Delavigne vs. Michelet Odeon...It seems it has come down to these, two...(unless someone out there suggests another in the 6th at these prices and makes me start all over again). This will be our second trip to Europe and our first to Paris/France. So we're no experts. We will be there at the end of February.

My wife and I are looking for clean, well located, friendly (relatively speaking) and fairly quiet. We expect small rooms, that's not a problem.

Delavigne and the Michelet Odean both receive pretty good reviews and are about the same economical price. Any opinions on choosing one over the other?

Thanks for your help.

The Michelet Odeon looks really good offering modernized yet charming rooms for the reasonable rates. And the location is excellent. Some of the rooms overlook the Theatre de l' Odeon. And it's gotten nice praises at Trip Advisor.

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

Thanks francophile03. Unfortunately, as we both know, the pictures on the web sites don't always (ever?) match reality. But there are some great reviews at Trip Advisor as you noted. I can never understand, though, how opposite end of the spectrum the reviews can be on nearly every hotel. For every few raves, there is someone who thinks the same place is the wort place ever. How can that be?
Thanks for your opinion on the location, too. For a first visit ever to Paris, the 6th seems right. Would you agree?

The 6th is a nice base for a first time visitor, yes. Other good areas for first time visitors are the 1st, 3rd-5th, and 7th.

The disparities in comments are most likely due to different perspectives that people have. For example, I stayed at a 6th district hotel that I read so many rave reviews about. I was expecting a charming room and welcoming desk staff. Instead I stayed in a room that was not charming just excessively decorated with florals and toile and had a cold desk staff.

EVERY SINGLE "review" on TripAdvisor is SUBJECTIVE...with words like "friendly" "clean" "dirty" "rude" "large" "small" "charming" etc.

Try to read between the lines...not an easy task I can assure you.

We try to pick final contenders from establishments that have received CONSISTENTLY "good" reviews especially if we think the few "negative" ones are based on unrealistic expectations such as the lack of something that we couldn't care less about anyway.

Another startegy would be to prioritize the most important aspects and even weight them such as giving "location' a weight of three and room size a weight of two, etc., and then adding them all up at the end.

Never easy and this comes wirth a wish for good luck to you.

If you do a Fodors search on "Delavigne" look for elaine's comments. She stayed there in January 05 and posted a trip report about it. She's also responded to numerous threads about nearby restaurants, etc.

I've posted a few times on the Delavigne, this is the original time (with the most detail)
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34554042

Thanks to all for your thoughts, opinions, ideas, etc. I just received an email from Delavigne informing me that they are full so the discussion becomes moot. However, they also tell me that they are full because of the PREMIERE VISION SHOW. I researched that and found that it is a clothing and textile related convention. The website says they expect 40,000 attendees.

What do you all think, will that be a problem for us? I assume that Paris is a popular convention destination and is well equipped for that, but it surprised me that a hotel, across town from the event would be full.

Paris is the kind of city that may have -multiple events- going on simultaneously. That is why hotels fill up in the fall.

My "Paris Notes" newsletter this month says that Paris is the #1 city in terms of conventions held, but has slipped from 2004.

I suggest you ask the Michelet Odeon about vacancies. They're pretty helpful.

jcar:
You would be wise to find something quickly. If these two are off the list, post a new thread asking for hotel suggestions in your price range and any other pertinent information.

There are lots of hotels near the same area. I'll suggest some on your new thread.