patti

Last week I emailed the hotel for a price quote and availability of dates....no response. This week I faxed them my questions. No answer yet. How long is the norm to receive a fax reply? I know others on this board have had success with this hotel. Am I too impatient? <BR>

Donna

My guess would be that this hotel is simply overwhelmed with requests. Typically, a hotel will respond to fax or e-mail within a day, or two or three at most. This is a small hotel (only about 30 rooms) and is listed in many tour guides as charming, well located and an excellent value, and it's also heavily promoted by Rick Steves. Add to that recommendations all over various internet travel boards. It is entirely possible that, if your dates are not available, you will receive no response simply because of the time and expense involved in responding to so many inquiries. You might want to try your request through www.france.com.

Bob Brown

My experience was not with the hotel you mention, but here is what happened to me with a hotel in Zuerich. <BR> <BR>I saw the web page, activated the email response hot spot, and sent in a request for a reservation. I expected an email response in reply. None was forthcoming. <BR> <BR>A few days later I received a confirmation with a price quote in the regular mail!!! <BR> <BR>In the interim, impatient me emailed them again . So I got a second snail mail response!! <BR> <BR> If it is a large hotel, someone on the staff can speak some English. You might be ahead to call them directly. <BR>

Mike

We have reservations at the Champ de Mars in Dec. When I needed to email them I used the following address: <BR>[email protected] and it seemed like it was 7 days before I got a response. I have also talked to them on the phone, faxed etc and they are always very helpful. Good luck, I know we are looking forward to our visit there! <BR>

Louis

The best way to book rooms in small quality hotels in Paris is by phone and confirm by fax. It saves a lot of time and doesn't cost much. Hotels such as the Champs de Mars and others that are published in "Hotels of Character and Charm in Paris" by Fodor's Rivages are mostly fully booked except during the low season. The only people to answer inquiries at the Champs de Mars are M.& Mmme Gourdal and one or the other is at the front desk every day to handle every other thing. What would you do if you were fully booked for the next three months and you had a pile of 500 requests to answer covering the same period? You certainly would not waste money on faxes or a lot of time either. I recommend that you phone and you will find out if you are wasting your time. The phone number is 45-51-52-30. Even during the spring and fall season you might have to contact 3 or more hotels to find rooms on the dates you want. During the fall of 97, I spent two weeks at the Champs de Mars. However, I could not get in at 4 other hotels before I contacted them. <BR> <BR>It is much easier to find rooms at 1,000F than 400F. Partiularly with Rick Steves touting all of the good low price ones. Remember also that about 25 percent of all room prices are taxes paid to the government.

patti

I took the advice given here, and called the hotel. The gentleman instructed me to send a fax request. Hah, but I already did that, I quipped; with no response. "Send your dates and your credit card #". So, I faxed the exact same request as a week earlier, but this time included the credit card info. We received a fax confirmation back within an hour. Apparently, the theory put forth above must be correct -- they don't respond to general fax or email queries. So, an initial phone call seems necessary to at least determine a rate. It gave me my first opportunity to speak French to someone other than my high school teacher. Of course, "Bonjour" and "Parlez vous anglais?" is a humble beginning .... <BR> <BR>BTW, the rate for a double with private bath/shower in May, 1999 is 410 FR.

Monica

I emailed Hotel Champs du Mars and received their response within 2 days. I did not give them my credit card number at that time telling them I had not firmed up our travel dates. Maybe it depends on who answers the emails.