Picky, what is a AA package? I dont think that is what I have since it was a travel agent not the airline that I contacted. I have one hotel choice for same price and other choices for more money. None in the same area I had orginally booked (the 6th)

picky, the poster has stated several times that the hotels vary in price with the Ambassador being the most expensive so your premise that you know exactly what she bought, and that she stated her problem poorly seems flawed.

sarah, I would choose the du Jardins, and based on the tripadvisor reviews, I wouldn't even feel so bad about the price (your talking dollars, right?) It sounds like AA Vacations includes the breakfast buffet which was described as good by many in their reviews. Go to Paris and have a wonderful time!

I have the AAvacations book in front of me as I reply. A travel agent, or you can directly buy a trip . You obviously arranged through an TA. The result is the same. AA doesn't offer an unlimited choice of hotels and they have apparently offered you a very resonable choice based on availability on your new travel date.Your other correspondents don't understand this. See pages 25, 26,27 which have the list of hotels by AA associated with this package. Your travel agent did what you could have done by getting the AA brochure. This why others are telling you look elsewhere because they don't comprehend the arrangment.

thanks for the info about AA

Sarah,
What are your dates? I might be able to help.

thanks for all the help i booked the jardin one last night

For those of you Fodorites who don't know that many airlines offer DO IT YOURSELF PACKAGES, I'll explain it for you. You buy air, hotel and sometimes a car or transport from airport to hotel and have a choice of a number of hotels that vary in price by # of stars, from 2* to 5* hotels.You are then on your own, no buses etc. THESE PACKAGES GENERALLY ARE LESS COSTLY THEN IF ONE BUYS AIR THEMSELVES AND HOTEL ACCOMADATIONS BY THEMSELVES.I KNOW MOST FODERITES DO IT ALL THEMSELVES UNDER THE ILLUSION IT IS THE CHEAPEST WAY. Not necessarily. The airlines have some great deals if you want to spend a week in London, Paris or Rome which is what the author had in mind via American Airlines. I believe many of you who follow these letters are not aware of this type of offering but I not only knew what the lady's problem was, I have used this type of travel myself.

<<if you want to spend a week in London, Paris or Rome...>> (at the hotel(s) they chose, at the rate (they) negotiated)...

I think that this is at the top of the reasons that a package would likely never appeal to me (though, yes, it always might be possible). The odds are so low... that I want to stay exactly the number of prescribed nights, at exactly that hotel, and that no other hotel (priceline or otherwise) would suit me better, or offer me a better value... well, it seems astronomically unlikely.

I think most Fodorites are WELL aware that airlines offer such packages, and also WELL aware that they can almost always do better on their own. Given the OP's stated situation, there's yet another reason why such packages don't appeal to savvy travelers.

just to clarify I booked a liberty travel package. I had no intention of booking through the airline. I booked air fare and then chose hotels etc it wasn't a set formula. If the agent booked a airline package it was without my knowledge. I booked through an agent b/c i wanted it to be easier and did not want to pay 100 percent to expedia or travelocity and havbe no insurance etc. I did have a abd experience and lose money even with insurance but without insdurance id have lost total package price. I will live and learn. i think this is a great resource to reserach trips and values.
ps excuse my spelling i am on a laptop

So I guess Picky was completely wrong and all us other idiots maybe not quite as dumb as he thought. I know about packages, and know full well that you can put airfare and hotels together in them. Sometimes they can be cheaper than buying on your own, but usually not very much, and you are limited in your choice. However, the thing that was confusing to me was that if there is a package you put together yourself, you are not required to book hotels at a certain level. YOu can choose the hotels from lowest price to highest. The confusing thing about this was that sarah was being required to book the expensive hotels, and the prices varied among them. If it were a done deal, the price shouldn't have mattered.

In any case, I think the one in Bastille area should be fine. You can look for restaurants in the Marais, at least the part closest to the eastern border. I also like the Cafe des Phares for drinks/people watching right on place Bastille. Maybe you won't need this, but there is a great, cheap internet cafe a couple blocks north of place Bastille on bd Beaumarchais, on the east side (very near Chemin Vert metro stop). Also, as I said, the Sunday morning market on bd Richard Lenoir is very good.

I think what sarah is saying is that she booked the trip through her travel agent, relying on his/her expertise in well, travel.

Unbeknownst to her (sarah), the agent booked a package tour through the airline's travel dept. Had the agent put the trip together herself/himself, the agent would have been able to switch hotels and sarah would not have been stuck with the change fees.

BUT....she most likely would have incurred the airline change fees anyway which as we all know can be substantial.

She came here asking for our help and some people chose to get snitty. That's unfortunate and I hope Sarah will overlook that and come back here with her trip report.

AS an aside, I stayed at the Meridien Montparnasse for just one night a couple of years ago and found it very "corporate" and sterile, also showing a little wear & tear. It's funny how little it matters to me when a charming older hotel starts to show its age but it turns me off completley in a modern hotel.

Hi Sarah,

Chalk it up to experience, and figure out a way to deduct it from your taxes as a business trip.