WillTravel - I don't know enough to disagree with you on this point so I won't :)

I will say that the hotel lists on BFT have always been correct when I've used them (or correct enough :) ).

I will also say that BB is a *much* friendlier site. If their listings are now up to date I would definitely use them first.

I wouldn't choose Priceline with the hotels of getting the Marriott Rive Gauche for a lot of reasons, but not because it's in the 14th or far out, as I often stay in that quarter. It's just the hotel is a very bland, large business hotel -- and its specific location is not in a very charming area and is on a street right across from a metro rail line, as I recall. The metro is raise in that area, also (around St Jacques/Glaciere stops).

It's about 1 km to Luxembourg Gardens, but there wouldn't be any reason to walk there (although you could) as the Marriott is just a block or two away from the Denfert RER/metro stop and that goes right to Luxembourg stop.

A lot of people don't pay attention to the maps, unfortunately. The maps for those you purchase at a named price are different from the maps for bidding. I wonder if they haven't updated the maps for bidding, as they have deals with HI Porte d'Italie and clearly show it on a map in an area they call Latin Qtr or Montparnasse or whatever--if you buy it at a named price. But if you get awarded that hotel, they stop the zone map a bit north of there, so it's true they don't show the southern peripherique as being one of their zones.

The better bidding reviews for paris hotels were from 2005 and earlier, the bidding for travel site reviews were more numerous and fresher. But it does seem that compared to other Priceline cities, the inventory is not desirable if you want a central location.

I have been an avid user of Priceline and Hotwire for many years and lots of cities.

I would totally agree that it is risky to rely on the BFT hotel lists, which, in many cases, have not been updated for several years. Winning bids are less reliable now as well on BFT because way fewer people report their results.

With Hotwire, it is much easier to narrow down the possibilities of the offerings, especially if you shop the packages and take the time to figure out which hotels match up with stars and ammenity icons.

However, Priceline often has the same hotels as Hotwire, and at lower prices, but bidding is more "blind".

With Hotwire, I was able to be fairly sure of getting the Hilton Paris for last September - and was successful. It wasn't top choice of places to stay, but for $124/night I was thrilled and we were able to stay longer and didn't mind not being quite as well located as I would have preferred.