Lily, does your credit card have a travel insurance component? If so, you can make a claim for the first night in the hotel that you missed (but had to pay for) because of the flight cancellation.

If not, you should consider travel insurance in the future. You seem prone to mishaps.

... and if the taxi guy seemed a bit suspicious, trust your instincts in the future. You seemed to know you'd be taken advantage of, yet you ignored your suspicions.

She's moved on... she is now having mishaps in Paris France, her hotel won't even help her find a decent French restaurant!! Can ya believe it?

I think the hotel in Paris did not do a good job with a Japanese trstaurant.

Thank you sooo much everyone, yes as mentioned above we got the hotel situation resolved. Thanks to your encouragement to be persistent. I'm not very assertive and do not like confrontation so I was not in my comfort zone to address it again with the manager. However, we were talking about over 700 Euros. So your comments helped me get the nerve and go back with my husband (details explained above). It worked we compromised we paid for the night they charged us for checking in an hour early. (they charge you for the previous day if you check in an hour prior to check in) and they eliminated the night we had cancelled. So we paid 1/2 the penalty. Still unfair as we asked them if we would be charged for early check in and they said no, but it's better than getting charged for both.

RE the taxi- my instinct was that there was something wrong, but my gullible husband kept insisting that the other guys said he was security and we should believe him and go with the guy he showed us. I also knew something was fishy because I told him I would pay him in the hotel after he dropped our luggage and he said no i need the money now. I want to put it in my car which was parked pretty far from the hotel. Another odd thing, but there was construction near the hotel so my husband believed him again. Next time I'm listening to my instinct for sure. You live you learn... and boy do we have a LOT to learn about European travel.

Thanks again sooo much for all your thoughtfulness and advice and support. So much nicer than some of the horrible comments on my other post. :(