dreasf - please post back after your stay at #79965. Would like some more details! Thanks.

Lately I stayed at VRBO 103254 and VRBO 44176 both in interesting different arrondissements.

The best part is staying in a non-touristy district, with real parisians and real prices. I recommended both.

I share your frustration. We have just rented an apartment in Le Marais for March. We used Paris Attitude. We got the apartment, but the forms and agency and deposit were a bit overwhelming, and we still have to bring the rent in cash. Last January we rented an apartment in Paris from NY Habitat and it was not very clean--the owners live there and left for our stay. The upside is you get a kitchen and a lot of space. But after dealing with the current rental, I am of the opinion that a hotel is a lot easier. I will say that if you find a good place and return periodically it probably becomes easier.

bkm

It is worth booking an apartment. We stayed in "Volnay" http://parisperfect.com/ this September. I wanted to be in Paris in September when school started as I just retired from teaching:) This was a fabulous apartment and terrific service. We would stay there again in a heartbeat. I usually use vrbo but the money transfer was a hassle. Remember sometimes you don't get waht you don't pay for....

oops what

geobono - what you report is a worry - plus some negative reports on slowtrav
The huge security deosits seem outlandish particularly when you consider we blindly trust owners with our money for months ahead of the rental. There appears to be a real need to pick a spot with some kind of recommendation.
Lucky - how do you compare these apartments with the one you rented in the 17th. Was that area just too far from sites etc. Were there plenty of cafes, restaurants, shops, etc

Another alternative is an unhosted B&B. Last year we used Alcove & Agape at www.bed-and-breakfast-in-Paris.com and stayed across from Jardin des Plantes in Quartier Latin.Marie-Françoise was the owner/hostess. The studio had a small kitchen area PLUS Marie-Françoise delivered fresh French Roast coffee, croissants, an herb omlet, juice, milk & fresh fruit EVERY morning.The best of both worlds.Also, Marie-Françoise was willing to clean the apartment daily but I generally make the bed and tidy up myself. Drop Francoise Foret a line and she will assist you.

Robjame,

That apartment is on the French 2nd floor, without elevator. It's on a lovely courtyard off rue de Faubourg St. Antoine, a very busy street about three minutes east of Bastille by foot. Plenty of restaurants walkable and a friendly cafe-restaurant right outside the door. There's a mix of other shops on the street. Clothing (Gap, etc.) and furniture and home furnishing stores including Habitat (the area is historically the furniture-making center of Paris) abound. Two American style coffee shops, Starbucks and Columbia (?) cafe, an Occitane outlet, an Air France office, and numerous others I can't recall. We live about 100 street numbers farther east on rue du Faubourg St. Antoine (long story about why we needed temporary Paris lodging for a week) so we know the area quite well.

We have successfully used VRBO in the US without any problems. However, I don't know if you are aware the Rugby World Cup will be in Paris at that time, perhaps the owner is holding out for a higher price?!?!

I used www.beau-paris.com and was very pleased.

I found http://www.apartrental.com/ to be an excellent site to use. I rented a one bedroom apartment in the 5th. Great location, 300 metres from Notre Dame, etc. Try this one

Thanks Dave - We had had blinders on as far as staying in the 12th, but as you and Lucky point out there are certain advantages to being in more residential areas. Will look into this one more closely.
LuckyLuc - I didn't realize that VRBO/44176 and http://www.rentalapartmentparis.com/ were the same apartment. It is one that certainly caught our eye. How did you like staying in the 17th?
austy, irish, Seymour, moolyn, Anselm - lots to follow up on - Thank you all very much.
11thchild - didn't know about rugby world cup - all the more reason to get at it now.

We have done house exchanges (a whole other undertaking!) and are about to embark on a trip where we will, for part of the trip, be renting an apartment in Paris. You might consider logging onto the Stanford alumni magazine, or Yale or Harvard's--they have a bunch of privately listed rental opportunities in Paris and elsewhere. We're doing ours through one of those and saving some money by renting directly from the person instead of through the agency that otherwise represents the apartment. The owner is local to my area, we have some common friends etc., so it feels comfortable. I am seeing from his recent mailing that the apt. comes with its quirks, but I am looking forward to the prospect of having more than one room to relax/watch French TV in, amidst my other family members. Patrick's preferences make sense to me, though I love hotels. When traveling alone, can't imagine any other way of doing it.

letour

We recently made arrangements to rent from www.parisianflat.com for late March-early April. Part of my selection of this apt was the courteous and speedy communication over the course of a weekend with Philippe, the references on the units posted on their websites and from other Fodorites on this webiste, many photos available to see, their deposit and cancellation policies were more reasonable than many other agencies, location of the unit, and they negotiated price with me (a bit).
Now only time will tell when we arrive, but I have a good feeling so far.

I had a similar expereince in the USA last summer using a house found on VRBO and everything went great, so I am hopeful that this will trun out well too.

Now I just need the Euro to calm down!

