Ok what is it about Paris hotel bathrooms that seems to set them apart from most of the world? Well for some reason a lot of them have these hand held shower hoses and No Shower Curtains!

Adding a shower rod and curtain is not an expensive fix. I have seem this complaint on numerous Paris hotel reviews on many travel websites. You would think that this issue would be addressed- or is it one of those cultural things that everyone just has to accept because thats the way it is in Paris?

I have been looking for a Paris hotel in the range of say $300 that has a bathroom that is modern and with a stand up shower and door/curtain and the room/hotel is not in need of a major refurbishment.

It seems that each time I get a recommendation - I investigate and there are several reviews which point to dated carpets, bathroom issues, beds that are too soft or too hard, etc.

Don't get me wrong we love Paris- its our favorite city- but the hotel room experience is an important part of our vacation. (we are not a member of that club which says - we just sleep there so it doesn't matter).

I have been looking for a hotel that meets our needs now for 6 plus months and everytime I think I have found one I find several reviews which bring up these same issues.

Why don't you try a less expensive hotel that is nice with a shower and shower curtains such as:

http://www.hotel-grandes-ecoles.com/
http://www.balcons.com/

I've had showers and curtains at both of these places but please confirm before booking.

I've never stayed in a Paris hotel that cost more than $150 a night.

I've never had a hotel room with any of the problems you describe above.

Try the Luxembourg Parc. Power showers and full shower curtains. Great place to stay.

http://www.hotelluxparc.com/

I've had the same problems with low budget places, but at your budget (215euros/nt), there are plenty of places that look to have nice modern bathrooms.

www.hoteldesgrandshommes.com

We mostly stay in apartments, but have also stayed in hotels with none of the problems you mention.

Best bathrooms were at Hilton Paris (now Pullman) with a ridiculously low ($100/night) Hotwire rate, and Hotel Concorde Lafayette, with a ridiculously low TravelZoo special rate ($130 including amazing breakfast).

But, bathrooms at Hotel Muguet, Hotel Langlois, etc., have been just fine as well.

Smaller hotels seem to refurbish rooms all at once, and increase their rates immediately thereafter accordingly. The larger hotels, though, refurbish rooms on a rotating basis, so if the room you're assigned isn't all that "fresh", you can ask for another.

Carpets are tough because guests do things to them. I know one hotel that replaced the beds because of complaints that they were too soft, then folks complained they were too hard.

You have to carefully study reviews. Some people quibble over everything, or have a major complaint and add all sorts of others so as to have a long list.

There are a LOT of very nice hotels in Paris for $300/night. And, you may want to consider the advantages of an apartment.

You could be describing the Hotel Bonaparte where I stayed the last week in September. Fortunately, I didn't pay $300 a night but felt for the price paid (164 euros for superior double) that the hotel could have been better-maintained.

The quirkiness of the bathroom I put down in part to the fact that in these very old buildings, bathrooms have to be worked in as best they can into the existing structure, under the eaves in the case of my room. As for no shower curtain, I no longer fret over getting the floor wet, which I usually do. Actually prefer no curtain to those often provided which are too short and cling to you while you're trying to shower.

BTW, the Bonaparte is in a great location and the morning staff is very helpful.

Please, whatever you do, don't tell Ira that the Bonaparte was anything but outstanding!

Too late, Dukey. Forget to mention the scruffy white cat which lounges on the check-in-desk. Am very allergic to cats so not a welcome "feature" for me.

I've never stayed in a hotel in Paris with a shower without a shower door (no curtains, but I really don't like them in hotels as they can get gross with mold). Some people don't understand that the nozzle on the tub is not necessarily for a shower, it is to rinse yourself off after using soap with bathing. This is to conserve water. If there is no tube or slot on the wall high up to put it in to simulate a shower, it is not a shower. I've had quite a few hotels like that in France, some older ones or deluxe ones may have tubs not meant to be used as a shower. It isn't the cheapest ones, sometimes it is the expensive ones.

However, when I have had a nozzle that can be used as a shower (by inserting it to a slot on the metal bar on the wall), it has always had a door to prevent spraying the room, although it does not run the length of the tub, but it's never bothered me.

The traditional smaller French sabot tub should have a sprayer but is not meant to be a shower--at least I've never had one of those that was meant to be a shower.

I have never have a hotel with a stall shower in Paris without a door on it, and I have had that in some cheaper Paris hotels (as they have put in smaller bathrooms into older hotels that didn't used to have them "en suite") as well as nicer ones--a stall shower that is not a tub.

This may not meet your standards, but one of my favorite Paris hotels is the Aiglon in Montparnasse (3*, nowhere near your price range) and it has shower stalls with glass doors, and has for many years. They are not tubs at all. The hotel is hardly rundown as it just entirely renovated within the last few years (it was never run down in all the years before that, either, I've been staying there periodically for about 20 years).

oh, sorry, but as for this comment of yours": "It seems that each time I get a recommendation - I investigate and there are several reviews which point to dated carpets, bathroom issues, beds that are too soft or too hard, etc." well, it is hard to find a hotel that is perfect to everyone, I'm afraid. You will read some bad reviews on the Aiglon, some of which I find astonishing in comparison to my experience. So go figure. But who is going to say a bed is going to be perfect for everyone. A lot of people like beds that I do not.

I agree that those hand held showers instead of a proper shower head is extremely irritating. I always wonder whether the person that invented this idea never washes their hair?

But - there are hotels with shower curtains - many of them.

As for beds being too soft or too hard - I wuold ignore that part. EVeryone likes different kids of beds - but unless you're the princes of the pea (or the hotel is a dump with ancient beds) this is usually not an issue. (I find most are too soft - but have just leared to live with it - since I can sleep tandingup in the subway if necessary.)

I recently stayed at the Hotel de L'Abbaye in Saint-Germain. I paid 260 euros a night and had a very small tub ( French sabot?) with hand- held-shower/sprayer and no curtain or shower doors. I've gotten use to the hand-held showers, but I expected better at the L'Abbaye.

We have a hand-held shower unit in our bathroom, attached to the wall so that it can also be used in the normal way. I wouldn't want to do without it-and it works just fine for washing the hair. You just wet your hair, put the shower unit down for a couple of seconds, shampoo up, and grab the shower head to rinse or just put it back in the holder.

The Madison hotel has baths with attached shower heads and shower curtains.

I can tell that no one here has stayed at a British hotel that has only a bathtub. Now that makes for hair-washing difficulty.

I see that certainly cultural differences are not accepted as readily as others. But since there are chains such as Holiday Inn in Paris, people who need an Americanized bathroom should not have any difficulty finding one, if that is the priority.

certainly = certain

One of the things we appreciated about the Victoria Palace hotel was the shower curtain

Now that I've thought more about it, I do recall the bathroom in the Best Western Eiffel Park had a tub, fixed showerhead, but no curtain (which was no issue for me). However, after a few days, a different maid, apparently, had switched the water flow from the shower to the faucet and I had a heck of a time trying to figure out how to reverse it. There was no obvious means of doing this. A call to the front desk resulted in instructions to pull on the tip of the faucet. I never would have figured that out!

Just saw on HGTV a couple looking for place overseas (forget where but it wasn't France) and the showers all had that 1/4 partition that is about useless for keeping floor dry. No one seemed concerned. Is there a drain in the floor to address this?

The hand held shower for the French is to use when they have soaped themselves down. (less water wastage). The water is used only when needed.

Upright showers waste a lot of water. I like them, but they do waste a lot of water