OntDave

Planning a trip in mid September and found a few nice looking, reasonably priced apartments with parisattitude.com and wondered if anyone here had experience with this company. Any comments good or bad would be greatly appriciated.

swisshiker

Hello OntDave

I rented from them a year ago. No problems whatsoever. The apartment we rented (#114) worked out great for us.

At the time we rented, the deposit was sent to the agency directly. Then the balance was given to the owner/owner's agent upon arrival.

cw

Do a search here and on Tripadvisor for comments, reviews have been mixed. Before you rent with them, compare all the fees, including their agency fee and the security deposit arrangements. In my experience their apartments seem higher priced than comparable agencies.

They represent individual owners. After you rent the apartment, the rest of your dealings are with the owner not the agency. So the experience will vary from person to person.

Here's a recent discussion about their security deposit: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...m#last-comment

And here's a link to the paris apartment thread where posters have commented on their experiences:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ent-thread.cfm

Good luck.

swisshiker

cw, I just read that thread about security deposits. That seems extraordinarily high. Wonder how that turned out.

But in our one experience with ParisAttitude, the security deposit was paid by US check, which was returned to us within a week of returning back to the US after our trip.

Perhaps each owner handles it differently.

Christina

I am pretty sure Patrick rented from them and that's how he found the Latin Qtr studio apt he really likes. Their apartments seem reasonably priced to me, I looked at a lot of them but ultimately chose another company that has the same deposit requirement, as I recall (lodgis.fr). The only thing is, for both those, you are really renting from the owner still, not the agency. The agency does act as go-between and handle the paperwork (and lodgis did an excellent job, it was very professional, with clear contracts and procedures, and quick responses). but the contract is signed by the actual owner.

As it turned out, the owner I rented from on lodgis told me he wouldn't require a deposit from me if I bought an insurance policy from a firm that they arranged in Paris which only cost 30 euro. It worked out well, but it was an individual owner's decision on that, as the standard agency statement was equal to the rent.

I remember someone else on here renting from them, a place on bd Magenta, as I recall, and that was fine, I'll see if I can find that.

Christina

here is the thread I was thinking of, several people on there rented from them

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...r-a-rental.cfm

cw

swisshiker,

You must be right about the security deposit differing from owner to owner. Paying all of that in cash upon arrival seems unnecessarily burdensome. You had a good arrangement and, so evidently, have others.

OntDave

Thank you all for the great advice and tips

patricequebec

You should see our experience at http://paris-attitude.blogspot.com/ I'm sorry it's in french but to summarize let say that at Paris Attitude what they annonce is not always what you get. Also they are very expensive on their commission. You should use another agency like New-York Habitat or Travel Holidays there's a lot of agency renting in Paris. Also september is a wonderful month in Paris, have a nice trip.
Patrice

Christina

Their commission is pretty typical, I believe it is the same commission that NY Habitat takes. It really doesn't matter what the commission is anyway, it's the bottom line of what you pay, whether it is called commission or rent doesn't matter, that one should asssess. I've had dealings with NY Habitat and they weren't so great, don't know why you think they are, so I know they have a large commission.

swisshiker

I'd echo what Christina says. It's the bottom line price that matters.

When I rented from ParisAttitude, I was quoted a weekly price. A portion of the fee went to the agency, the remainder was paid to the owner directly.

I had no problem with that. The agency should get something for advertising, maintaining websites, etc.

laralou

I found Paris Attitude a nightmare. The apartment was falsly advertised including the condition of the apartment and suitability. I complained and asked for help finding a new apartment and there was no response. Their 'attitude' is deal with the owner, we've done our part. We managed with the apartment for our month stay only to have the owner's agent (not paris attitude) skip town with our deposit of 2100 euros. Paris Attitude has been little help and we have yet to see our deposit. I wrongly assumed Paris Attitude had better quality apartments. Definitely not worth the higher price - there are cheaper agencies/apts out there. Still love Paris!

sydgirl1

We stayed with Paris attitude apartment 977 for 8 days and it was one of the best experiences of our lives. Many of our friends have stayed there since. Jacques ( a lawyer) owns it and meets you with the key. A studio apartment is one street away from Rue Montague? ( sorry about spelling) where we were able to buy fresh food every day. We could walk 10 mins to the Louvre.
Paris Attitude was very professional in their dealings. Maybe as some one said it depends on which owner you get. By the way it is cheaper the longer you stay. The amount per week goes down.

