Having so much trouble deciding on a hotel in Paris! The d'Aubusson and more...
 

Who knew that in a city with so many hotels, I'd have trouble choosing one!?

I'm hoping a discussion here can help me narrow down my choices. We can spend up to 300 Euros. Ideally, we'd like a place that is charming and upscale, is in a good location, has a friendly helpful staff and is a good value. I've scoured through hotel reviews and come up with the following:

On the more expensive side:
-Hotel d'Aubusson (We'd be staying in a standard room. Does anyone know if the decor is the same in the standard as the superior? Should we be making a special request with the standard room to ensure we get a good one?)

-Villa d'Estrees (A friend of mine stayed here and raved about it, says it is in a great location, but I'm nervous I haven't read too many reviews)

-Luxembourg Parc (seems like a nice hotel, but I'm concerned about location.. it seems a little far away from everything?)

-Relais Christine (can get a superior room for 300E.. is it worth it?)

On the budget side:
-Hotel Britannique (it's gotten great reviews, pictures of the hotel seem charming, but room is tiny!)

-Hotel Henri IV Rive Gauche (again, great reviews, but smaller rooms)

I know Britannique and Henri IV Rive Gauche are probably not in the same "league" as the others, but in some cases, the 3-star hotels turn out to be better than the 4-stars! Any comments on the hotels I've chosen would be greatly appreciated! Hopefully I won't feel so overwhelmed!

You might add the Madison to your list--definitely both charming and upscale and in a great location. Reserve a room facing the Blvd St-Germain; the hotel sits back behind a little "place" with trees. No noise problem at all.

I stayed at the D'Aubusson a few years ago. The decor was the same throughout, and it was a lovely hotel, but our room was a 'superior' and I think larger than average. You might want to ask them about average square footage (square meters) for the standard room.
Great location. We had a front-facing room (facing the street, rue Dauphine), there was a little noise on weekday mornings from the horns of traffic, but that didn't bother us.

Thank you, elaine! I did ask the hotel about the size of the standard room. They say it is 237 square feet, which is a good size compared to most hotels, I think!

Yes, that's a decent sized room compared to some Paris rooms I've been in.
14 X 17 allows a little walking around space. I'm assuming that doesn't include the bathroom?

elaine - that's a good question! I never thought to ask that! I assume that it doesn't because when I'm told by Hotel Britannique that their rooms are 118 square feet, that can't possibly include the bathroom!! I feel a bit silly emailing the d'Aubusson back to ask if the square footage includes the bathroom.

Speaking of which - since I haven't seen pictures of the bathrooms - can you tell me if they were nice? Come to think of it, there aren't very many pics of the rooms at the d'Aubusson to begin with. Have you noticed that? Was there anything about the hotel that you didn't like? Have you stayed at another hotel in Paris you liked better?

There was absolutely nothing about the hotel that I didn't like. The only reason that I haven't stayed there again has been budget considerations.
The bathroom we had was great, decent size, good working shower in the tub, nice toiletries, and robes. The tv sound was piped into the bathroom, if that appeals.
The hotel sold the museum pass in the lobby at no additional markup, that was nice.

I have more often stayed in the 1st than the 6th, and I still like the 1st slightly better, but I can't give you a good reason, it could only be that I'm more familiar with it. I love being able to pass by Place de la Concorde at the end of the evening, for one thing, but that's a personal quirk.

I have a file on Paris; if you'd like to see it, email me at
[email protected]

lavaflow, I've stayed twice at D'Aubusson, once in a standard room, once in a De Luxe, and didn't notice a substancial difference between them, unless for the price.

The bathroom I had in the standard was perfectly OK. The De Luxe had more room, with separate shower and bathtub. However, everything else was just fine in the standard, both, room and bath.

There are pictures of the std bathroom posted here, if you care to check them.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...de_France.html

I stayed at the Britannique a few years ago, I really liked it. It's a sweet place and you can get use to the compact room. The Britanique is in a great location too, very central!

ceci-- I have seen those pictures on TA. Thank you! Surprisingly, I wasn't really impressed with the pictures that tourist took of the room/bathroom. Maybe those pics don't do it justice?

lavaflow, I was surprised, too. From what I've experienced in both rooms, and bathrooms, the pictures don't do them justice. Mine were much better looking than the ones showed.

I think those photos are a pretty good indication. If I remember I will post some of mine to Trip Advisor later tonight.

Gulp, sorry, shown..

Past participle of irregular verbs staill play tricks with me. As you know ( or will know now) I'm a Portuguese native speaker.

Cece- oh, I'm so relieved. Thank you.

richard - I'd love to see pictures of the Britannique. I assume you also had the standard room there?

Richardab, please do so.

These "real" pictues often show the real thing, and are unlike the photos posted by the hoteleiers, or professional photographers that often use some tricks to make the rooms look better than they are.

However, some rooms are unflaterred by these amateurish photographs, mostly when they are not neatly mantained by the guests. You known, too much luggage sitting around, unmade beds, messy linens, pieces of clothes and belongings laying or hanging everywhere...

Lighting has a lot to do with it too. I know I've taken some photographs of what I thought was a really nice hotel room, and they just don't turn out as nice in pictures as they are in person! I'm hoping that's the case with the d'Aubusson!

The Luxembourg Parc isn't out of the way, it's right on the southern edge of Luxembourg Gardens. Although it really depends what your measure is, I agree -- if you want to be within a few blocks of the Seine and that's that, it would be farther away.

The last hotel I got room measurements from sounded pretty good, but when I got there the room looked a lot smaller than I thought -- I measured it and they clearly had included the bathroom in the size they gave me, so hotels will do that. I hadn't expected that, exactly, and the room was comfortable enough so okay, but next time I asked that question, I'll be sure to specify.

Christina - Distance is all relative, I suppose! But, we would like to be close to a metro stop. Do you know how many blocks to the nearest metro? We also like to walk out of the hotel to shops and restaurants nearby. In all the reviews I've read of Luxembourg Parc, no one really talks about the "great location" in that regard. Any thoughts on that?

I had a single at the Britannique, I will say the rooms aren't big but the bathrooms were sparking clean. When i was there they used Crabtree and Evelyn bath products. That was a nice touch.

P.S. The Britannique doesn't have air conditioning...

As promised my photos are posted on Trip Advisor...

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...de_France.html