justineparis

If one can pay a bit more then I would normally like to pay ,, ( but did once for a special occaision) do look at the Tuilleries View room at the Hotel Brighton.. I think it is the largest room I have stayed in while in Paris. Nice too. Views were awesome.

tessietoes

lol KTtravel

Micheline & adrienne, Yes on apts! thanks for clarifying.

Cathinjoetown, thanks for your hotel rec, they must know you there by now. Must be nice to have a "my usual" in Paris.

letsgeaux & annhig, sounds like a wonderful experience. Mom loves afternoon tea so I'll rsvp for that. Le Cinq could possibly be an added splurge we'll see! Might be fun to check out a room too like Continental_Drifter did.

Another splurge would be dinner at Jules Verne. This is Codi's choice (bf). We've considered lunch but I think dinner would be really special so we've held off. Hope to finally make it this time. I'm wondering if there's a specific table he should request for? I presume all seats will have amazing views but sometimes there's a "better" table to request for whether it's closer to the windows, away from WC, the back table, etc. Any input would be great. This is a big deal to us so want to get it right.

manouche, we typically enjoy apts for the space and views you don't normally get from hotels unless you pay a hefty tag. I also like having a kitchen. I have missed turndown service though! We've rented in the 7th via airbnb in the past and the owner, who unfortunately removed his listing, had similar worries. Slowly catching on? I suspect it might take some time but thanks for the look out. We would hate to pay all that money only to be transferred to a different unit and have no one to account.

justine, that is definitely out of our price range but will bookmark for future, you never know. I love, love the Tuileries and those views are amazing!

Nikki, your comment reminded me of the sleeping pods in Tokyo from the show, An Idiot Abroad. The Venice episode had me in tears laughing, have you seen the show?

I'd love to hear some of your favorite pastry shops, bistros, stores etc in St Germain or anywhere in Paris for that matter. I am not a big shopper but get much pleasure from anything pretty even if it's browsing. Any unique tours too esp one mom might enjoy. Thank you!

Continental_Drifter

Nikki - The George V rents rooms by the hour?

LOL - No. I still feel a little crazy for doing it. We asked to be moved to a different room - One that did not require one of us to stand on the bed so that the other could open the bathroom door. They kindly explained that they were fully booked because of a wedding. We asked if there was another hotel they could recommend and they did. They sent us to the Prince de Galles. I think that saved us nearly 400E per night and was wonderful.

Continental_Drifter

manouche - I don't think it's fair to paint all Paris apartments with one broad brush. Many ARE legal and your many posts on this issue will drive away their valid business prospects. Reputable companies like ParisPerfect and others should not be compared to AirBnB. That's not fair.

In some scenarios, if a person deliberately interfers with the renting of a property based on rumor or broad speculation, that's a tortious interference with business.

I know you feel passionately about this because you have posted it before. Isn't it really up to the apartment owner to ensure he/she is paying their taxes? It is not the business of the renter.

manouche

Continental Drifter - not passionate about the apartment issue, but much more involved with it, thus privy to much more current information than people who plan to visit Paris, or who are relying on information from past visits. There is no "broad speculation or rumor" involved in any of my statements, just factual information.

The fact is that many people are not aware of the current information, or do not wish to consider the effect they will have on their vacation. Facts are not fear-mongering, though they should inspire reflection.

The fact is that many - in fact, most - apartments in Paris are not legal. There are many conditions that must be met, for this to occur.

The fact is that many reputable agencies are not operating in compliance with the law. Whether they pay appropriate taxes or not is irrelevant - it is the actual apartment that must conform to the law. Most of them do not.

A high-profile agency just received a visit from the Mayor's representatives (ParlerParisApartments), and I know 2 French residents (who have been quietly renting several properties via VRBO for years), who have been fined. There have been many more instances like this, just in the last couple of months.

The co-propriete that governs each building has the final say in whether or not the residents may rent short-term. Most of them do not allow this, since it means that the residents would have to convert the building to a commercial tax status, and the average resident cannot afford this. The co-propriete works much more quickly than the government does. A couple of phone calls that threaten the owner/manager is all it takes for a listing to "disappear". And no, it's not me making those calls.

It is not my intention to damage anyone's business reputation, and I have not done so. Reputation is simply not relevant to the actual situation.

Information such as this is important to people who plan to rent apartments in the near future, especially first-time visitors who are not aware of what's going on in Paris. Perhaps you have never experienced problems with rentals in Paris, but I know several people who have. I would like to help others avoid the same situation.

scatcat

I just returned from France on the 14th of October. My son and I stayed 6 nights at Hotel Bonaparte in the Saint Germain area. This was our fourth visit to this hotel. We love the location! We actually walked almost everywhere we went, including the Tour Eiffel. That day the Fit Bit told us we had walked over 13 miles. The Notre Dame is just across the river as is the Louvre. We took the metro to the Port of Versailles to the auto show. It was quite a distance.

The price for a twin room which actually wasn't so small, was 180€ per night.

latedaytraveler

KEROUAC,

"Look at the arrondissements numbered from 9 to 20, excluding 16."

Why so? Just curious....

denisea

Kerouac---who's 50? . One more year but have loved St Germain though my 40s!

Christina

I presume kerouac said arr 9-20 on the theory they'd be a lot cheaper than St Germain, that's why.

