Hi, please help w/any hotel recommendations. Also has anyone stayed at Relais du Louvre or St. James et Albany? Thank you,

The Hotel du Louvre is an excellent choice. It may be a bit pricey, but the rooms are from well worth the money.

Have not stayed in hotels you ask about but have stayed in Britannique and Hotel du Champagne near Chatelet. Both are swell, especially the latter.

Avoid Normandy, they advertise as 4* but are hardly 2*

We stayed at the Hotel Royal St Honore (4 star) and were very pleased. Rooms are comfortable and the bathrooms were wonderful! The rooms are also soundproof so we didn't hear any noise from the traffic or other rooms. Staff very friendly and helpful. Just a couple of blocks from the Tuileries Metro stop and walking distance to Tuileries, Louvre, the Seine, and some fancy shopping! We also had a wonderful meal at Le Dauphin just down the street. Have a great time!

I disagree about the Normandy. We stayed there last September and were very pleased. The room was very large, with a huge bathroom. Our room looked just like the one pictured in the brochures. Included in our room rate (we had a standard room) was a huge breakfast buffet, with hot and cold items. My only complaint was that the concierge was not overly helpful but that was fine with us. We knew where we wanted to go and how to get there so we didn't miss it.

We've stayed at Tonic Hotel Louvre and liked it. It is a nice 3-star hotel, with the rooms from $100-$120/night. There's nothing special, but rooms are of a moderate size and not tiny as in some other 3-stars, nicer bathrooms (even with jets in the tub), descent continental breakfast. It is located in a quiet side street just about 20 meetes away from rue de Rivoli.

I believe I better explain my experience with hotel Normandy. <BR>Location was perfect for my requirements - the center point to get everywhere by foot. <BR>I fell in love with pictures and found the deal for $200 per nignt. I even cancelled the Dumini that haven't looked as classy. <BR>As a result the personnel was extremely unfriendly, not only to us, americans, but to other clients, and to japanese people too. Everywhere else in Paris I saw japanese treated with extreme respect, but not there in Normandy. <BR>The room was huge but far from the picture, dumpy, and badly cleaned. the carpets were 20-years old and smelled badly. The furniture ugly, old, a lot of draws but dirty as well. I didn't even want to unpack. <BR>There was no check-room to store your luggage before check-in and after check-out, it stays there in the hall, blocking people's way. <BR>The buffet breakfast was not so huge, and in addition when the waiter turned over the tray with omelette on the floor (nobody is perfect), everything and everyone was splashed with it, no regrets offered, no omelette replacement either. Cleaning haven't started yet when we were leaving 30 minutes later. <BR>I describe my personal experience (end of May, 2001) <BR>After that I decided never book any hotel without reference, and that decision brought me to this forum, which visit on a regular basis and enjoy very much. <BR>