Paris Apartment Rental Web Service
 

My husband and I are planning an 8 day trip to Paris in June. We want to rent an apartment as we plan to cook some of our meals. We hope this will help us control our food intake as eating out all the time is too risky for our waistline! We have found one unit we like through VRBO and another one on all-paris-apartments.com.
Has anyone ever used All-paris-apartments.com to rent an apartment in Paris and if so how would rate the service? I am a bit apprehensive renting through them as you cannot communicate directly with the owner of the apartment until AFTER having confirmed a reservation?!...VRBO on the other hand allows us to communicate directly with the owner beforehand so you can clarify any questions about a unit before you commit to same...Thanks in advance!

Never heard of them but I've rented from several agencies, and I imagine most of them won't let you communicate directly with an owner until you have booked. It is for business reasons, for one things. I don't know why that is a concern, you should be able to ask questions about a unit and get an answer either way, even if you ask them and they ask the owner. I don't know of any agency that lets you communicate directly with an owner on your own (ie, outisde the agency) before you have booked a place, but you never know, there might be one.

We rented an apt last year through vacationinparis.com. Its based in NJ and you pay in US dollars--so the amount does not fluctuate with the euro. And you get the keys, etc. shortly before you go. We had a very good experience with them.

I have used VRBO on several ocassions...I find it convenient to comunicate with the owner about apartment specifics....I have always found the apartments to be as advertised.....no surprises.
We have been fortunate to have some really nice apartments with very efficient kitchens. If you enjoy cooking it's fun to shop and prepare meals....I agree it does allow you to be more waistline conscious.
Enjoy!

We have also rented through Vacations in Paris and now have another week booked for March. We really liked going through them and had absolutely no problems. I do think that I have heard so many good things about renting in Paris that I would be inclined to choose one of the many sites that have been written up as dependable. but that's just me and my cautious nature. Good luck!!!

We used Paris Autrement and while we had some minor glitches overall they were great and made everything right. Very helpful and their website is well designed to give you a real sense of the place you will be renting... ours was better than we even imagined.

http://www.parisautrement.com

Here is my video trip report and if you sit through the first minute or so you'll see our apartment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjAWJVIyrM4

How about www.usaparis.com , has anyone used them for Paris apartment rentals?
Cindy

Another recommendation for vacationinparis.com . I liked having the keys to the apartment before I arrived in Paris.
I also liked not having to pay a large security deposit in cash on arrival.
It was pleasant and reassuring to be able to call the agency in NJ and speak to one of the staff about any questions that I had, since I had never rented an apartment in Europe before and my husband was not quite so keen on the idea. Now however he thinks renting an apartment was a brilliant idea.

Thank you everyone for all this very helpful input and Charlotte of All-Paris_apartments; it does put my mind more at ease!