouse so you could park inside the walled city and walking distance to the marketplaz was one block. We loved it. it was Milchmarket 6.
Here is the web site: http://www.spaetzle-schwob.de/index_eng.html I tell everyone about this place, What a gem. I don't really like B&Bs, I have found the owners are into your business and hate that but might just be us. I like Guesthouses and Inns. Still personal but more private. Germany and Ireland have great Inns and guesthouses. I am getting spoiled now with flipkey and the self catering apartments within the cities. Great deals and you are helping out private business owners.

JulieVikmanis

In general my experience has been that lodging in most every category has been less expensive in Germany (and Austria) than in France for similar standards. In almost all instances a wonderful breakfast gets included in your room rate in Germany, but less likely to be so in France as well. I've noticed the variation but have never tried to find any specific reason(s) to account for it.

november_moon

I always figured that it was because the Germans are generally more hospitable people than the French

Christina

I haven't stayed in enough B&Bs/garnis etc (garni is a common term in Germany and Switzerland and I believe specifically means a small family-run hotel/inn) in Germany to compare to France as to whether this could be true. But it clearly isn't true to compare garnis & B&Bs to chain hotels in France, that doesn't make sense. Compare them to the same kind of hotel or B&B in France, small family-run ones. I"ve staye din plenty of those and they were fine in France, but I don't know if they are more expensive than in Germany for the same type of situation and urban area.

I did stay in a Garni in Verbier, Switzerland and it was nice and nice, but not cheap, but that's a ski resort area.

StCirq

The only appreciable difference I have noticed between small, family-run inns/B&Bs in Germany and France is the breakfast, which doesn't score a whole lot of points with me because I am not someone who can roll out of bed and stuff my cheeks with ham and sausage and cheese and eggs and rolls and butter and muesli. Prices were comparable, cleanliness was comparable, service was comparable.

I've also stayed at small inns in Switzerland and paid a small fortune to do so.

bettyk

Garni only means that the hotel/gasthof, etc., serves breakfast but does not have a restaurant.

I have always felt that German hotels/gasthofs, etc., offer excellent value for the money. But I've also found this to be true with some Austrian accommodations as well. However, we do stay mostly in smaller towns and don't travel in the higher priced summer months.

kerouac

I found cheap accommodations in Germany to be quite good but rather rare. In France, they may sometimes be mediocre, but at least they are plentiful. Paris is the 3rd cheapest city in Europe for cheap accommodations (1-2 star) while being the most expensive for luxury accomodations (4-5 star). This tends to throw people for a loop, since a lot of people seem to think for some odd reason that they need 3-star, which is a very mixed grab bag indeed in Paris.

nz101

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