Nervous about Paris hotels?
 

A nerve-wracking thing happened to me this morning. We have had reservations for the final 3 nights of a 2-week trip through France at Hotel Jeanne d'Arc in the Marais since January. Last night I re-confirmed, as I'd recently had emails from our places in Provence and Burgundy who wanted to make sure we were still coming. I was horrified to see a reply this morning from Hotel Jeanne d'Arc that I hadn't sent a credit card number to confirm, and they were booked solid for our late May dates! I responded by forwarding my Jan 4 confirmation email - with credit card number - and a nice entreaty "As you see, I did provide a credit card number in an immediate reply to your offer...Please tell me you didn't lose our reservation?" I then immediately did a search on parishotels.com for Marais/Bastille properties (our selected area this year) and sent off requests to four 2-3 star properties (along with a little note that HJd'A had lost our reservation!) I also tried bookings.org/fr from a link on Bonjour Paris and enquired about an 84euro double special at the New Hotel Candide (3stars) By the time I got to work and checked my personal email, I'd heard back from four, with offers of rooms from 72euro to 135euros per night AND hmmmm....a very nice reply from Hotel Jeanne d'Arc that they'd just had a cancellation and had confirmed a double for me at the originally quoted 78euro per night. Since we really chose HJd'A specifically for the location, and had seen them on a previous trip, I happily thanked them and accepted their room. I really was tempted by the New Hotel Candide...but I was completely amazed over all that all of these places -- Hotel Vieux Marais, Hotel de Chevaliers, and Hotel Baudelaire Bastille -- had rooms to offer at reasonable rates for the end of May. SO, if you are nervous about taking one of those low cost fares that seem to still be popping up and wondering where you might stay -- there are probably a lot of choices still out there! By the way, I really did like the bookings.org/fr site. I've used Parishotels.com before (successfully) but I like the way bookings.org shows how many rooms are available at each price, and gives you a room at the lowest price (if that is what you want).

Just wanted to say how nice of you to post this information. And, very glad you got what you wanted.

In my observation, "errors" such as this occur frequently with Paris hotels. Folks have even reported that they've been cancelled in favor of folks requesting longer stays.

Over the years, I've learned, a "fax" confirmation is a contract by French law (and a hotelier told me this), so I'm always careful to request a faxed confirmation. Even so, when booking far in advance, I re-confirm (as you did) a month or so in advance (I tell them we've booked our plane tickets), then about a week prior request a restaurant reservation for our first day/night. You don't want to bother them too often or too much, but I've also been told (by another hotelier) that Americans cancel frequently, and at the last minute, even advising that they had several reservations and finally narrowed down their first choice!

My favorite was the time I booked a hotel and was confirmed by fax months in advance in Amboise. When we arrived for our special room with balcony to the river, they had no record of our reservation. When I proudly pulled out a copy of the fax confirmation, she studied it and finally said, "oh that's it. We don't keep our records that long". Can you imagine?

My mother always taught me to be polite, so I immediately responded to the other hotels that I had found lodging! But I've also noted several posts recently about booking services, and these two are well organized. I've been making travel arrangements on line since 1996, and it is getting easier and better every year.

You're right, uhoh. I just booked a room in Paris today for the 26 May, 2 nights, and I had my pick of about 950 hotels! I should say also it pays to shop around the various hotel websites. I booked at the Luxembourg Observatoire, a 3 1/2 star property for $112/nt. on discounthotels.com, yet the same property on virtually every other website, including Parishotels.com, started at around $150 euros on up.

To the top -- for AmyChow
I'd suggest you look at 2 star hotels in the Marais or St Germain areas. Both are located in areas with a lot to see and do. Rick Steve's suggestions are likely to be booked solid, but the sites mentioned in the posts above will give you many to chose from.

To the top -- a year later -- for the poster looking for inexpensive Paris Hotels in May. www.parishotels.com and www.bookings.org/fr are the two web links I found quite useful...

Sorry you had a mix up mess with Hotel Jeanne d'Arc. We have stayed there several times on our trips to Paris and love the place.They just finished a nice remodel last year. The area is perfect to walk in and Place St. Catherine is a wonderful little neighborhood square. I would not stay anywhere else!

Now this gives me a quandary. I thought someone said here it's always more reliable to book directly with the hotel. Currently I have reservations at the Empress in Victoria, B.C. The hotel seems to think I have a certain room and view at one price (Canadian $) and the Fairmont chain itself thinks another. As long as I have a room, will be interesting to see which is right. Don't tell me to call; have done that several times--responses vary.

Well, it was a mix up for only a day or so -- and we totally enjoyed our stay We had a double with a 101 Dalmation shower curtain in the bath :) I just noticed that I can't find the same booking site link on Bonjour Paris' site, but I'd suggest using any of their links to investigate good opportunities for good rooms, as well. There are SO MANY good & inexpensive hotel rooms in Paris, people shouldn't be intimidated when the one or two they think are especially fine are totally booked when they enquire.