Anyone traveling to Paris in March should be aware that the Hotel Scribe is offering some pretty darn good rates on Expedia and through Priceline.

I was able to book a double for four nights for $230 per night through Priceline. After taxes the rate jumps to $250 per night. Expedia also has a special rate that comes to about $270 per night, including breakfast. In hindsight, I probably should have paid a bit more and gotten the breakfast. It is supposedly possible to get the Scribe for $200 on Priceline if you are lucky, but I was never able to get this rate.

For those wishing to bid on Priceline, Hotel Scribe is the only five star hotel believed to be offering rooms. But the Expedia rate is so good I think I'd go for that.

By the way, this good thing apparently ends in March. I checked a couple of dates in April and the best Expedia rate is almost $600 per night.

I must confess that $250 is a lot of money for me to spend on a hotel room, but it is nice to have a large, clean, modern room with a decent bath in a good location. I just find I enjoy my trip more. And unlike those who say they don't spend any time in the room, I spend enough time in the room for it to make a difference, although for now $300 per night is my absolute, positive choke point! Normally I try to spend half that or less.

FHurdle, have you tried any of the 4* hotels on Priceline? Is there a big step up from those to the Hotel Scribe?

Willtravel,
Although I did bid on Paris 4 stars with Priceline (max bid $115), there is much more risk here. Visit www.biddingfortravel.com for a hotel list and other bidding info.
Many people report being able to get the Le Meridians for $100 per night in off times, which is certainly a great rate. But in looking at the Priceline map, I quickly determined that I did not want to bid a 4 star in the St. Germain district on Priceline, because the St. Germain district goes almost to Port d' Italy! The Opera districts are a better bet.

To answer your question, I stayed several years ago at the Le Meridian Montparnase on an Air France special ($650, 3 nights room and flight). Priceline rates this as a four star. It was very nice. A year later we stayed at the five-star Intercontinental Grand on a hoteldiscount.com rate of $169. It was head and shoulders above the Le Meridian. I would expect the Hotel Scribe to be much closer to the Intercontinental than to the Le Meridian.

Since we are only in Paris for four nights, I decided to pay a bit more for true luxury.

Thanks FHurdle for the info about the Le Meridien. I won a Priceline bid last night for the Le Meridien Montparnasse for this summer, although I bid $110 (after failing with slightly lower bids). I think that's due to the weak dollar. I agree that some of the Priceline 4* options are located in pretty far out locations.

Priceline says in its Vacation Packages that the Intercontinental is a 4* hotel, but I think some other sources rank it as a 5*. People do sometimes win the Intercontinental on Priceline, but of course there are other possibilities as well in that zone.

I think it's quite possible that the Scribe will have further discounts when April comes - maybe they don't want to advertise them too far in advance.

If the breakfast is important, maybe you could ask about it at the hotel - maybe they'll give you a break on it. Good luck and it sounds like you'll have a great stay.

There is much confusion in Pricelines 4 and 5 star ratings in France. There was some contention in the past over certain hotels that Priceline said were 5 star. People would write the hotel and the hotel would reply that they were a 4 star hotel, not a 5 star. Of course then people would complain to Priceline.

The fact of the matter is there are no 5 star hotels in France. There are six star ratings issued by a goverment body: no star, 1* to 4*, and 4* L (L = Luxe). 4* Luxe is the top rating possible. Priceline has taken it upon themselves to describe the 4*L category as 5 star.

Hope that helps.

In my observation, Priceline deliberately rates certain hotels one star less - probably to encourage folks to bid that area in hopes of getting that certain hotel.

This happens all the time to folks bidding for Boston. They bid 3* in the Back Bay hoping to get the Hilton Back Bay (which really should be a 4*, along with the Sheraton, Marriott, Westin), but wind up with the (most describe as dismal) Park Plaza or, worse, the Doubletree Downtown, which is actually in the Theater District, but the Priceline area map is "stretched" to include just that particular hotel.

You have to pay attention to the entire Priceline area and accept that you could get any hotel for which Priceline has inventory at whatever star level they designate.