tekwriter

Opinions, SVP! I've been doing a lot of research on hotels in the 5th near the Pantheon for 3 nights in July. A/C is a must, but other than that, we're OK with small rooms and the other drawbacks of 2* hotels.

One possibility is Sully St. Germain whose reviews are a majority pretty good - location is superb for us. In checking the different hotel booking websites, most are coming up with around 120E/night. However, Expedia is offering the room for $177 (when you add in tax), which is slightly lower than the current Euro equivalent. This rate does require immediate prepayment; if cancelled before three days before check-in, you'd forfeit $48 (a lot more if you cancel within 3 days).

What appeals to me is the money saved on the conversion rate when you pay in $, as well as avoiding the risk that the dollar will fall further between now and then. But I have no experience booking through Expedia and wonder if guests are treated differently or automatically get the worst room in the category. Is there any risk that this reservation wouldn't be honored at all? I'm curious what others' experiences have been using third-party online booking and is this truly a good deal for this hotel?

Thanks!

crckwc1

I can't say if your deal is really a good deal, but I can say that bookings through a third party, including Expedia, Orbitz, hotels.com, booking.com, and Venere have been successful for me. I've never felt that I got third-rate rooms even when I paid much less than the hotel's web price. To be sure of your reservation, after booking, call or email the hotel directly and ask for confirmation of your reservation.

WillTravel

I can't say, but I recall that another poster got this hotel through another booking service and seemed to be fine with it.

I'd check www.hotelscombined.com to see if this hotel is possibly offered at an even cheaper rate elsewhere. Rarely is Expedia the cheapest provider, although it does happen.

I've used probably 10 booking services with no problems at all. If you are concerned, then what you do a few days after booking is to contact the hotel and ask if they have received your reservation.

dutyfree

I have used Expedia from Chicago to Jaipur India and have never been treated like a lesser person in regards to the rooms I have gotten. I have found that sometimes the price and dealing in dollars with the exchange is a better deal.

GranthamMommy

I booked parts of our Italy trip through Expedia last year because it was cheaper.

The website said we had a balcony room, but when I confirmed the reservation with the hotel, their triples had no balconies.

Expedia opened a "case" but I didn't follow up because I wanted to still stay at this hotel. They said they only post what the hotel gives them to post.

My only advice might be to make sure the hotel website has rooms that match the description on Expedia.

I've booked many rooms, flights, cars and a cruise with Expedia and this was the first issue ever.

jkbritt

I have used priceline.com all over europe and US and never had a problem.

John b

Christina

I think you have been misinformed or at least misunderstand some things. First, that is not a 2* hotel, if that's what you've been told, it is a 3* hotel. You very rarely get AC in a 2* hotel, actually, although there are a couple. Now I'm sure you are not disappointed in that, but just thought you should know.

Taxes on Paris hotel rooms are very minimal, about 1 euro per day, so don't let that sway you as to what a good deal that is.

Finally, paying in USD doesn't give you any monetary advantage per se, it's just an arithmetic translation between euro and USD.

YOu can easily get those rates by booking directly, I just checked, without those stiff prepayment penalties. Did you check their own website before assuming Expedia was some great deal? You always should do that. You actually can get cheaper rates than that, a bit, and about 7 euro cheaper a night if you are actually looking after Bastille Day (I checked before and after, lots of hotels lower rates after that).

They have two websites which seem to be hosted by two different booking agents -- availpro (which a lot of Parisian hotels use) on www.hotelsullysaintgermain.com and some other one on www.sully-saint-germain-hotel.com

$177 is currently 112 euro. The availpro sites gives you a 128 euro rate for a superior twin with early prepayment, and a 100 euro room for a double in the best available rate category (I think that has a one day cancellation penalty, not sure).

the other website, which uses a diff. booking agent, will give you a double room for 118 euro with a 48 hour cancellation limitation (only 113 euro after Bastille Day). The rate is actually a bit cheaper, but 3 euro of that is the nonrefundable booking fee. Maybe the city tax of 1 euro a day would be on top of that, but the point is that the rate you got isn't any great deal and you don't save anything by paying in USD.

I don't know where Expedia gets their penalty from, but 112 euro ($177) is more than the 100 euro rate you can get on their own website, which says that they only have a 24 hr cancellation period with any penalty on the 100 euro availpro rate.

crazyfortravel

I try and book directly with the hotel whenever possible. I have occasionally used a third party such as Venere.com but unlike Expedia they do not collect prepayment in advance. They also do not make up their own cancellation policies which have nothing to do with the hotel.

When you book with Expedia, you are agreeing to their booking terms for payment and cancellation. I have also heard that many of these third party companies have blocks of rooms in the most standard category. Although this may not always be true, I tend to think that if you deal direct with the hotel, your preferences will be known first hand (room location, view, bedding type, non smoking etc).

Having said all of that, some of the last minute specials on sites like Priceline.com are hard to ignore. If you don't mind not knowing the exact hotel until the last minute, you can score some great deals. 120E/night doesn't seem like a steal to me...it's ok.

lincasanova

hotel taxes are VAT taxes also.. and it is not just 1 euro a day.

THAT may be an occupaton tax.. but then you have the famous VAT.

For spain it is 7%.

elaine

I think with only once exception in my travel life, I've never had a hotel refuse to honor a discounted price that I found on another website. Hotel rates listed on the hotel's own website may not reflect any discount that they'd be willing to make. I prefer to deal directly with the hotel, especially for any special requests, potential cancellation issues, etc. Priceline is in a category by itself, I agree, but I've never had the courage to try it.

tekwriter

Brilliant, Christina! Thanks so much for doing that research for me. I just used your reference to book our room! I have been spending a lot of time scouring a lot of different websites for the best rate and thought I had compared them to the hotel's website (the second one you referred me to), but I didn't catch the first one through Availpro. 100E is by far better than any other sites and not prepaying is an advantage. I guess the star rating system varies according to what website you're looking at, but luckily, there is AC at Sully St. Germain (not so much for the temperature, but for not having to keep the windows open and enduring the noise inherent with a busy Paris street!)

Much obliged to all the responses and advice!