Help Need hotel info
 

Can someone send me some good hotels in a good area of London, Paris and Rome? Our budget is looking for something in the area of $100 american dollars per night. Is this possible?

That is an extremely modest price for a hotel room for 2 (this is for 2?) - especially in London.

In Rome you might consider looking at one of the convents - if you don't mind a curfew.

For the other two cities have a look below or at eurocheapo.com. Prices will vary somewhat by season.

If you're willing to bid blind you might try Priceline for London (as long as you are no more than 2 and can share a double bed). Not sure if Priceline works in Paris.

$100 is only about £60 and €70. Could you find a room in San Francisco or NYC for that??

Now -- there <i>are</i> rooms to be had in that price range but they often VERY small and very basic. But, in London especially, you can get a nice room for around $100 using Priceline/Hotwire - after tax and fees it will be about $125+. That means paying up front, not knowing which hotel it is until after you pay and there is no cancellation/refund.

But your question is awfully broad. When are you traveling? For how many days?

Didn't see nyt's post. PL really doesn't work that well for Paris because the bidding zones each have inconvenient/distant neighborhoods.

If you are staying three or more nights n each city, consider renting an apartment. You may have good luck finding a studio for 2 for that amount, if you are willing to climb lots of stairs and/or stay not so close into the central parts of the city.

Try sleepinitaly.com for Rome.

Although I usually rent apartments, I still keep up with the hotels. For Paris, I have a lot of different hotels bookmarked on www.all-paris-apartments.com. Although the word, apartment, is in the website's name, it is a website full of hotels in your price range.

A walking-tour company that I used recommended the above website on their website. So, I read through the tons of hotels listed and bookmarked many in case I need a hotel spur-of-the-momently and all of my regular hotels and/or apartments are booked solid. I always keep an emergency list.

For a higher budget in Paris, you can check my hotel thread:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ank-thread.cfm. The Right Bank thread is linked to it. Happy Travels!

I missed the edit and meant to say that there are hotels in your price range on www.all-paris-apartment.com. The website has hotels in all price ranges, but you can click on the 1-4 star column to get to a list of hotels that might be within your budget. And of course prices will vary according to the season. Happy Travels!

Correction: apartment(s) above. I just noticed that I forgot to type the (s). Happy Travels!

When you say "good" hotel, what do you mean? Are you OK with staying further out from central areas and using public transit to get into the city? Are you a "hotel is just a place to lay my head" or "where is the room service menu?"?

Double?

That is a low nightly price but could still work if you are not too fussy. My nephew rented a place in Paris (3rd district) for ~58euro a night. Basic.

Consider B&Bs in London, not really for Paris.

I've used Travelocity and Expedia for hotels and have done well.

Your hotel budget is in the Red Roof Inn or pure dump range. By good area, presumably you mean central, walking distance to tourist sites and safe. In all likelihood, you will need to rethink and stay outside the city centers at that range.

And make sure whatever quote you get includes the VAT or else you'll be in for a big surprise.

I've stayed in Italy, can't comment on the france and UK. check out RentalinRome.com and Booking.com I would use Piazza Navona as a landmark. It is very centrally located.

Thanks for all the info. We are in the process of planning. Plan to go before the high season - it will be hot when we go but oh well!!

How much is a comperable room in Sunburst?

Are you opposed to staying in covents? In Rome, there are quite a few centrally located within that price range, but some have curfews (11pm or sometimes 12 or 1 depending on season)while a few don't.

I was just in Paris last week. We stayed at Port Royal Hotel in the Latin quarter. Great area close to the metro and awesome restaurants. It isn't anything fancy but clean and friendly staff. We didn't spend much time there so I though it was perfect. 79 euro for a double with shower!

