Hotel reservations for 2001--too early?
 

We are planning a trip to France in spring 2001. Is it too early to make reservations?

I would say absolutely not to early. Especially if there is a particular hotel you want to stay in. It seems most of the most popular hotels are filling up faster and faster. I say go for it.

Hi Casey, I always book way, way in advance, there are two reasons for this:#1 is because I genuinely LIKE to do it. I love investigating and knowing where we are going to stay (I print pictures of our hotels up and plaster my office walls with them. #2) Because we always travel on a tight budget and the few times we have left our nights lodgings until the last minute we have had to pay more then we could afford, or one time stay way out of city center. We usually travel in March/April and I have all our reservations by September. Only once has a hotel ever contacted me and told me that it was too early, and that was a lovely little hotel in Montmatre, Paris. They wrote a nice little note back saying to wait until January as they had not decided their next-year prices yet.Sometimes if you are faxing inquiries you may not hear back from hotels for a couple of weeks or even months.Just make sure, when you book that far in advance that you contact the hotels a week or so before you arrive and confirm. Occasionally a reservation made way in advance gets lost in the shuffle. Bon Voyage!

Casey, <BR>No - it's not too early (a few hotels may think so but you will find most are willing to make reservations). We always travel in April and I've already made our hotel arrangements in Paris. They did say there might be a slight increase in prices after Sept. as they had not set their 2001 rates yet, but they would let me know, in the meantime I have a confirmed reservation where we want to be. All the hotels I considered were able to make reservations in 2001 and I e-mailed them to ask. I always plan 10 months ahead anyway so it's great for me. Start planning, it's never too early! Always follow up on the reservation a couple of months prior to the trip (about 3) and then again a week or two before you leave. Better safe then sorry & with 3-mail it is so easy to do!

I will just add that you should get a confirmation in writing, including their cancelation policy and the room rate <BR>