We are looking for a hotel <$150 and would like to know about Mercure Paris St. Charles or alternative. We can't find too much about it re Tripadvisor, etc. It seems near enough to Eiffel Tower with restaurants, etc. near. We want to be near the Pont de Grenelle or Pont Mirabeau to visit a friend (new to area) in the 16th A. We'll use buses & cabs to get around Paris as DH can't do lots of stairs (i.e. metro). Your thoughts, please?

I stayed at a hotel very near the Pont de Grenelle. In fact, it was the brdige I went to at night to see the Eiffel Tower sparkling. Quiet safe street, a few restaurants nearby, a cafe for morning breakfast at the end of the block. If required, Metro stop right beside cafe. Nice hotel, seemed businees oriented. In your price range. I was eating elswhere, so I can't say one way or another that there were lots of restaurants in walking distance. There is some nice shopping/restos up on Avenue Mozart and La Muette, a longer walk or a short cab ride. I used Expedia to do a flight & hotel deal.

http://www.hotelauteuil-toureiffel.com/vf/

Note that I paid around USD$630 for 4 nights.

I've stayed in an apt. right near rue St Charles and like the neighborhood, although I don't know that hotel. I looked it up and it looks okay -- Mercure has bought up some smaller, older French hotels and renovated the rooms, and that is one. It isn't that close to the Seine, though, there are lots better hotel choices if you really want to be near those bridges, in that neighborhood.

There are enough places to eat around there (some good restaurants on ave Emile Zola), but it's not that close to the Eiffel Tower. Sure, you can walk to it, but it's not within a few blocks. NOt that this would be a reason to stay somewhere to me (being right near the Eiffel Tower). You will be able to see the top of the Tower from there down some streets.

Since your goal is buses, I would look for a hotel more on a bus route, which is more rue St Charles and Lourmel, I believe. that hotel is just kind of a weird location not too close to anything, for me (not right near metro Charles Michel, not right near Emile Zola or Dupleix or La Motte Piquet , etc.). The restaurants I know and frequent are on rue St Charles, which also has some great food shops (bakeries, etc) and a market.

Here's another one in the area which is a 2* (not sure about the Mercure, but less than US $150, is only around 100 euro nowadays, so that is 2* pretty much). It is definitely in that range
http://www.hoteldelavre.com/

That hotel is not too far from the other, but more right near La Motte Picquet metro, which I think would be more convenient (and right near bd de Grenelle). It's not too far from the Mercure, but I think is more conveniently located. Here's another one that is very near the Avre.
http://www.france-hotel-guide.com/h75015fondary.htm

This owner has two hotels in the neighborhood, a 2* and a 3*
http://www.beaugrenelle-paris-hotel.com/

the 2* one at 82 rue St Charles is right near the Charles Michel metro stop on rue St Charles, and that would be a location I might prefer for the reasons I named (there is also a cafe I like at that place and there is a Monoprix only a few blocks away, as well as a movie theater that shows English-language films at times). Now it is normally around 120 euro for a double, but you can get it below 100 if you book online on their website.

Their 3* hotel, the Alize Grenelle, is 130 euro plus, but also can be in your budget if you book on their website. I personally prefer the location of the 2* one right near the metro -- the other is a bit down ave Emile Zola to the NE. It's not far, I just like the other one a little better.

There is a taxi stand right at place Charles Michel, also, which is convenient. The main buses you could use in the neighborhood are the no. 42 which goes up rue St Charles and then over near the Eiffel Tower on ave de la Bourdonnais and crosses the river to end at the Champs-Elysees. The other convenient bus line is line 70 which goes down ru des Entrepreneurs and then rue Linois (which runs west from place Charles Michel) and goes right over pont de Grenelle to the 16th. So both those would be good for you.

You'd have to check tripadvisor on these hotels, I just know the general area and their websites. Also, someone whose guidebooks I really trust (Sandra Gustafson, used to be Cheap Sleeps in Paris) has recommneded the Beaugrenelle St Charles, and the Fondary. I think she did used to recommend the Mercure, but when it was independent, the Hotel Charles Quinze. At least it was in her book, I'd have to look up what she said, although if Mercure put in new managers and they renovated, it may not matter.

Christina...wow, that is one post with a lot of information! I am but a student of the master...

well, I didn't even see your post when I got started, so I looked some things up (and got distracted). But I like that neighborhood so knew some places to recommend. Yours is a good idea, also, and that's a whole other way to go I didn't get into -- you could just stay in the 16th, why not. There are cheap hotels around Passy I like. However, I think being near Charles Michels would actually be more convenient to get across pont de Grenelle than being near Passy.

Have you looked into the Hotel Auteuil Tour Eiffel, which is in the 16th and near the Pont Mirabeau? I've stayed there and so have a few other Fodorites and we all had positive experiences. It often runs specials that would put it in your budget. It's a 3 star but in many ways it felt like a four star hotel.
http://www.hotelauteuiltoureiffel.com/vf/

Reasonable bus service in the area.

A couple of years ago I stayed at my sister's apparment in the 16th neasr Metro Michel Ange - Auteil. It was my first experience staying in a non-touristy neighbourhood and I thought it was great. The flower shop where they ask you if the bouquet is a gift, and then wrap it up so well for presenting it, the chees shop lady who will give you samples and spend an inordinate amount of time explaining the different cheeses, the award-winning chocolate shop, the 4-seat restaurant where they knew my sister and family intimately and treated us so well, and the twice-weekly farmers market where the vendors will guive you recipes, and ask when you are going to eat such and suich food, and pick out the product appropriately. And walking aorund there were some interesting buildings with designs linked to Guimard. It was such a different experience from staying in a hotel in the 4-6th.

So last time, from the hotel near Seine, went to Ave Mozart to browse, Monoprix for some local products as gifts, found nice fish restaurant on Muette, and went to a movie on Passy. And my morning ritual was breakfast and newspaper at local cafe.

So I have good memories of the 16th and enjoyed staying there both times. It has tweaked my interest in renting an appartment/staying in hotels in less visited arrondissements.

My main touring was more central, so had to take Metro every day, which at times I felt bit long