Hotel Help ASAP
 

Hello,
I cancelled a trip and am trying to redo it. I need to decide by tonight. I have a choice of Ambassador Hotel in the 9th (350 a night), Les Jardins du Marais (11th bordering 4th) 257 a night and Le meridien Montparnasse (not b/t 250 and 300. I need to know which is the best area for a first time trip. I'd like to be safe and also have places to eat and shop around. I have no other choices or I lose a lot of money. thanks in advance

Of the 3 locations, I'd take Les Jardins du Marais slightly over the Ambassador, with Le Maridien trailing far behind. Les Jardins is in more of a neighborhood and within walking distance of lots of interesting places, while the Ambassador is close to excellent shopping (dept stores, etc.). The Meridien is on one of the few totally undistinguished streets in Paris (it faces the side of a train station).

I see that you are (somewhat) new here - - how did I know that? click on your own name (this is one of the numerous useful tips that Fodors fails to tell you when they send you that first e-mail confirming your registration) - - and as a corollary, perhaps you have also not taken the time to read the "HELP" (little tiny red letters in the upper lefthand corner) - - another oversight that Fodors fails to recommend to you to do.

Anyhow, you owe it to yourself to take a look there: http://www.fodors.com/forums/faqs.cfm - - especially http://www.fodors.com/forums/faqs.cfm#Q6 - - which I have listed below, in excerpt form, for you (my own emphasis added):

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Finally, create a title - make sure it is concise and clearly describes your message (<b>and destination</b>, if applicable) -- and write your message in the space provided

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Thus, when you re-post - - and you really should do that - - be sure and mention <b>Paris</b> in your message header.

Best wishes,

Rex

In the past year, two of my friends have gotten the Le Meridien Montparnasse on Priceline for 100 USD/night. If you're interested, be sure you thoroughly understand the bidding process as explained at www.biddingfortravel.com.

thanks Betsy but this was through an agent so I have to pay their rate its over 300 US dollars for that hotel a night. I am already losing 600 dollars to reschedule trip i'd lose 1100 to cancel and book on my own. Its so upsetting b/c i thought the travel insurance would cover more and now i have such limited choices of hotels and areas for a lot of money
thanks for the tip- maybe in future i can check them out

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

Sounds like a nice place... I hope you are getting a &quot;junior suite&quot; at that rate, as 255&euro; is the standard price for one.

Here is a photo gallery:
http://www.venere.com/hotel/index.ph...=photo_gallery

This property used to be called &quot;Home Plazza Bastille&quot;.

Personally, I would use Priceline for the hotels and recoup some of your losses. There are great bargains to be had and IMO you are paying way too much for the hotels you mention.

I don't think Priceline is all that good for Paris hotels. I'd just book one of the innumerable good-value hotels mentioned on this forum. You'd still be saving $100-$150 a night. I think whatever package you got involved in to begin with was not at all a good deal.