Anna

I'm getting overloaded with choices for hotels in Paris, but I thought this hotel looked nice. I want a clean, safe, and nice room, but I wanted to know if the pictures on the website acutally are what the rooms look like?

Lesli

Have not stayed there myself, but have seen positive feedback here. The search funtion seems to be working again - if you type in "hotel du bois" you will get several threads.

Anna

I tried the search function, but didn't get that many results... hoping I could get advice from people!

BTilke

I've stayed there in 2001 and was very happy, my room was just like in the brochure. But someone else recently posted a complaint. They didn't say when they were there, so it may have been before the hotel was renovated in 1999 or so. The neighborhood is fantastic; my favorite part of town, but admittedly it is not in the heart of the main tourist sights (but they can be reached easily). One more hotel to add to your list--The Marriott on the Champs Elysees. A friend was able to book a room there for a week in Jan. for $100 a night; rooms there normally *start* at $250, so this was a great deal.

Anna

BTlike,

Do you remember what the room looked like? I've seen rooms that are red & yellow, a cream one, and a white & blue room - I plan on staying in the superior room.

sandyc

hi anna,

just got back from london-paris in october 2001. our hotel choice was "hotel du bois" for paris and this was an excellent choice for fall/winter early spring. i was worried, like you because i couldn't find much about it on the net. i wasn't until i came back and started rave about it that i kept getting shushed..(grin) i suspect because they don't want the "secret" of this hotel out much. seriously, this was a great 3 star hotel in a wonderful area that is not mentioned much.

the superior/twin has the most room for any 3 star i have ever seen and i would recommend it even if you are a couple. i was the single out of 5 and stayed in a double one bed and even it was roomy in comparison. i have stayed in a double twin that was less room that my double/one bed. the decor for all 3 of the rooms we had was the red theme you see on the website. they did renovate the hotel in 1999 and it is very nice and charming and tastfully done.

rooms are large and spacious
superior rooms with bath have a large full bath /shower
hotel is soundproof from outside noise
has small refrig with snacks and drinks in room (charges)
cable tv

now the drawbacks, the hotel is really nice, but i suspect the lack of a 4th star is for 3 or 4 reasons.

no restuarant/room service
no elevator
no air conditioning

cont on next post....

sandy c

you noticed that i said that this is a great choice for fall/winter early spring. while the rooms we were in had fans, i probably would not recommend this hotel in midsummer. because we only had one piece of luggage each the stairs were no problem, however i could see if you had alot of luggage it would be. the rooms on the inner side were singles and somewhat smaller. i saw a single twin with shower and it was small, but nicely done. i had it to begin with and traded it for a double/one bed because the shower was too small for this plus size woman.

by the way, if you book the room thru holidaycity.com you get the best rate and cont breakfast included. 665 francs per room (not per person).

the area it is located in....victor hugo is a very upscale shopping street which leads into the circle around the arch. noisy but the hotel has soundproofed the outer walls, so you don't notice the traffic as much. we had no problem walking from metro to hotel late at night. ooopps...one problem that all parisians have...dog poop watch out for it.

one of the things i liked about this area and the hotel....we could easily get to the metro...kleber station is 2 blocks up and 1 block over. kleber is the one that goes by the eiffel....then of course you have the two or three entrances to the main station "charles de gaulle" at the end of the champs elysees. from the end of victor hugo (2 blocks north of hotel) you just turn right and circle around the arch a couple of the blocks and you are right there on the champs elysees. also the main tourist office were you can book lots of stuff is at that end of the champs. lots of stuff to do there at night...cafe's, restuarants, movie theatres, shopping....all of this makes this area very safe at night. from that main metro station CDG you can get anywhere or connect anywhere quickly.

if you decide to stay at this hotel i want to mention something. we were so busy coming and going to other places in paris we really did not take a chance to walk all the way down south on victor hugo. the last day we did and found some wonderful shopping.

if you are going before summer i would highly recommend this hotel and area. i know alot of people recommend the latin quarter but i loved the centralness of this area. the connections to many of the main areas were very easy from CDG metro. buy your "paris viste" there and your museum pass carte musee from there or the tourist office.

final mention. we had thought to skip taking a taxi or transfer because we had taken eurostar from london to paris. we would be arriving at gard du nord one of the main metro stations and thought to hook up to the paris metro. big mistake. even with only one piece of luggage we quickly realized that we would not be able to easily navigate the metro system. we took a taxi from the station and it was worth it. unless you are packing extremely light i would recommend this. although the metro entrances are relatively close to the hotel (about 4 blocks) navigating the metro stairs and long corridors would not be easy with luggage.

hope all this helps! feel free to email me.

sandyc

Anna

Sandy,

Thank you so much! Your reply was alot of help for me. I'm planning to go at the ending of May - will it be too hot then for only a ceiling fan?

Also, was holidaycity.com prices including taxes? I found this hotel on the Charming Paris website, and it would be $53 per person for a double room, which included taxes.

Thanks!

sandy c

hi anna,

they actually have table fans in each room, not a ceiling fan. as far as the end of may...i am not sure...that is more summer than spring and it may be warm. some else maybe able to tell you the weather during those last spring early summer months.

as far as the price goes the 665 is all inclusive and it also includes the cont. breakfast which may be extra thru the hotel itself. 665 francs is about $90 per room or $45 per person at the current exchange rate of 7.3 per $, but these were the 2001 rates. they may be different in 2002.

i loved this area and hotel, but once again you need to check the average temp for that time period. we went in october and the temp was in the low 70's and we were okay. with the fan it was fine.

hope this helps and have a wonderful time!

sandy c

BTilke

Our room had a blueish rug and the rest was a cream and dark gold decor. I don't remember if it was the superior room or not but we found it very comfortable. Kind of an angled view of the Ave. Victor Hugo. We were there in late fall, so the whole AC/fan issue was moot--but the heaters worked fine!
BTilke

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