anyone familiar with these hotels: Abbatial Saint Germain or Agora St Germain?
 

We found some decent packages that include flights and 6 nights in these hotels but wanted people's input on them before jumping on the prices... the packages are basically about 1100$ for direct flights plus 6 nights in one of these hotels... seems like a good deal to me, but maybe I am not picky enough? I think this is the area we want to stay in - it will be me (27) and another single girls... we want to do a lot of shopping, drink a lot of wine, and sitesee! Let me know what you all think. Thanks so much!

Emily

1. price your airfare using Orbitz or the like for the same dates

2. look up the 2 hotels' webs and price your room(s) for same dates

<>>>Is the price a good deal?

3. Use the search box above and read the comments - both have been favorably mentioned many times (also read on Rants/Raves).

<>>>> Sound good to you?
then, go for it.

Hi Emily,

I just stayed at the Abbatial a few weeks ago with a girlfriend. We decided against the Agora because it was reportedly under renovations.

We liked the location of the Abbatial, as you're a block or two from the Seine, and about five minutes from Notre Dame. It's right on St. Germain, a busy street, so there are lots of fun shops nearby. The little cafe next door serves fantastic omelets.

The people at the front desk were always friendly and helpful. The rooms were okay. We were originally in an interior double room which was very small and drab, overlooking the garbage cans. We gently asked if we could have a different room, and they upgraded us to a "superior" room on the 5th floor, overlooking the street. It was larger and cheerier, but there was some street noise. The garbage trucks usually woke us up in the morning. Overall, the hotel was fine. If it's part of a good package deal (sounds like a steal!), I'd jump on it.

Could someone help me with pronouncing "Abbatial". One doesn't see many French words ending in -ial.

I'll guess, but will probably get it wrong:
ABB-a-SHALL with slight emphasis on the first syllable and the last sounding like Al, as in Al Gore???

no, Jeanne, that wouldn't be quite right. First, it isn't common to stress a first syllable in French (I can't even think of a French word with the first syllable accented although there probably is). It is most common to slightly stress the last one, or pronounce them all with fairly equal stress.

As for the ending, -tial is pronounced with about the same rules as -tion, -tiel, -tieux, etc French word endings, just a different vowel. In those endings, the "t" is pronounced like an "s". And of course, you would pronounce the "i" as a French "y" and then the following "a" in this case. This is called a semi-vowel here (or semi-consonant) as would be in the word pied which you may know. Do you know how to pronounce "nation" or "essentiel" in French? It's that idea. I might try to write this phonetic pronunciation as "syal" but it's not an "sh".

As for as the "a"'s in the word, I think this sound varies a lot among different French speakers even for the same word from a flatter a to more of an "ah", even when it is without a circonflex over it as here, but I wouldn't pronounce it quite as flat as the American name "Al". If you don't accent the first syllable and change the SH (which is an English way of pronouncing -tion etc endings) to the semi-vowel, I think it will be fine.

My French dictionary has the phonetic spelling for this word as "abasjal" where they use "j" to represent the "y" semi-vowel sound and the a as in the words patte or classe.