Calling Patrick
 

Hey Patrick,
Regarding: "Havana, I STRONGLY suggest you cancel your reservation at Relais St. Germain immediately. You have given a 100% accurate description of their rooms above and you already have indicated you dislike it. I suggest you start a new search for a hotel!!!!

You're a dear to have given me this urgent alert about the RStG. Very good of you to be looking out for my best interests, & I can't tell you how much it meant to me. I wanted to respond immediately but I wasn't yet ready to jump back into the fray - which you accurately surmised in another one of your posts.

Hope you have a lovely evening.

Patrick, you saved the day again, and isn't it nice to be offered the thanks?
Well done
:)

You're very welcome.

I was afraid I might be attacked for "sleuthing" and finding that thread where you described what you're really looking for, but glad you appreciate my sincere efforts. Some others would have taken my message as having some hidden agenda.
Did you see the website for Relais St. Germain? It's owned by interior designers (or was until recently anyway) and it is EVERYTHING you say you don't like in decor.

And Patrick, I wanted to thank you for recommending the RSG. I went in to look around on my recent trip and loved it. I will stay there next time.

How very funny. A thank you for discouraging RSG and a thank for recommending RSG both in the same thread. It just goes to show that some of us really do try to understand what people want. I recommended it heartily to Havana, until I understood what she was really looking for. Not everyone has the same taste -- that's for sure.

Well actually, that thread where I was seeking minimalism was a post from last year. I was just back from a stint at a DesignSuites hotel which I was crazy about, & I was contemplating a quick solo trip to Paris, but ended up not going.

Now, since I'm taking the child, I thought it was "only right" that she should experience a truly French feel to her digs, and God knows (and YOU do) that the RStG has got one helluva French feel going for it. After a lot of thought, and discussion w/aforementioned child, it was decided that it would be best for all concerned if we went w/2 rooms, 2 bathrooms instead of one enormous & lovely chambre at RStG.

You're going to Paris with ONE child and you need two rooms and two bathrooms? I must have been slumming it all these years.

I know what you mean St.Cirq, growing up I remember those family vacations where all five of us shared one room with one bath.

No, no, no! That would be the life, huh? Actually my daughter & I are going over first, and my husband will show up at some point. So the child & I will each have our own rooms until he shows up, which seems excessive, but it's the only way to do it. I mean if you want to reserve connecting rooms, I'm just assuming that you can't say, "OK, we'll take one of the rooms for 6 days and then we'll take both rooms for the next 4 days." Maybe I'm wrong, but I just assumed that couldn't be done, so even tho it is definitely odd to have 2 rooms for the 2 of us, I couldn't think of any other way to do it. Did I totally space on the logistics here or what?

Havana, I think I missed something. You weren't happy with the Fleurie we all know that. And you're not crazy about the RSG. So have you decided to stay with the Fleurie or are you staying somewhere else?

No, francophile, you didn't miss anything because I haven't mentioned where we're staying, but it's not the Fleurie & it's not RSG

Havana: Of COURSE you can book one room for X number of days and another room for X number of days! I've done it a gazillion times, as I always travel for longer periods of time with my kids than my husband can take off work. You probably can't reserve half of a chambre communicante for X days and then all of it for the next X days, but if you're willing to change rooms, get a single or double or whatever you need for you and the child for the first few days and then book a chambre communicante for the rest of the stay.

Save yourself some money and do this!

Patrick: Agreed, we all shared motel/hotel rooms growing up in my family, and frankly, on beach vacations here in the USA my kids and we have all shared one large double, too - of course with the knowledge of the hotel staff. Not suggesting we tried to bend the rules, just that we crammed into any space allowable on certain types of vacations.

Hey, let's get one thing straight here; growing up in a family of 5, I too remember many a vacation with all of us in a room with one bath. OK, just so we're on the same page with that.

All right, StCirq, so I definitely DID space on this. The arrangement you suggest did not occur to me. One small detail, however, is that the date of the husband's arrival is an unknown. Ahhhhhh. So that kind of throws a wrench in your plan, however, I will touch base with him tommorow & see if he'd like to firm things up. I kinda doubt that he'll want to.

If you can afford it, I think it's nice and less stressful to have separate rooms. I went on one big vacation with my parents when I was 16. While we easily fit into one room, it was hell. I remember that trip for the fascinating and beautiful places we saw, but also for the unpleasantness.

I have to agree with cmt. By the time we return to the room, whether it's early afternoon for a lie-down, or whenever, all I want is silence and all my daughter wants to do is watch cartoons in a different language.

So rethinking it, for the amount of money we'd save, I think we'd all be significantly happier if we could retire to our own chambre to decompress in our chosen way.

Hey Patrick
Know of a nice apartment in the golden triangle in Paris?

mjs: troublemaker! :D

I just could not help myself.

