Planning our first trip to France in 2003. We are not interested in a tour and would like to visit various places at our leisure. Our travel agent suggested a Hotelpass. Has anyone ever heard of this and how does it work? Also, any suggestions for great, non-touristy towns that we should visit? Thanks for your help.

okay, I think I am going to be appearing a bit testy, sorry, but if you are going to a travel agent and this agent is saying this is a good idea for you -- why aren't you asking this agent to explain how it works to you??????<BR><BR>From what I know, I think it is a very bad idea. It's a promotional hotel gimmick where you prepay hotels for your entire stay (bad idea) and you are limited to a certain list of hotels to use "vouchers" for stays they give you (another bad idea). It doesn't guarantee you a room, you still have to call ahead of time and reserve. The problem is you are stuck staying at their list of hotels. What is the point of this? Ask your agent that one. I don't think you get any discount for this, which could be a reason for doing it, and it really reduces your flexbility if you can only stay at their list.<BR><BR>I think you need to think a little more about where you want to go, when, and your interests, read some guidebooks for an overview to get some idea of where you might want to stay, and then ask more specific questions. France is a very large country, people will have trouble suggesting a great town for you to stay in with nothing to go on.<BR><BR>If the point of this Hotelpass thing is they give you a list of hotels in cities/towns for you to choose from so you don't have to find any hotels, I would suggest you can do the same thing (better) with a guidebook, and a few lists from Best Western and Logis de France and maybe Guides de Charme, and going to a tourist office. Tourist offices in cities of some size will usually have hotel listings and will call to reserve for you.

The last trip to France we stayed at bed and breakfast ( chambres de hotes). They are all rated and very reasonable. There are interactive maps on different websites so that you can tell where they are located. Try stopoverconnections.com we had good luck with them, plus breakfast is included!

I appreciate the suggestions. I will certainly check into them further. To answer Christina's question: We are at the very early planning stages of our 2003 trip to France. Although my husband and I have traveled quite a bit, we've never made it to France, nor anyone we know. This is what prompted my inquiry on Fodors. <BR><BR>Our tentative plan is to travel in either March or October. The travel agent with whom I have communicated is located in a different city, therefore, contact has been via email only and has been brief. I'm hoping a Fodors traveler who has used or is familiar with the "Hotelpass", could provide some insite (other than the basics provided by the travel agent)by sharing their experiences using it or offer any other tidbits of info. that may be helpful to us. Thanks in advance.

Susan: Christina (above) gave you a good answer with excellent advice. I would be very wary of that "hotelpass".