Can anybody give me a list of hotels centrally located in Paris and Rome. We would like a medium priced hotel - clean but does not need to be fancy. My husband and I are retired and plan to leave in the middle of August staying for about 10 days give or take a few. We will be going to Paris first, then on to Rome and home to Michigan from there. Also what about day tours to Pompeii and Naples? Are they worth going to see? Should we spend the night there or just do a day? Suggestions appreciated!

One thing -- you will be there in August and both cities but especially Rome, it can be VERY <B><red>HOT</red></B>. Most budget hotels don't have a/c.

Is your budget still $100-ish?

If you want a list of all hotels, it would be better for you to look at some booking site that lets you search by arrondisement (and price) or something, as there are too many to list. I think Paris has about 2000 hotels in total. Most are 2-3* (about 700 each category of those). There is really no reason to list them all as very few of the 2000 total hotels will be in your price range. There are 139 1* hotels in the last listing I saw.

so, try www.venere.com for example, I know they have some real cheap hotels. You can search by area on www.booking.com but I don't think they really have that many in your price range. www.paris.com is a website with lots of things about Paris, the hotel section does let you list hotels by area or by star rating. They don't seem to list 1* hotels, though, although they used to. There are other websites you can use for hotel searches, like www.eurocheapo.com

sunburst, does the ten days include Paris? Or just Italy? Is it 10 days on the ground, or 10 days including travel to and from Europe? If the whole trip is 10 days, you can just barely see the two cities. Remember the first day will be shot because of jet lag, and the last day devoted to leaving. That leaves you 8 days.

They are far apart. How will you get from one to the other? Remember it's not just train or plane time but checking out of a hotel, getting to the terminal, then after you arrive at the next city, getting to a new hotel and checking in.

As for Naples and Pompeii, of course they are worth seeing. And you can take a day trip there from Rome, but it is a long, long, hot day (~16 hours). There is almost no shade in Pompeii and it will be very hot. But you won't have time if you spend any time seeing Rome, which has so many things to see!!

You could fly from Paris to Naples, and if you can get a morning fight, spend the afternoon in Naples and the next morning in Pompeii before the worst heat hits, then train to Rome and stay there until time to leave.

Two places that are often recommended for budget travelers in Rome are The Beehive and Hotel des Artistes. To look for hotels, go online and search by city and price. Check TripAdvisor for reviews. Also SlowTrav.com. But as janisj said, the inexpensive hotels will probably not have A/c or elevators.

If that's OK, go for it. We're not trying to put your plans down, but you need to understand the reality of the travel you are planning. You had best get your planning done soon, as mid-August is approaching and many places will be booked up.

$100/night will not buy you a room in any medium-priced hotel. Their rooms would cost in the range of $180-$250 per night.

Are you changing your budget?

ROME:
We just spent 3 days in Rome and stayed at The Genio Hotel near Piazza Navona. For 3 nights it was $507 euros for a quad room. It was nice, the staff was great, and we had a GREAT location and walked to all major sites we wanted to see: Vatican, Colesseum area, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Piazza de Popolo.

By nice I mean the beds were clean, the shower and bathroom were great, we had hot water when needed for showering, and there was a continental breakfast of sorts. The few downs which didn't bother us were: beds were not the most comfortable, the wall paper has some tears and carpet some stains, and the air conditioning kept the room cooler than outside, but was certainly not COLD.

The Hotel Du Commerce in Paris is basic, but extremely well located. http://www.commerceparishotel.com/

Thanks for the info We will probably have to pay more for a room. Has anybody ever tried price line for a hotel? Do they accept bids in Europe?

I use priceline frequently in London. But now that you've dropped London from your plans-- I wouldn't try it.

The bidding zones in Paris are drawn so you are almost guaranteed to get a bad location. Every zone has some areas either too far out or in dicey neighborhoods. I Haven't used it in Rome - but have never heard that it is a good option.

PL is brilliant for London though . . .