I'll go down this path just one more time...Every since I have had children (particularly when traveling in Europe) we go the apartment route whenever possible. Rooms across the pond can be notoriously small, reagardless of the quality of the establishment. I would still suggest, at least exploring this avenue.

To Havana, may I ask where you chose to stay after all?

SAnParis: You make a very good point. There is no doubt our rooms will be small, which is why I made sure the hotel has a welcoming, good-sized,(and nicely appointed!) Lobby, so I can actually read while sitting in a chair; oo-la-la, now there's luxury for you!

Having said that, a pleasant Lobby & a petite chambre are not quite the same as say...a 2-bedroom apt w/livingroon & kitchen. Not quite.

Here's the thing, while I am certainly not totally helpless, there is a great degree of comfort that comes from knowing you can wander downstairs & receive great information about anything you desire. Even though I'm going to be as well prepared as I can possibly be, I'm sure that countless things will come up that I cannot anticipate. I don't mean BAD things, just things that I'd like to hear about from a local, that are perhaps not covered in FODORS Paris 2006.

francophile03 - Hello again!
Hotel Le Tourville in the 7th

For a more modern decor, three 4 star hotels come to mind:
Bel Ami (6th)
Sofitel Baltimore (16th)--older, Eiffel designed building, modern, comfortable rooms
Square Hotel (16th). Very trendy modern. Mostly French and Italian clientele.

Havana, thanks for sharing. Yes, I've heard good things about the Tourville. In fact, a former coworker stays there when he visits Paris. Just one more thing, do you mind if there are no shower curtains? The baths here don't have shower curtains.

And there was a thread on here last year about major leakage in the bathroom that the hotel would not address.

Not a good choice for the money, IMO, and I used to stay there fairly frequently.

BTilke: I adore the look of the Bel Ami, and it was definitely on my short list because it is perfection to me. Unfortunately I don't recall why I crossed it off. Perhaps it has no chambres-communicantes? The other thing is that whenever I looked at the photos I got these awful pangs of guilt 'cause I didn't think it was right to take my daughter, on her first trip to paris, to a hotel that looks like where we stay in New York. Know what I mean? I realize that the Tourville doesn't exactly ooze a French feel, but it's not the Hudson, either - sort of a compromise?

Of course now that I'm looking back at the Bel Ami photos I am feeling conflicted. This is why I did not intend to name the hotel I'd selected, but since francophile03 asked, I thought it would be rude not to, as she's/he's been very supportive & helpful to me.

Hey, with no shower curtains I'm not surprised that there's major leakage! I read those threads as well, but as francophile03 mentioned in another thread, "there is no perfect hotel." As I recall, the leakage thing was not recently & I've got to assume that they've addressed it. And as for the hotel's apparent indifference to the poster's complaints ... well, we don't have the whole story there, so I'm not worried about it.

My experience with them could not have been better. After 4 or 5 emails were exchanged, all of my questions were answered to my satisfaction, and then some.

Havana, I know you've decided on the Tourville. But I must say that for a traditional French hotel the Relais Saint Jacques in the Latin Quarter is very nice. I decided to try it and was pleased with the Prestige room I got for a discount in July. The bathroom was great: marble, nice bathtub with wall mounted showerhead, nice faucets too, and they have a glass shower screen. However, their largest room is a suite but I don't know if they've got connecting rooms. I liked the central location that was a few blocks away from Blvd. St. Michel and the Luxembourg Gardens.

Jeez, francophile03, you are bound & determined to get me out of the Tourville! Couldn't find Relais Saint Jacques in Latin Qtr; is that the same as Hotel Saint-Jacques? If it is, it sounds very nice indeed. However, regarding the Latin Qtr, I am an extremely light sleeper, so I didn't look into anything in the 5th. The only places I considered in the 6th were spots that made special mention of the extreme quiet that prevails. It's not a matter of being "picky," if you know what I mean. I simply cannot get to sleep or stay asleep.

Having said that, I certainly appreciate your continued interest. Thank you.

I couldn't find a hotel-owned site:

http://www.parishotels.com/Hotel_Rel...s_star_en.html

Havana, no, I'm not trying to dissuade you from staying at the Tourville. I was just giving another suggestion. Relais Saint Jacques is not the same hotel as the Hotel St. Jacques. It's considered a 4* and they got negative reviews at Trip Advisor because some former guests mixed them up with Hotel St. Jacques. Here's their website:
http://www.paris-hotel-saintjacques.com/

I could afford the summer rate but not the normal rate.

Btw, Havana, I do understand what you mean by 'quietness'. The 5th is more lively than the 6th in general. However, the hotel is on a small side street of rue Gay Lussac and rue St. Jacques. I guess front rooms could be noisy if they're directly above the hotel related restaurant, Le Mauzac.

But I'm sure you will enjoy the Tourville as the 7th seems more quiet than the 5th.

Thanks for the website, francophile. It really is a lovely spot & the location is superb. It would have been the perfect place for me twenty years ago, but twenty years ago I couldn't have afforded it, so there you have it.