Benja_Sevilla

I had a TERRIBLE experience with this company. They just WAISTED MY TIME for two weeks when they were supposed to find an apartment for me. TOTAL LACK OF PROFESSIONALISM and FORMALITY. I would not recommend to work with them at all. There are other places, much better, to find apartments in Paris

Christina

Can you be more specific? I am actually looking at their places now for the future as they have a very good selection and good prices. What exactly did they do and when you say they were supposed to "find an apartment for me", do you mean you didn't pick one out specifically for a certain time and try to rent it? That's what I would be doing. I realize you may not be happy, but the specifics can help people decide if that is something that matters to them or not.

Tangoparisienne

I have dealt with ParisAttitude on numerous occasions (8 to be specific). I find them to be professional and they fairly represent their services. It is not their job to find you an apartment. It is your job to act quickly once you have found a suitable unit. You need to establish a relationship with the unit owner. I always start about three months prior to my arrival to make sure I get what I need. I wire all of the funds to the Agency for its fees and if the owner wants I wire the rental amount to their account. I take the deposit in traveler's checks.

I have always gotten the checks back because I give them to them unsigned (they require a double signature. It is the owners job to greet you and check you out at the end of the stay. Based on some of the comments here I think the issue is that people are expecting the same services they would receive at a hotel. You are there to experience Paris as a native. If you are there fora pampered vacation go the hotel route.

There is also a company, It's a Small World, that I have rented from and they are also great if you are looking for a studio. If you want a truly horrible experience try Paris Stay. Truly nightmare properties and an even more nightmarish staff.

karen2013

Becareful with them if you dont want to waste your time and patience not all the pictures look like what the apartment really are... live in Paris and my mother came to visit me for a week we saw a little studio but near from were I live,i didnt look that bad a little expebsive for the size but we rent it...when we arrived surprise.....it was really small and it didbt look like the pictures the place was dark and dirty and the floor was old like they never touched after the war..the bed was in a horible conditions (broken)so my mother had to sleep in the floor,we write the compagny to complaint and we never got an answer from them even to we appologise the only thing they wanted was their money I used to rent wth paristay wich is an agency more responsable they come the first day you arrive if you have a problem they solve it right the way but as their appartment were more expensive and smaller we changed to parisattitude...
And as they are less expensive in the rents and the apartments are bigger we wanted to rent again so we contact them but asked them to see the apartmebt before...as I asked to see tge apartment it has been 2 weeks almost 3 and I havebt got a call for he visit even.if I called back saying Im ibteressted

karen2013

Becareful with them if you dont want to waste your time and patience not all the pictures look like what the apartment really are... live in Paris and my mother came to visit me for a week we saw a little studio but near from were I live,i didnt look that bad a little expebsive for the size but we rent it...when we arrived surprise.....it was really small and it didbt look like the pictures the place was dark and dirty and the floor was old like they never touched after the war..the bed was in a horible conditions (broken)so my mother had to sleep in the floor,we write the compagny to complaint and we never got an answer from them even to we appologise the only thing they wanted was their money I used to rent wth paristay wich is an agency more responsable they come the first day you arrive if you have a problem they solve it right the way but as their appartment were more expensive and smaller we changed to parisattitude...
And as they are less expensive in the rents and the apartments are bigger we wanted to rent again so we contact them but asked them to see the apartmebt before...as I asked to see tge apartment it has been 2 weeks almost 3 and I havebt got a call for he visit even.if I called back saying Im interested they only say they have to contact the owner so we did a test and my mother sended the request..of course with a different name that mine .the same day they answer her that he owner didnt wanted to rent it in those dates....and Im still wating for the answer of the agency for the visit(but as I spoke in french..they prefere foreing because it means more money!!! So dont talk to hem in french ,they wint answer you quickly!! And the only thing they do is to take thir comition and if you have a problem...you have to solve it yourself because they disapear

Christina

That doesn't make a lot of sense (aside from your possible keyboard problem), as there are a wide variety of apartments on their website, so some are cheaper than others and some are bigger or smaller than others, people can choose the price range they want and size.

And there are many many vacation rental apt. websites nowadays, you don't have to only choose from Paris Attitude (assuming that is whom you are talking about) or Paris Stay.