My fiance and I have finally decided on Paris for our honeymoon. Thanks to those of you who offered your opinions! We've never been to Europe and we are very excited. We are trying to decide between two apartments on VRBO - both are in the 7 arrondissement near Rue Cler. They are numbers 15500 and 16467. If any of you could offer your opinions or if you have stayed in either of these I would love to hear from you. I noticed that 16467 has a link with extra pics posted on the owner's site (I was wondering why no pics of the bedroom on vrbo). Thanks so much, Fodorites, reading the previous Paris threads has helped so much already!

~I'm new at this, so I'm sorry in advance for accidentally posting this a minute ago on the France board too...

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We just returned from Paris 05.29.05. We booked 15500 for 8 nights. It was a horrible experience! Please do not stay here -- we can recommend a number of great hotels in Rue Cler. The owner threatened us and kept our money when we had to check out after two nights due to bad conditions. He falsely accused us of causing damage to the apartment to keep our security deposit. DO NOT RENT FROM THESE OWNERS!

mcsherrk, are you telling us the whole story? Please give specific details; it may help christygirl and others...

I would agree that, with the the multitude of accomodations in the 7th, you should keep shopping. Do a search herein for hotels and apartments in the 7th (which I could not recommend more highly). If you are in the mood to splurge, consider www.parisperfect.com. Even if you're not, you wouldn't regret staying in one of their properties.

In the alternative, there are many, many charming hotels (check out Londres, for example) with fabulous views.

The neighborhood is fabulous, even if you never happen along rue Cler (which is terrific).

When is your honeymoon?

Try ParisPerfect.com - we rented one of their apartments and loved everything about it. NOt cheap but neither is a good hotel in Paris. We loved being able to shop at the wonderful markets and have the extra room. Our apartment had a little "french" balcony tht overlooked the Eiffel Tower. We would rent from them again anytime. I have rec. this to several of my friends who has used it as well.

We just returned with a stay with ParisPerfect. Not only are these people wonderful all along the way, our apartment could not have been more comfortable and charming, with sensational extras. Not to mention those views! From our little balcony with a marble topped table and caned bistro chairs. We enjoyed coffee every morning, and fell asleep every night (with the magnificent "sparkling" of the Tour Eiffel). There were splendid shops for "provisions" in every directions, along with bus stops with routes to everywhere.

We're usually quite frugal "economical" in our travels with regard to accomodations, but ParisPerfect was truly worth every penny. A huge advantage of an apartment is a living room, kitchen, refrigerator, not to mention those VIEWS! And, we brought all our favorite romantic and French classis CD's to enjoy on the CD player, while enjoying our coffee in the morning and a nightcap in the evening on our balcony with those VIEWS!

The whole story is worse -- To begin, we have stayed in Rue Cler three times in the last 4 years. We love the area, love Paris, and love the French (except for these owners). This apt. experience was a nightmare.

When we checked in the apt. had not been cleaned from previous occupants. It was dirty and the smell was disgusting. We were asked to leave for two hours so it could be cleaned. We have a small child, had travelled all day and it was already 7 pm. When we returned there was no soap, 1/2 a roll of toilet paper for 8 days, 3 towels for 3 people but no hand towel or bath mat, and the tv and other furniture were broken. We stayed 2 nights, but the poor bed linens and mold/mildew in shower made me miserable and unable to sleep due to allergies/excema. We called the agent to tell him we needed to check out early. When we met him we thought we would just be checking out early, but he surprised us by accusing us of flooding the floor with 8-10 long showers. (We took 4 total --absolutely didn't flood the floor.) He already had 785 euro (the cost of our scheduled 8 night stay) plus 350 damage deposit, but demanded we pay for another week to cover damages. My husband said no, the agent threatened to keep our luggage and call the police and have my husband thrown in jail. He brought along two other people we believe to intimidate us when we met him. He won't return our deposit and has made up an absurd lie to keep it. We are hurt and astonished at our experience and to be accused of damaging the apartment. Unfortinately, if this happened to us it could happen to you and that is why I am sharing our experience.

I have communicated with Madelyn from Paris Perfect. She is fabulous and we would have stayed in one of her places had they not been booked. Also, we would recommend Relais Bosquet (about 150 a night) or Hotel du Champ de Mar or Grand Hotel L'Eveque (both budget hotels under 100.)

Hi mc,

Thanks for the heads up.

Sorry to hear about your horrible experience.

mcsherrk, thanks for posting your horrible experience with this apartment. That's really unfortunate. I have a relative who rented an apartment on her and her family's first visit to Paris and had a totally favorable experience.

I looked a both 15500 and 16467 on vbro. "vrbo" is of course "Vacation Rental By Owner" and they are individually owned and managed (although sometimes one owner or manager has a number of properties). The same management company of vrbo 16467 also manages the apartment that we rented last fall (vrbo 19924)in the Marais on Rue St. Paul, my husband and I and my parents. Click on my screen name for my Paris trip report. We found our apartment to be better than expected, most comfortable, but it is an apartment, not a hotel. Pascal, who heads up the operation of 9 or so apartments under management is easy to talk to. Not that mcsherrk's report does not accurately reflect his/her actual experience, but it is his/her first and only post on this board, so it is hard to know his/her personality and standards. My best suggestion is to do what I did, request the manager give me a recent reference to be in touch with by e-mail and ask a lot of questions. I checked the reference out by google to see that she was a real person with a job at a real company. I have also volunteered to be a reference to others. It pays to be a bit sceptical and then be pleasantly surprised, especially because while an apartment can be a great value compared to a hotel, you do have to pay up front and it is harder to get satisfaction of service after the fact. BTW, we know and love the Rue Cler area, it is a good area to have an apartment and live a bit of the Parisian life. Enjoy planning your honeymoon!

Wow, Laurie Ann, I am surprised you would question my personality and perhaps the accuracy of my experience. You are right, however, it is my first posting on this site. I encountered the inquiry from Christygirl while trying to find some help/recourse regarding our experience. I thought it was the right thing to do to warn someone. Personal standards are personal standards, but I don't think you'd meet someone who believes that it is acceptable to be wrongfully accused of damage so that an owner could keep a security deposit. This experience cost us quite a bit emotionally and financially and I thought it was the right thing to do to share it with others.

My advice would be to not rent an apt., especially from a private individual owner. I don't know enough about this honeymoon trip to say, but I can't imagine why one would need an apartment for a short stay in Paris, particularly on one's honeymoon and for someone who has never been not only to Paris, but Europe (and I imagine doesn't know French).

I just think it's a bad idea and a nice hotel would make more sense. I assume you might appreciate the help of a desk clerk/concierge for various things, and that you will want to go out at night and dine in restaurants. So I don't know why the need for an apartment with all the attendant risks and financial obligations.

As usual I agree with Christina's advice. If on a honeymoon it's just the two of you and a nice hotel would be better than renting an apartment. While my relatives had a very favorable experience with their apartment rental it sure isn't the case all the time as is reported. The apartment my relatives rented was from a private owner who posted her ad in an apartment rental site which Christina is familiar with. And the reason they chose an apartment instead of a hotel is because they were there for 11 days and have a toddler.