freshman

Hello,

I have been reading the valuable information provided here for several days now and am hoping someone will be kind enough to advise me on how best to find a hotel in Paris for the first leg of our trip to France and Germany. We are going in June (yes--June!). I realize now that we should have started this process earlier, and I am most concerned about getting hotel reservations in Paris, thus the post title.

We have two daughters, 13 and 11, and it appears we would need a "quad" to all stay in the same room. An alternative would be to get two rooms as close to each other as possible. We are leaning toward staying in a small hotel with character (such as Hotel Bonaparte), but I imagine that we would have to get two rooms in such a hotel. I am also thinking that these smaller hotels may already be booked up...We want to be centrally located, such as the St. Germain area.

I've spent a good bit of time looking at hotels on tripadvisor.com and have checked availability on some that looked like possibilities through links provided there, only to find that the hotels are booked up when we will be in Paris. Do you find that these sites provide accurate information, or is there a possibility that the hotels might have rooms if contacted directly? It also appears that not all hotels have links that enable me to check availability from tripadvisor.com, the Bonaparte being one of those. Is my time better spent continuing to check availability through these sites, or should I just make a list of hotels we like and contact them directly?

Any other advice regarding traveling to Paris with children would be greatly appreciated. We are currently planning to be in Paris from Sunday, June 19th through Thurs. or Fri. of that week.

Thanks so much!

tomboy

Spend the $100 on Michael Osman. It'll be a great investment in your kids' education and awareness. E-mail him your likes/dislikes so he can tailor his tour. Include the Louvre, even if they don't (currently) appreciate art--at least 25 years from now they'll know why people speak of it as though it were the lodestone of the art world.
Avoid fast food; the girls probably have 25,000 lunches after in the rest of their lives to eat big Macs, so surely they can forego the experience for ten days. Take more photos than I did, 25 years ago.

ira

Hi frosh,

I suggest that you fax the Bonaparte, tell them what you need, and see what they can do for you.

You may have seen my post where I noted that rms 18 and 19 are the end of a short corner with doors right next to each other. 18 is a dbl bed and 19 has twin beds.

They have other rooms with a similar configuration.

Dial 1016868 and it will be 10 cts/min
Tel 33 1 43 26 97 37
FAX 33 1 46 33 57 67

Suki

Hi freshman, It would be helpful if we knew what hotels do not have availability at the time of your visit. My family of 4 stayed in a quad (2 bedrooms, a bath) at the Hotel du Danube on Rue Jacob. We liked it very much, and the location is great. It does not have air conditioning though. Hotel Fleurie also has quads and is highly recommended, but more expensive than the Danube. Good luck.

freshman

Thanks for all the information so far!

I was randomly checking on hotel availability very late Friday night and was not even noting what I checked, etc. Obviously I need to be more systematic, but I wondered if the responses I was getting were valid or if I would get better information directly from hotels. I do remember that I checked on Hotel de la Place du Louvre because my husband thought it sounded good, and the response was that is is booked up.

Hotel de Fleurie looks like a good possibility, but their site doesn't provide rates on the quads. I'll e-mail them. I'll also fax Bonaparte as Ira suggested (did I see somewhere that you are a fellow Georgian?)

I've read several mentions of Michael Osman in other threads, but exactly what services does he offer and how do I get in touch with him? My daughters are good eaters so I don't think we'll be eating fast food in Paris!

Thanks again--ready for any other tips anyone has to offer!

ojoy

You do not say what your price range is, but we stayed at Hotel St. Thomas d'Aquin in the St. Germain area (110E/room), a quaint and nice little hotel with friendly staff and great location, but not in the noisy area of the St. Germain. When I was planning our trip I made most inquiries direct with the hotels. I selected the ones that sounded best and just started e-mailing all of them, then narrowed it down by availability.

peggi

Michael Osman is a "private" tour guide, meaning you would have him - or someone else he offers to you - and it would just be your family. It is a GREAT way to do Paris with kids; my kids were much more willing to follow our guide around than they would have ever been willing to follow me around. And he did exactly what we wanted - a "highlights" tour of the Louvre (again, you can't believe how fast you get places with someone who knows the system), the Rodin Museum, Les Invalides, climbing to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, crepes from a street vendor (my son still talks about his crepe!), taking my husband to a wine store, taking me to Hermes to buy a scarf, taking my daughter to buy "French perfume", just whatever you want. Well worth EVERY penny!! Met us at our hotel first thing in the morning. I think we got back at 6pm. The kids were beat...we ordered them pizza for the hotel room (a quad), then we went out for a nice dinner at a charming restaurant nearby.

freshman

peggi,

Thanks for the info about Michael Osman--he sounds great! I imagine I can find him on the net somewhere...I will definitely look into using him. You said your family stayed in a quad--which hotel, and would you recommend it?

As far as price ranges for hotels, we haven't really set a limit, but I am trying to be a little cost-conscious on the hotel room since we may have to book two rooms to accommodate all four of us. I imagine the cost of a quad will equate to two rooms as well. When I realized that we're looking at two rooms, I instantly decided we don't need to go upscale on the hotel! Location is a priority, but availability may end up being the deciding factor.

Thanks for the advice and tips--would love to hear more!

elaine

look into the Palais Bourbon, check here on it and at tripadvisor.com
I haven't stayed there, but have often read that it is good for families, and location is good.
Ditto Hotel Jardins de Luxembourg.

barbara33

Hi Freshman,

I found the travel sites linked to tripadvisor repeatedly gave me misinformation when I was looking for quads/family rooms in Paris and elsewhere. I was much more successful going to the hotel's website and emailing or faxing them directly.

