thanks everyone for all your advice to date. I'm still trying to understand how french hotels work. I'm told there are very specific requirements for the stars. can anyone explain what the 2, 3 and 4 star designations entail? and is there a standard as to what constitutes a "classic" "superior" and "deluxe" room, or is that up to the individual hotel? still trying to read between the lines of what the hotels say about themselves, the pictures on the web and what is written in the different guide books/tripadvisor reports. thanks.

I am sure someone will give a website link that explains the rating system but in the meanwhile have you aksed here about specific properties you might be interested in as that might help, also.

Certainly, one star hotels will be very modest but I should not pay a great deal of attention to the French hotel star rating system. Stars are awarded to a strict checklist of features to include: room size, TV and other in room amenities, number of foreign languages spoken by those working the front desk and a host of other criteria which may or may not be important to you.

Rather, consider hotel location, how recently it has been updated, what others have written about it, and price. There are many 2 star hotels I prefer over 3 star hotels. The 5 star rating is very new and many of the top hotels in Paris are only 4 star properties.

Here is a good general wiki about the system -- but not specifically the French system: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_(classification)

Here are precisions in French:
http://www.findhotel-france.com/help.htm

Here are the rules (all 246 areas) should anyone really want to familiarize himself with the rating system (in French):

http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jopdf/...&pageFin=22500

Frankly, I wouldn't waste my time learning all this. Just settle on a list of hotels that appeal to you and ask here for specifics. If there are certain amenities you just must have, let us know.

Classic, superior, and deluxe are to my knowledge entirely what hotels say about themselves, but I would strongly expect a "classic" room to be small.

I hope you get better advice in English because it would be useful to a lot of us.

One hotel's "classic" may very well be another hotel's "superior" unless the size, location, amenities are STRICTLY regulated AND checked frequently.

As i recommended in my earlier post, and thank you, St. Cirq for chiming in as well: it hink you MIGHT be better off asking about specific properties. Please don't forget that a hotel in Paris (and in a lot of other places) can have a VERY high rating and yet be in a rather dull neighborhood (at least one I've stayed in comes immediately to mind) and you are not going to get any information about those aspects of things without speaking to others, reading lots of reviews (besides the ones which actually describe the size of king beds or tell you how rude the staff was but neglect to tell you the atrocious guest behavior which prompted the "rudeness") and so forth.

I find the French hotel rating system pretty reliable and use it a lot myself. And I know French and can read the ratings and understand what they mean. I just find them pretty reliable and I can't complain about any hotel I've been in being rated way off from what I would expect (of course I read reviews on Tripadvisor and look at the hotel's website itself for specific).

Of course there are no ratings for how a hotel describes a room in its own terms. The hotel star ratings reflect the hotel as a whole, there are no criteria for specific rooms.

One of the advantages that we who live in France have is being able to imagine how nice a hotel is from the city it is in. A three-star hotel in a cow town is often fabulous while the one-star hotel might want to make you slit your wrists.

But a one-star hotel in Paris can often be quite nice, because the ratings are based on room size, telephones and the language skills of the staff, not on what the hotel looks like.

* ratings are based on certain amenities - that is, does a hotel have a restaurant - or does it have a certain type of chair (upholstered versus desk chair) in the room, etc. As for categories within the same hotel - that varies tremendously by hotel and you need to check the details with each hotel to understand it.

If you are not used to european hotels there are certain things you need to understand:

Rooms generally are much small than in the US, with one double bed (huge rooms with 2 queen beds plus a seating are are available only at a few US chains - or as deluxe rooms in upscale hotels)

Most hotels are older buildings and often not built as a hotel - so rooms may vary tremendously in size and shap, some may have cupboards rather than closets and baths have often been added long afterward in a small corner

Elevators may be tiny - fitting only a couple of people, and lower * hotels may have stairs

Furnishings may very from room to room and old/quaint is much more common than modern - in both fixtures and furniture/decorations

Many hotels have some rooms without private bath

So - you need to understand what you expect as well as what is available for a certain price

wow, merci beaucoup. the best part being that I actually understood the regulations in French. we think we are settling on Hotel Britannique situe in the first arrondisement, Avenue Victoria - anyone familiar with it? thanks. (3 star category)

Except for my first night after a trans Atlantic flight I always seek hotels (* or **), hostels, and B&Bs on the fly. I inspect the room, check the plumbing if any, and negotiate the price wherever I go.

The French have another apparently official designation for hotels, N and NN. For me these mean Never and Never Never. They cost more but you get nothing more.

nytraveler has obviously been in a lot of hotels in Europe. The description is spot on. I might add that if there is a shower and toilet in * and ** hotel rooms it was probably added long after the hotel was built. If you weigh more than 180 pounds you will have a difficult time even turning around in the tiny room.

I use trip advisor to check recent reviews on properties and find it helps a good bit. One bad review doesn't bother me but you can see trends and the comments may help you determine if the hotel has the amenities you want.

The Hôtel Britannique on avenue Victoria is fine. The only room I ever saw there seemed to be quite small when I was visiting German friends (but they loved the room), but other reports that I have read in recent years seem to be extremely favorable to the Hôtel Britannique -- which also has a super good location for people who want to be in the center of Paris.

I will recommend a meal at "Au Trappiste" on rue Saint Denis, which you can see when you walk out of the hotel in the direction of Châtelet.