I've done lots of research and have identified several 2/3 star hotels that appeal to me. Now, I'm looking for reservation websites that might have better prices (or include extras like complimentary breakfast) than booking with the hotel directly. I've tried venere.com, hotels.com, france-hotel-guide.com and parisdiscount.com, plus the standard orbitz, expedia and travelocity. Are there any sites you're familiar with? (Some of the hotels I'm considering for my early April stay are: Hotel Louis II, Hotel de Fleurie, Hotel d'Angleterre, Hotel des Deux-Iles, and Hotel Saint-Paul.) Thanks for your help.

We've used Rates to Go on a couple of occasions and have been very satisfied.

Unless the price for your hotel of choice is considerably different (and, I haven't found this to be the case and would probably be very suspicious if it were), it's probably much better to book with the hotel directly to avoid misunderstandings of all sorts. Many, many hotels in Paris are small and do not need (especially those listed in all the tour guides and recommended on the travel boards and those with websites with online booking) to rely on booking services or offer discounts in the nicer weather.

I agree with calling directly BUT I have used both ratestogo (for last minute), venere and parishotels.com

It depends. There are indeed many very nice small hotels that don't show up on the booking sites. But how will you identify them? If you ask, for example, on this site, you'll receive dozens of suggestions. That is great, but how will you decide among the dozens? We live in Paris, and sometimes we take one day "vacations" in the city. How do we choose lodgings? We do it the old-fashioned way, by reading guidebooks -- LOTS of guidebooks. And then we layer that approach with Web visits -- preferably to the Web site of the hotel itself -- if we can Google past those pesky booking sites. And then we visit a booking site, like Rates to Go, and if the hotel is three to five star, and we're staying outside high season, we often get a better rate than we could by booking directly. Good luck with your search and have a great stay!

YOu seem to have all the usual suspects. If you want to keep looking, try www.paris-hotels.com, www.123france.com and www.pariserve.tm.fr

Those are some good Paris hotel web sites for information and listings, but I've never seen any regular hotel rates cheaper on there, nor giving you any free breakfast. This is especially not likely for smaller hotels like you want, I suspect.

I've never found anything on the internet that was cheaper than calling the hotel directly - or anything nearly as secure in terms of booking. I often surf the web, get the best price I can find there, then call the hotel and ask if they can beat the price. They usually can. Then they send me a fax with a confirmation, and I've got a paper trail to bring with me in case of a problem.
If you actually talk to a human being you can explore all manner of extras like complimentary breakfast, upgrade to a larger room, etc. Usually you end up with a better deal - if only because the hotel is so pleased you called them personally instead of booked through some web service they're paying for.

Good point, StCirq! We just don't enjoy negotiating. No, actually, I do often enjoy negotiating (for antiques, for example) but I can't stand doing it over the phone.

Great advice - thanks, everyone! I emailed these hotels directly and got responses within a few hours. Since I'm staying for 5 nights, I politely asked if there was a discount/upgrade, and two hotels offered this...so, doesn't hurt to ask.

Hi Lothlorien
You've been successful already, but I'll join the chorus of those who recommnd contacting the hotel directly, and I don't mean just looking at the rack rates posted on their individual websites. I'm not much of a negotiator either, but a simple inquiry by fax, email, or phone has in all cases but one, resulted in a hotel matching or beating a discounted rate I have found elsewhere. I think it's also important to have the hotel confirm in writing what their cancellation policies are.

I'd always prefer being the hotel's direct customer. Additionally, some of the group reservation websites (expedia, for one) require full payment up front.

Hi Lothlorien, I am looking at the same hotels you are, have you made any decisions yet? which were the two hotels that offered a discount for longer stay, we are staying about 7 nights. Hope you can help, have you managed to choose any particular rooms in any of the hotels? Hope to hear your response. thanks

So StCirq...please tell me how to say "can you beat the price" in French. ....In the calls I've made (not many) I wanted to say somethng like that or..quot;can I get a special rate for a longer stay"..

I don't know if they would understand it in English?..

When I call, I say right off the bat (after I ask if there is a room available), quel est votre meilleur tarif (what is your best rate).

Thanks so much...I will use this. I do most of the call in English and broken French..!!