My only complaint with parisianflat is that we almost rented from them when at the last minute, I happened to mention AC. Since it was July that was very important, and I had stated so in my initial contact with them, a request they then proceeded to ignore. Their places are so upscale and quite expensive so I just thought it was a given. But when I asked again specifically, I found out that no it wasn't air conditioned and none of the other available flats they had were either. I was surprised. We have rented two other apartments that do have good AC for less than half the price of their flats. Admittedly their apartments are beautifully furnished, but I'd think twice if renting in summer (unless you're looking at one that does have AC).

Thanks for that comment about the AC. I wondered about AC but decided it was not worth consideration based on our dates of March 31-April 7. I would love to have unseasonably warm temps for our trip!

I certainly hope the unit we selected turns out to be as lovely as it appears!

I wouldn't worry either about AC for those dates. I was a little disturbed by them telling me that I really didn't need AC at all in Paris even in July. Duh, I've been there plenty and I DO need AC in July.

Has anyone ever booked an apartment with limaparis.com? They advertise in the Journal Francais d'Amerique which also has various apartment listings? Another service that has lots of apartments is Parisattitude.com. Any experiences with these services?

The apartment we rented last summer was through ParisAttitude, and everything went smoothly. They act as an agent for individual owners and take a deposit which pays their fee. The balance is paid to the owner on arrival -- at least that's how ours worked. We are renting the same one this year, but directly with the owners. We thought it was a super deal last year -- but even better this year!

We just booked an apt for June with www.vacationsinparis.com - very helpful and lots of online recommendations..

I just booked an apartment in Montmartre through New York Habitat because the idea of sending a bunch of money to reserve an apartment sight-unseen made me nervous, and I was able to find one in my price range even including the agency fee. But when I was exploring Homelidays, I had no problem with my queries being answered promptly. I'll report on how it works about after my trip. Good luck!

I have rented from Pascal Zytomirski. He is a rental agent for some apartments and owns a couple of units himself. He tends to be a good deal cheaper than the large agencies such as Paris Perfect, which is why I used him when I needed an apartment for 8 days. He met me at the apartment with the owner to show me how everything works and he speaks fluent English. Before jumping for one of the large companies, I would check and see what he has available. I had a good experience and have referred a lot of people to him through various travel boards.

robjame, I should have said that it made me nervous to send a bunch of money to someone with no one local to vouch for him or her, so I liked using a New York agency; in case I have problems, at least I'll be dealing with someone in this country.

We did end up booking an apartment in Paris and following indicate the positive experience we had:

Author: robjame
Date: 01/08/2007, 04:19 pm

I apologize in advance. I know that this has gone on and on and on. However I finally feel that I have gotten somewhere (thanks fishee, Kristina, et al). Frenchyrentals have taken over some of Lauren's Lets Paris rentals and comes with her blessing. I have worked with Paula at Frenchyrentals and have narrowed it to these two apartments. Any feedback on areas, amenities etc? Thanks for all your help.

http://www.frenchyrentals.com/damremont.html
at €800 for six days

http://www.frenchyrentals.com/clichy.html
at €700 for six days

Author: northernitalian
Date: 01/08/2007, 04:49 pm

We stayed in the rue Damremont apartment last May. I wrote a review of it on http://www.slowtrav.com/france/vr/review.asp?n=2063

Author: AnselmAdorne
Date: 01/08/2007, 05:15 pm

I'm glad to hear that things are looking up. I can't help you on the neighbourhoods, but I find the Damrément apartment more appealing of the two. It seems brighter and more spacious, and I could work in that kitchen.

Anselm

Author: Kristina
Date: 01/08/2007, 05:39 pm

Well, I stayed in the Clichy, but both look nice! The other one looks to be slightly larger and is in the 18th, which I love. I think you would do well with either one.
I must say though that I'm slighly irritated by the "frenchy" references on their website! ;-)

Author: fishee
Date: 01/08/2007, 05:50 pm

Personally, Damrement would be "too much" apartment for me and my BF -- we wouldn't need/use all the space for a one week trip and I'd actually prefer something that felt more cozy.

I also like Clichy's aesthetic much more -- Damrement would be too frou-frou for me, but that's a totally personal thing. Either way, you'll be happy. And don't apologize, I was just as obsessive -- the endless array of options and factors kinda triggers this.

Author: robjame
Date: 01/08/2007, 06:44 pm

We have agreed on the Damremont for several reasons. It is a quieter area. It has a queen as opposed to a double bed. It has a telephone. It is on the 1st(2nd) floor as opposed to the 4th(5th) floor. It has WiFi. It has separate toilet/bath areas. It has a shower. The kitchen appears to be more usable. The furnishings look a little more “us” (we’re older than you fishee).
Thanks again for your input. I really appreciate the link to your review, Northernitalian.
Anselm - << I could work in that kitchen.>> You are welcome, friend. Name the night and we will eat in.
Kristina - I am going to cut and paste your travel journal.

