Priceline Hotel: Paris Sept. 21-24/10

[kyau123]

I am looking to stay at a 4 Star hotel in the Champs Elysee area. I would like to keep the cost to a max of $200. Does anyone have any suggestions and would Priceline or Hotwire be better? Any tips would be ideal.

Dates: September 21-24, 2010.

thanks so much.

[hohogap]

I'm a big fan of Priceline's "Name Your Own Price" as you can often get the best deal there for the properties, depending of course on the various factors of timing, demand, etc. Having been to Paris over 10 times, you don't need to feel that you have to limit your area to Arc de Triomphe/Champs d'Elysee, unless you plan on spending most of your time in that area. We used to do that but now find the better deals on the right bank are near the Louvre (Opera and Tuilleries Quarter) or shopping areas (near Les Halles - Boulevard Haussmann area). The Metro is close by all areas and with so much to see and do spread around the City, we always look for the best 4* you can get for the deal and then walk, Metro or cab it to the areas we want to see. Keep us posted on how your bidding goes. The Champs d'Elysee area looks pretty pricey for your $200/night budget. Try looking in the other areas and you may be surprised what you can get and still experience Paris. And anyway, the Champs d'Elysee area is always so crowded, busy and touristy that we've come to love the other areas even more! Hope this helps.

[thereuare]

Does anyone have any suggestions and would Priceline or Hotwire be better?

PRICELINE is usually a little cheaper while HOTWIRE gives you the ability to take an educated guess as to the property you may receive before your purchase... so which service is 'better' depends upon your needs for the stay and what is most important to you.

Based upon hohogap's comments above, do you want to first try bidding for only the Champs Elysee zone OR are there other zones you want to consider in hopes for a lower price? (or is HOTWIRE more inline with your needs for this stay)

Let us know how you'd like to proceed and we'll advise accordingly.

[kyau123]

I would also stay in the Opera area as well. Do you know what the hotel options are on HOTWIRE?

Also when you look at the actual hotel prices on PRICELINE are you most likely to be put in the hotel with the lowest price listed if you NYOP?

thanks for your help!

[thereuare]

kyau123,

Please start by reading your messages.

You can see the hotels reported to the board in this area thru HOTWIRE in the Hotwire Hotel List.

There is often little correlation between the hotel with the least expensive retail rate and the one you will receive thru PRICELINE when bidding.

Let us know how you'd like to proceed and we'll advise accordingly.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

[kyau123]

I found on Hotwire that they have South of Champs Elys

[hohogap]

One guess could be the Radisson BLU Le Dokhan's Hotel as it is one of the few in this area where I see a spa listed as one of the amenities. Address is 117 rue Lauriston, Trocadero, Paris 75116, and it's surely south of Champs d'Elysees (closer to Trocadero and even the Tour Eiffel). Since I generally use PRICELINE, their zones are different than Hotwire (they've combined Champs d'Elysees with either Opera West or Arc d'Triomphe). The cost I see on HOTWIRE for your 4* is $259/night. Is that the hotel you were looking at? The best rate I see on lastminutetravel.com for the Radisson BLU is $339.87/night for the nights you're looking at BUT that rate includes all of the taxes and fees. Still pricey but actually cheaper that the HOTWIRE price of $259/night PLUS the taxes and fee recovery of $360.99 for the 3 night stay (total of $1,137.99). Hope this helps and GOOD LUCK!

[thereuare]

The HOTWIRE property above has not yet been reported to the board, but i'll note that the Radisson BLU Le Dokhan's Hotel has a current TA rating of 4.0/5.0 whereas this HOTWIRE offering has a 4.5/5.0 rating. The HOTWIRE info isn't updated in realtime (only about once a month) so it's possible that the Radisson's TA rating has changed since the last HOTWIRE update, but it does cast a shadow of doubt over this being the Radisson.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

[hohogap]

I found on Hotwire that they have South of Champs Elys