Some of the Priceline bidding zones in Paris might not be what one would expect, but for that budget, one can't be that choosy. For August, it might work as hotels have a lot more vacancies in August so probably have more rooms on Priceline. I wouldn't use it, though, for Paris (the part where you don't know the hotel you'll get). I imagine the part with names of hotels is like booking.com as they own them, so I'd go with booking.com.

Having said that, I just checked their list of hotels with prices, and there aren't many less than $150 in a decent area in mid-August. That rate is just too low. The best value hotels probably aren't going to be on Priceline, not at that level. They do show the HOtel St Dominique in the 7th at $120 which isn't a bad location. They are on booking.com, also, so I'd still use that website instead.

Thanks again for the info - So far our plans include taking the train overnight from Paris to Rome - we can save a hotel cost for that night. We have been looking at some hotels that are centrally located in both cities for around $200. Guess Europe is more expensive then the US. Having never been in Europe anywhere we are learning. Still plan to go about 8-15 and stay for 10 days. We talked to our travel agent here and one of them is from England and has been to Paris- she had some good advise. This trip has been overwhelming!! So much is different from any place we have been. Our last trip was to Thailand and that was a breeze compared to Europe. We should learn lots from this trip!! Guess we can always go back if we miss something! Thanks again.

It's not that Europe is so expensive, it's that you're going to the capital cities of 3 countries, 3 major world cities. I think hotel rooms in New York are more expensive than in Paris.

I would be a little wary of taking advice from a travel agent who has been to Paris once. Whereas some Fodorites live in Paris.

Very good point by BigRuss to check if VAT is included in the price you're given.

sunburst--I can recommend Relais du Marais in Paris. Their website indicates promotional deals under $100 USD/night. Here's the link:
http://www.hotel-paris-relaisdumarai...h/hotel01.html

On the Fodor's Right Bank hotels thread, I posted a mini-review, recapping its good points. Despite its name, the hotel is located more in the République area, which we loved getting to know. Still provides good access to rue de Bretagne, Temple area markets, as well as offering proximity to new (for us, anyway) neighborhoods in the 10e and 11e arrondissements.

We would be returning there for a stay next month had we not wanted to try a couple of new neighborhoods. Seems it should work for your budget. Bonne chance et bon voyage !

"<i>Guess Europe is more expensive then the US.</i>"

Not really. Sure, Paris/Rome hotels are more expensive than Des Moines or Sacramento or Buffalo. But they generally run less than comparable hotels in places like Manhattan, San Francisco, Boston, LaJolla -- you need to compare apples to apples.

I just stayed in a cheap chain motel near a major highway and next to a rail line in Tacoma WA and it cost $135 a night. I had to pay $150 in Portland OR and that wasn't for anything special and I had to pay $200 in Seattle. That was a nice hotel, but not top notch.

I pay $80 for the cheapest chain hotel in my small hometown in the middle of Ohio.

So, no, Europe isn't really that much more expensive than the US, you can't get decent hotel rooms in the US for less than $100 either in most places I've been, for a city of any size. Certianly not in the major large cities in the US.

We always stay in one place in the 14th that's probably out of your price range, but some years ago we met up with a friend who lives in London, and he stayed at a place down the street from us in the 6th on the rue Jules Chaplain that was decent, great location and he paid next to nothing for. Of course that place changed hands and was remodeled and updated, but I just looked at the website and the rooms (especially internet prices) seem to be within the neighborhood in terms of price that you were looking for, with A/C (which, in August, you WILL NEED).

http://www.chaplainparishotel.com/pages/rooms_1.html

Actually, it looks interesting enough that I may consider it next time in Paris. But I do say as a caveat, I have not been to this property -- I only found it when looking for that little hotel my friend had stayed in.

Sunburst, is there a reason that you are wanting to take this trip in August? Since you are retired and not tied to a school schedule like the majority of families, perhaps you might want to consider travel during another month when it is not going to be so blazing hot. May and September are my favorite travel months, when the heat is not so unbearable and the crowds just a bit less than peak summer.