This is for a coworker who is getting married in Paris.
Has anyone every used this service? They want cash so my coworkers are skeptical!

http://www.parispiedaterre.com/index.html

YOur coworkers can be skeptical because they don't have much experience with this kind of thing. A lot of apartment rental companies require "cash" if you mean they won't accept credit cards. They usually take cashier's checks or bank drafts in euro or something.

If you want to use a credit card, there are plenty of other agencies where you can do that, eg, www.barclayweb.com. That's just one there are many others.

That web site looks pretty professional to me. I'm not recommending it or not, but that requirement is not unusual in this kind of business.

Christina thanks for the advice I passed it on.

If you return to check this out, I just topped the only post with this website I could find here. It's titled simpley "paris apartment" and is an unqualified recommendation for the firm.

They are completely reliable. I rented one of their apartments from the website a year in advance and wired the deposit to Walid, the owner. When we decided somewhat later that it wasn't going to work for us, Walid immediately returned our deposit.

As it happened, I was in Paris at the time and we met so he could give it to me in cash. Otherwise he would have wired it to my account in dollars.

By the way, the apartment was very nice (friends stayed there later), and Walid was charming. He and his wife now have several apartments and a mas in Provence, all available for rent.

I wouldn't hesitate in the least to deal with them.

Thanks so much for the information!

Has anyone stayed in 8 rue de Colonel Combes? This is another place from Walid and Charla's website. K

We would be in paris for about 6 nights in May and would like to rent an apartment for 2 persons, can you pls provide us Walid and Charla's website address.

Secondly, does renting a place works out cheaper...pls advice...many thanks

The web site is given in the first post.

The only way to tell which will work out cheaper is to find the price of an apartment that you would like and the price of a hotel that you would like, and then compare. Also, would you try to save money on food if you had an apartment?

Adil, if you are only concerned about money, no, an apt. will not be cheaper. They may be cheaper in comparison to an expensive hotel, but not compared to a modest 2* hotel. The cheapest apt. on that web site looks okay -- a small 1 BR top floor apt. near Invalides (elevator to 4th floor, then walk up one flight). However, it rents for 155 euro per night if you stay 6 nights. YOu can easily get a double hotel room for less than that if you only want to minimize your costs.

Do not give up! You CAN find an affordable apartment or studio (we're paying US $780 for seven nights) in Paris, but you must do your homework! Check out websites like VRBO (or Google or Lukol for 'paris apartment' or 'paris rental') to find what you're looking for. If you are willing to walk up a few flights, prices go down dramatically. And with the Metro easily accessible from most anywhere in the city, location is not a critical concern. We have stayed all over the city--there are lots of options!

There are some cheap options here (cheapest being 55 Euros per night):
http://www.an-apartment-in-paris.com/

Also, had friends' stay at this one:

http://studioinparis.site.voila.fr

Great location, near the Notre Dame, clean, beautifully decorated studio with icy cold bottle of Champagne in the fridge and fresh flowers.

It is in a passage closed off to cars, so very quiet and friendly village feeling.

My boss ended up at Hotel Bridgestreet Montparnasse Appartement 13, rue d'Odessa - 75014 PARIS. There was some confusion at the last minute and he was supposed to stay somewhere else so they offered him Hotel Bridgestreet for 130 € a night. HE loved it, he hates everything. YOu could see the top of the Eiffel Tower from their room.