emiller444

We are going to be in Paris for 6 nights the end of September. Instead of a tiny room in a hotel we are hoping to find a centrally located Bed and Breakfast for under $200 a night. We would prefer an area that is somewhat lively at night with restaurants and cafes. I have looked at trip advisor but the BandBs that look nice seem to be quite a distance from any sightseeing. We don't mind using the Metro but we don't want to be too far out. I would really appreciate any suggestions.

Judy

For 6 nights, you might consider an apartment if you don't want a hotel.

StCirq

Bed & breakfasts really aren't feature of French cities. I'd look into apartments.

Gretchen

Someone can probably correct me, but my impression of "B&Bs" in Paris is that it is someone's spare bed room in an apartment and they let you use the living room, etc.

qwovadis

franceby.com will have what there is you can do better with central 4 stars.I just booked hotwire.com Novotel Les Halles their secret Louvre Vendome Hotel for 110 euros for April might have a look there booking.com for Les Halles reviews many others.Apartments tend to be more variable in quality many scammeers no deals after all the cleaning fees many cheap have no AC elevators snall rooms baths. I stick with nice central hotels with good reviews.

Happy Hunting!

Christina

I really don't understand what you think a B&B is, but there aren't very many in Paris and of the ones that exist, you may have a very small room in them, also. A B&B is just a spare room and Parisian apts are very small, so any spare rooms are likely to be very small, also. The only listing I know of the few that exist is www.parisbandb.com

annhig

have a look at alistair sawdays for nice B&Bs, even in Paris. these certainly don't look just like someone's spare room.

but i agree that for a 6 night stay, an apartment might also be a good idea.

emiller444

Thanks so much for the warning that a BandB in Paris is likely to be a single room in a private home. We would not be comfortable with this. We have stayed in beautiful small inns and BandBs in other parts of Europe and Bruges was filled with such places. Sometimes the family lived in a separate part of the building, but there were always at least 3 or 4 guest rooms. We will also consider apartments but we never end up using the living room and the cooking facilities. I thought we might get something a little more luxurious if we went the BandB route.

I have used price line and hotwire in the past, but I am worried about not knowing what I am buying for 6 nights in Paris.

I would love some specific BandB or apartment suggestions.

nukesafe

You might also try looking in Airbnb. www.airbnb.com for an apartment. We are looking for a place in October, and I looked in your price range (Ours is considerably lower) and here is the first two that I saw -- almost at random. http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/221367 and http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/248983

There are hundreds more. Of course, you should use due diligence with any of these rental apartments by only looking at ones with reviews, carefully reading the references, and asking any questions you have of the owner.

Happy hunting.

easytraveler

Talking about airbnb, I just received today a response to a request for a room over six months ago.

When the very late response came, I was going "Wha....????"

Be careful. Be careful. Caveat Emptor.

I do use airbnb and it is a viable alternative, but do a lot of prior research, a lot. Even then, things happen.

Some of the airbnb hosts and hostesses are very nice, but you never know. Do your research and always caveat emptor.

emiller444

I have looked on the airbnb site and there seem to be a number of nice apartments. I am somewhat worried about using airbnb because this site has so many negative reviews when I search on it. I would love to get more feedback from people who have used airbnb.

easytraveler

This is the way I research airbnb. First I select an area of a large city and then try to find listings that are in that area.

Of the individual listings, the more reviews a place has, the better. I ignore the "friends" statements. Will a friend ever say something negative - no.

Then I also check the reviewers, which you can do by clicking on their names or pictures. Again, the more reviews a particular reviewer has done, the better.

I go and read their <i>other</i> reviews on other places that they have stayed in. This gives me a sense of how honest a particular reviewer is. The great majority of the reviewers are quite honest. There is no reason for them not to be.

Then, I read what the hosts have to say about a particular reviewer.

In other words, keep digging until you feel comfortable with a particular property. Then I try to get into an email exchange with the host that I have selected. Remember that this is a two-way street and the host may be just as anxious (or possibly more) about you. so, this exchange of emails is a getting-to-know-you exchange. I ask pertinent questions: how far is the metro station? Do you have laundry facilities? and so on.

If you are satisfied with your selection, then it's also critical to arrange a time and place of meeting. In large cities, the host may not be staying at the rental location. You need to have also their phone number on arrival in their city.

I once had the deuce of a time connecting with a host in a large German city who would meet me only after 6pm! This late arrival policy was never mentioned until I had arrived in his city. He turned out to be very nice, but the rooms that he was renting out turned out to be behind his bar - which he didn't open until 6pm. He offered me a free beer for the problems we had in connecting with each other, so all's well that ends well. The room was huge and quiet and squeaky clean for only 45 euros a night, perfect for a quick one-nighter for me.

The thing about airbnb that users have to keep constantly in mind is that these hosts are not in the hospitality business, so all the usual expectations that go along with a commercial establishment go out the window. Establishing a clearcut time and place of meeting is really crucial.

Hope this helps a bit. If you do your research well, you'll be fine.

nukesafe

Easytraveler is spot on. We have used Airbnb both in the States and in Europe with excellent results in the US, and a bad experience in Amsterdam. Also, we rent out a guest room with a private entrance in our home through them.

The thing as a host that I like are that I can see the reviews the potential guests have received from other hosts. So far we have had only splendid people stay with us.

As a renter, I like it that the host has no say in what the reviewer says about his stay. The reviews are printed as received by Airbnb.

The other aspect that is good is that the rent money goes through Airbnb and they do not release the money for 24 hours after your arrival. If the place is not as advertised you are supposed to get your money back after a resolution process through their 24/7 hotline. Of course that you could end up on the street without a place to stay, as happened to us in Amsterdam, but that could happen in a lot of ways when the place you rented turns out to be a dump or doesn't even exist.

Do your due diligence as I mentioned earlier, and you should be all right!