YOu have to decide what's more important to you -- money or location. Of course there are cheaper areas in Paris than St Germain, and some real cheap hotels (maybe more in outer arrondisments). But I always stay in arrondisements 9-20 (9 and 14 usually), and I sure don't pay half of 250 euro for a double room. I stay in "nice" hotels, but that means 3*, but they are more than 125 euro in the peak season. I can get them maybe around 125 euro in summer when rates are cut (mid-July through August), but not in October (or May). Of course I could stay for less but I don't want to, I like the level I stay in for comfort.

So of course you can find cheaper hotels in other areas (or in St Germain), is that what you want or not? Just to find a real cheap hotel? Even the Latin Qtr is cheaper than St Germain though, in case you didn't know it. You are getting picky with wanting balconies, etc, so I suspect you don't just want to find a real cheap hotel.

Christina

I just noticed the OP said only $250 per room, not 250 euro. Well, that may be difficult in St Germain, actually. That's only about 190 euro.

Here is an example of a 3* hotel I love where I've stayed in severall times in a cheaper area, arr. 9 (near Trinite) metro.
http://www.hotel-langlois.com/fr/chambres

Their superior double rooms are 160-190 euro in peak season, for example.

kerouac

A reason that I recommend staying in outer Paris even when money is not an object is that you get a much fuller experience of Parisian life by not staying in the center. Everybody who claims that they were able to "walk everywhere" to see "all of the sights" mean that they have stayed in the heart of "tourist central" and visited museums and monuments -- which everybody will visit no matter what part of Paris they are staying in -- and restricted themselves exclusively to shops and restaurants designed to appeal to tourists even when they are proud to say "we didn't hear a word of English."

It is interesting to note that European and French tourists generally prefer completely different areas, such as the Grands Boulevards, and of course the 9th and 10th arrondissements which are the two arrondissements with the most hotels in the city. These arrondissements are labelled as "sleazy" by a lot of North Americans (until they have discovered them themselves) because real people actually live there. In areas such as Saint Germain or the Ile Saint Louis (the most extreme example), 50% of the apartments are either just vacation rentals or remain empty about 48 weeks of the year because they belong to wealthy people who live in other countries.

Everybody has the right to their own preferences, but I will remain dismayed by people who are unwilling to venture out of what they think is their comfort zone. In fact, outer Paris is not only much cheaper but also much friendlier and therefore more "comfortable."

tessietoes

scatcat, thank you for the hotel rec. It's so great that you have a regular hotel that you love in Paris, just like Cathinjoetown. Auto show with your son, how fun. Might look into that next time.

Christina, thanks I like that hotel too but you're right about the balcony. We will pay extra or give up some space for it, preferably the latter. This will be our first time to stay in a hotel in Paris, both times in apts.

kerouac, I don't think the 9th is sleazy at all. In fact, we enjoyed it a lot on our first visit when we stayed in the 7th. Also like the Ile St Louis, Village St Paul and St Michel areas.

We had tapas at Terrass Hotel in Montmarte during our last visit and drove around the area at night. I noticed it was very lively...maybe I had too much to drink? I actually didn't like it much the first time we went and never thought I'd consider staying there but I felt differently this time. What do you think of that area...definitely lots of nicer and cheaper apts. It's getting me thinking. As you can tell, staying in St Germain is not set in stone, but I do want to explore it more this time.

denisea, I see you're going to the Amalfi to celebrate! Are you squeezing some Paris time before the big day??

denisea

My almost 50 year old self will be in Paris for Christmas (less than 60 days before we leave) and staying in the 6th. It won't get here soon enough.

tessietoes

How fun!! I'm jealous. I'm sure you'll have a fabulous time and can't wait to hear all about it.

gardendiva

About 10 years ago we stayed at cathinjoetown's Hotel Le Clément. It was very nice and it was in a nice location but the room, by US standards, was very small. There were 3 of us so we had a junior suite. The entrance to the bathroom was inside the larger room. Therefore the third person had to enter the second bedroom to get to the bathroom. This may be a little too close for your group.

flpab

tessietoes. That hotel pic was so funny, saw the ghost right away. Think they did that on purpose?
I have been looking at these.
http://www.citadines.com/en/property...tml?City=Paris
We are going to do space a on a military flight next trip to Europe so can't really book far in advance. I like having an apartment so am looking at places we can book last minute.

Continental_Drifter

Okay, that's just a weird photo to include. Creepy guy in the corner. Very strange. I love the one of the little girls, though.

tessietoes

Weird they deleted my post with the vrbo apt I liked.

gardendiva, thank you and you're right, it would be too cramped. For the 3 of us we would like to get 2 hotel rooms; the Clément location looks great. Also considering a 2 bedroom, 2 bath apt with hopefully a balcony.

flpab, a marketing move maybe? The Citadines looks nice, checked out the St Germain & Bastille units and saw one with a view, will definitely keep this in mind, thanks! Space A- do you know where you're heading for your next spontaneous trip?

Drifter, up top I thought you said "checked out" not "checked out of" the George V, lol a tad different from my future vagabond move of just checking out one of their rooms after tea time

Cathinjoetown

Gardendiva you are right.

That is how the junior suite I stayed in at the Clément was set up. Both bedrooms were small, one double, one single. It worked for my niece and me, she is young and doesn't get up in the night!

It would be tight but suitable for a couple and child.

The hotel has triple rooms which are larger but the config. is one double and one single--not that great for 3 friends.

tessietoes

Here's the listing again, vrbo# 1207029a {my dreamy Paris apt}
http://www.vrbo.com/1207029a