Advice on Hotel de St. Germain and Airconditioning
 

I am on my never ending search for hotels in Paris. I found the Hotel de St. Germain which is a two star hotel. It looks nice and I am interested in the area. Has anyone ever stayed at this hotel and what are your impressions? My next question- we are planning to go to Paris in late May 2005. I am a native Texan and I am wondering should I be looking at hotels that have ac or is that not even a concern? I remember that Europe had a very unusual heatwave last summer but I don't think it was in May. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

I did read that the rooms are smaller than usual. It's owned by the family who owns Hotel Le Fleurie.

A/C is probably a good idea in late May. Although the weather may not be hot, your hotel room can get fairly warm, and with a/c you can sleep with the windows closed and thus no noise problem. And if the weather should turn hot, you'd be in good shape.

You could check out the Hotel DeVillas, another 2* (verging on 3*) that has both a/c and an elevator. It's in the 5th.

Thanks for the replies. Underhill, you mentioned Hotel deVillas. Do they have a website?

ilovetulips, the Hotel Devillas website is: http://www.hoteldevillas.com

It looks a bit out of the way even though it's in the 5th district; it's on Blvd. Saint Marcel looks like it's nearer to Gare d'Austerlitz. It does look very nice however.

I just found their website. Since Underhill suggested it, I am wondering have you stayed there. It looks like a great hotel and the prices look great too. Is there a catch to this?

HI ilovetulips (I love your name!) I would never stay in any Paris hotel w/o AC no matter what the time of year. We were just there in some very cold and raw March weather and we still needed to use the AC in order for the room not to be stuffy. We had a large window but even not facing the street, it was much too noisy to sleep w/an open window. Also, the AC allows you to regulate the room temp to exactly what suits you, as well as blocking out any extraneous noises from the hallways of the hotel. We have also been there at times of year when Paris makes Florida in the summer seem cool by comparison, and AC was a necessity. To carry through w/the metaphor of your sceen name, maybe I am too much a "hothouse flower" but AC is on my list of musts for any hotel.

I read a review of the Hotel DeVillas on the bonjourparis.com web site. The reviewer is pretty fussy about hotels and gave the DeVillas very high marks, especially given its rates. Not many 2* hotels have a/c, let alone an elevator; so it sounds like a very good buy. I imagine it's well known to Europeans but not to Americans.

hi
at tripadvisor.com there are good comments on the Hotel St-Germain (88 rue de Bac)
go to
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...de_France.html