Author: wombat7
Date: 01/08/2007, 07:22 pm

Great thread - seems to list some excellent apartments - bookmarking for one day...soon I hope

Author: northernitalian
Date: 01/08/2007, 08:55 pm

robjame,
I'm glad that you found my review useful. The apartment is not a slick luxury flat, it is older, but the owners have made it very homey and welcoming. And the kitchen is very up to date. I can't say enough good things about the neighbourhood. Montmartre has a reputation as being very touristy, but, outside of the immediate vicinity of Sacre Coeur, it is not touristy at all - it's a village. The walk to the apartment from the Blanche metro stop, in particular, is wonderful, with many small shops you can pop into to pick up dinner on your way home - wine shop, cheese shop, charcuterie, fruit & veg, etc. along with locals doing the same. We loved feeling Parisian for a week - - I hope that you enjoy it too.

likeswords, NYHabitat isn't an agency in the sense of many others, as you are still renting from the owner, not them, and you pay the owner, and the owners sets the terms and decides whether and how to give you your deposit back, etc. I've dealt with them, so I know the contract was between me and the owner, not NYHabitat (although I didn't go through with the rental due to conditions that owner required which I refused to pay). They do take a very large cut of the fee for their advertising and liaison services, though. The fact that I would be on my own in case of problems getting the deposit back, etc. was one reason I didn't use them, but I also didn't like the terms of the one I chose.

They told me they had nothing to do with the deposit, terms, etc. because I was renting from the owner.

NOw maybe they do have more quality control than some of these places like VRBO, or will do something in the case of problems, but their website doesn't guarantee that. They just say they will be there to listen to you complain, but don't promise to do anything, such as refund your deposit if the owner does not.

We're renting an apartment from vacationinparis.com for the first week of October. They did tell me Sept is busy and they were booking up(this was a month ago when I checked). Of 8 aprts. we picked out to rent for October all were full except this one (Champs/Elysee one).

They have been nice to work with so far, answering emails, etc. and they bill in US $.

Apartment services will always tell you they are busy. After all, they want to push you into renting one of their places.

I personally booked with an agency, because I felt that it was more reassuring. I stayed with www.specialapartments.com
they also have some great places in the marais, you might want to check out, my experience was a good one.

When I recognized the apartment rue Mouffetard in Paris, I knew I had to contact : www.apartrental.com

bookmarking

In that case the solution is to make a drama, use the street like you where a cinema star, or move it like a member of the Order of...
http://www.apartrental.com/blog/inde...en-of-paradise

bookmarking

Steer clear of Paris Luxe (www.parisluxeapt.com). They do a tremendous marketing job but the reality fell FAR short (both on the quality of the apartment and the quality of their service). We paid more through them than we saw on other sites because they promised a "luxe" apartment and had a money back guarantee. We rented their "Renoir" unit -and they never mentioned the fact that the flat was surrounded by restaurants and that the bar below us had their stereo speakers literally below our bed. We complained within 2 hours of arriving in the flat - and the Paris Luxe "guarantee" was worthless. We suffered through 3 weeks of being woken up at all hours (midnight, 3 am...) with music so loud the floor literally shook. Plus there was mold/leaking water in the bathroom and kitchen, peeling paint, mildew in the shower....all for more than $2,000/week. I wish I could tell you where to go versus where to avoid... In hindsight we could have stayed in a 4 star hotel at this price...I still like the idea of renting an apartment but feel very burned by our experience. I just wish I'd seen this message board before we forked our money over to Paris Luxe.

I recommend this pretty le marais apartment: http://www.way2stay.com/Paris-apartm...n-109-1355.htm
which overlooks a little courtyard. The area is really beautiful. each apartment on this website has its own page and an availability calendar at the bottom. if it says it free, its free. you can book online directly, although im not sure about your €800 a week budget, most of the apartments are around €1000 mark, minus discount for a 7 night stay.

I have experienced the same unresponsiveness from some VRBO owners, especially those who are not short of renters. Now that I have my own apartment listed on the same website, I make a point of replying to all the inquiries at my earliest convenience. So you see, not all VRBO owners are the same. For some folks, it's business and for soem like me, it's a pleasure.

My wife and I usually stay in Paris once a year, usually for 1 or 2 weeks and we always rent an apartment.

We have tried a few different companies and the best one to date was probably http://www.holiday-velvet.com/paris

Just had great luck with www.vacationinparis.com. Compnay out of New Jersey, lots of apartments in most price ranges, so far very nice to deal with.

Hi Amylyn,

Which apartment did you book? I'm leaving for Paris on September 6 (booked #146 on the Rue St Honore). The company was great to deal with and I've read a lot of good reviews - unfortunately I haven't found anyone who has stayed at this apartment so I'm hoping it will be as it appears in the photos! I rented an aparment for 2 weeks in London last year and it was great - will always rent an apartment over a hotel room.

Anne

I am thinking of booking with vacationinparis also, mostly because of the payment in dollars - I would love to know about your experience, Amylyn! We are looking at #125 and #28. Anyone have thoughts? TIA.