Priceline Hotel: Paris 11/23-11/26

[Padriguez]

I'm planning my first trip to Paris for a romantic Thanksgiving weekend with my husband.

I am not familiar with the city, and am only beginning to read on the many districts. Any advice on which district is best for first-timers, who like shopping, restaurants, quaint hotels, and of course the tourist sites would be great!

What can I expect to pay and which hotels can I expect to receive in the 4*/3* categories?

Thank you!

[FBNY]

One can write for hours about Paris and there are tons of hotels available on Priceline.

I've been to Paris probably 20 times in the last 10 years (I live in upstate New York) and have used Priceline the past couple years with ok results. As with most Priceline hits, I received bookings that were only 40% to 50% of advertised rates.

I'm sure other readers have experiences varying from mine but here's my view:

The 4* hotels I've hit were American style business hotels and not all that quaint or romantic. They were Le Meridian Montparnasse (Dec04 - about 111 US Dollars) and the Hilton Paris (Nov05 - about 95 USD.)

They had large rooms by European standards and large bathrooms with bathtubs. The rooms were comparable to a Holiday Inn in the U.S.

The drawback about these and other Priceline areas in Paris is they can put you in a hotel quite far from the city center.

The only Priceline area in Paris that is entirely in the center is Opera Quarter East - Les Halles. If you look at the Priceline map you will see that all other areas that start in the city center also stretch to the edges of the city.

If you get hotels on the edges of town you will still be in Paris, with cafes, shops, etc. nearby but you will be a long distance from the tourist spots in the center.

The Hilton Paris is next to Tour Eiffel and had incredible views coming and going but I had to walk or take the metro to get most everywhere else of interest.

Back to 4*....

It is my view that European hotels are one star level higher than US hotels.

The 4* hotels I've hit were certainly nice but since they were business hotels they were strerile and had no ambiance.

If you go for the 3* hotels you will likely get a more traditional tourist hotel.

The advantages are the drawbacks: the quaint stairways, crooked floors, exposed beams, windows opening to the street, and fewer rooms give you a local feel but you also get tiny rooms, tinier baths (with a very small shower only) a cramped lift, and maybe noisy neighbors. Most tourist class hotels are converted 18th and 19th century townhouses and they jam a lot of rooms in the buildings and the bathrooms and closets (if any) are afterthoughts.

So you have to determine what things are important to you in a room and decide from there. I'd read up on these and other reviews of Parisian hotels to see what other people are saying about the things that are important to you.

And with the 3* hotels, you still have the issue of possibly being on the edge of town....

In April 04, I hit the Libertel le Moulin (now called the Moulin Plaza Hotel) for about 75 USD. It said 3* but was more like 2 and it was on the north side within sight of the Moulin Rouge. That all sounds good until you find out the 'famous' Moulin Rouge is in the red light district and every trip into and out of the hotel involved some interesting sights. Again, these things are good or bad depending on what is important to you but I would never be near the Moulin Rouge if I were on a honeymoon or with small children.

I am probably going over again in late November and my strategy is to try to hit something in the Opera Quarter - Les Halles area. I'll work for a 4* in the USD 90-110 range, failing that a 3* for 70-90, and failing that a 2* for 50-70. We'll see how that works and I may end up going higher or taking the chance in the other areas. I have stayed in 2* Parisian hotels and I see no difference between them and the 3* hotels.

I hope this was helppful and perhaps other readers will add their thoughts.... If you'd like to communicate more we can email each other directly without burdening the other readers here.

[TripleQ]

This information is very useful for a first time Paris PL bidder (i.e. me! :) ).. you should probably post it (or a mod will move it perhaps?) to the PL/HW Hotel Lists and Tips forum so it won't be lost in the clutter here.

[WillTravel]

I more or less agree with FBNY, but I will add that it's true all of the zones will put you in Paris (if at the edges) except possibly for the Eiffel Tower - Grenelle - Montparnasse zone, which runs the risk of giving you the Sofitel Porte de Sevres hotel, with not so great reviews, in an area outside of Paris proper, and about 30 minutes by metro from sites of interest.

I think my room at Le Meridien Montparnasse was definitely above a Holiday Inn in quality, although the standard seems to be quite variable, based on reviews. One thing that was nice, when traveling with my son, is that it had a bathroom that was comfortable and large enough to get dressed in, and the room was a good size also, and the air conditioning was excellent. Often European tourist 2* and 3* hotels have miniscule rooms and bathrooms.