Last week, in response to my request for advice on hotels in Paris, travelnut and Keren gave me the following recommendations for hotels with quads at or under 150 euros in good areas:

Hotel Eiffel Rive Gauche * * Quad 95-145€
Metro: Ecole Militaire (7th)
http://www.hotel-eiffel.com/hotel_rg_present_en.htm

Hotel de France Invalides * * Adj rooms/ 4 persons 148€
Metro: Ecole Militaire / Latour Maubourg (7th)
http://www.parishotels.com/Hotel_de_...strict_en.html

Hotel des Mines * * Quad 129-139€ (shows photo of quad)
Metro: RER Luxembourg (5th)
http://www.hotel-desmines-paris.com/

Hotel Michelet Odeon * * Quad - 1 large bed, 2 twins 150€
Metro: Luxembourg / Odeon (5th)
http://www.parishotels.com/Hotel_Mic...strict_en.html

Hotel Residence les Gobelins:
Quad for 99 €
http://www.hotelgobelins.com/frame.html

I don't know if you are interested in air-conditioning, but Hotel des Mines has AC for 10 euros more.

I also found that venere.com gave me a good list of hotels with quads, but you have to sort out what location and price works for you.

I have found the people here to be great resources.

Good luck!

Christina

I've never had a problem getting a room in Paris in June and I book later than this. From your question, it sounds like you are checking availability with some generic hotel site or booker, and they may not have rooms available or say they don't. I never use them myself. Of course, some really popular hotels mentioned in a lot of guidebooks may be booked up this early, but there are hundreds of hotels in Paris.

freshman

Thanks, Elaine, Barbara, and Christina! Very helpful information!

Yes, Christina, I was going through some generic booking sites and was guessing that they may not have accurate info. From what everyone has been saying, I need to go directly to the hotels. I began contacting a few today and will start working the list. Barbara, thanks so much for taking the time to list all those hotels--I've done some searches but don't remember seeing the thread you mentioned from last week.

I'm feeling not quite so panicked now--thanks so much to everyone who has posted. Still open for more tips!

MaureenB

After much research, I just made June reservations for a quad via Expedia, at the Hotel de la Bourdonnais. It has good reviews on tripadvisor.com and Expedia had the best price, $222/night. It looks like a great location and some family rooms even have a balcony and a partial view of the Eiffel Tower. The hotel's website is http://www.bourdonnais-paris-hotel.com/
If you go to tripadvisor.com, you can find hotels by ranking, read reviews on each one, then do a 'quick check' to find availability. It's a great tool. Good luck.

peggi

We stayed at the Novotel rue de Vaugirard. Novotel is a "chain" sort of like Holiday Inn. It was just fine for us. Clean, safe, helpful people at the front desk, mediocre food (but ordering pizza from Pizza Hut no less worked well for the kids). It was very near a Metro stop. It was across from the major police station for that arrondissement. There are zillions of hotel choices for you!! To get hold of Michael, just type Michael Osman in the "search" box here on Fodors and you'll get an email address. In our case, he wasn't available and suggested a friend of his who we enjoyed very much.

Michel_Paris

Hi freshman,
I was just looking at the Slow Travel site this morning, browsing through their selections of appartments for rent. From what I saw, pricing would be comparable or less than a good hotel room, and 4 person accomodatsion seemed common. Rentals I saw were by the week.
This is the web site:
http://www.slowtrav.com/france/vr/index.htm

Hope this gives you some ideas
Mike

freshman

Thanks for the new posts today! You guys are great! I continue to check things out--really just starting. I found Michael Osman on the net today; he showed up on the first page of a google search.

Still open for tips if anyone has any more to offer--again, thanks so much to everyone!

freshman

Sorry to post again--just thought of another question: do you find that air conditioning is a necessity or highly desirable for Paris in mid to late June?

I just looked at Hotel du Danube and it looks really nice for the price (need to find out summer rates though)--but Suki says no AC. I'll also see if I can find some average temps for Paris in June.

peggi

I am so glad you found how to get in touch with Michael! I can't tell you what a wonderful memory is it for me when Scott (his sub)took my daughter, then 11, shopping for her "first" French perfume...he was able to explain in fluent French to the saleswomen that he was helping her and making sure they understood her age...he showed her how to spray the sample on wave it around and then decide which fragrance she liked best. It was just such a great "travel" experience for that age child. Similarly, coaching my son - then 13 - through ordering his first crepe from a street vendor. Having a fluent guide who can bridge between the French and the US and work with kids is just worth its weight in gold. Me, at my age, just give me any reasonably well informed tour guide and I'll absorb it all.

Christina

That average Paris temps in June do not require AC. It is the abnormal ones that might.

There is a good Paris weather section on www.paris.org in the Tourist Information section.

Here's the URL
http://www.paris.org/Accueil/Climate/

cjtrav

I had a lot of luck using www.parisby.com. Their site connects you directly to the website of the hotel and gives you much more information and pictures than any of the traditional travel sites. I double checked all the rates against the other sites and they were all comparable as posted. When I heard back from the hotels that had rooms, the rooms were sometimes even lower. I used the site for Florence and Venice too. Also, I booked Michael Osman! I'm so excited that he was free for the day in early June that we needed. Thanks to all who recommended him!