Friday, May 15, 2009

Hotel in Paris: finding the best available price for the accommodation of your choice

There is one basic rule you should remember while looking for a hotel in Paris: you will always find the best price on the hotel’s own web site.

Because the trading costs are almost nil on their own sites, the hotels themselves offer better prices than those displayed on reseller sites. Consequently, depending on the accommodation and the season, you may benefit from a reduction of anything up to 30% if you go through the hotel’s official site.

There are two ways of finding the right price: you can use a search engine to look for the hotel, by typing its name then finding the “official site”; or you can use site directories specializing in the theme “hotel in Paris”. Such directories list only the hotels’ own sites so you are sure to get the choice and prices directly from the hotel owners.

Paris Hotels

Design hotel in Paris: the trendy neighborhoods

Some tourists do not care how modern or how quaint their hotel is – as long as it’s trendy. Typical examples of this are The Five Hotel and Hotel Petit Moulin. The former is very modern, decorated according to a “color & light” theme.

The latter is more artistic, mainly thanks to the fact that it was designed by fashion designer Christian Lacroix. Paris’ twenty districts spiral around each other in a “snail formation”. As a general rule – with one or two exceptions – prices decline the more you move away from the center of the city.

It’s best to find a happy medium between attractive prices and a designer hotel in Paris.

Paris Hotels

Hotel in Paris Montparnasse and Paris’ Left Bank area: Paris at its most romantic

You will pay extra to stay in a hotel in Paris on the Left Bank. The higher prices here are self-explanatory.

Eiffel Tower / Invalides: This neighborhood speaks for itself in that it is merely a stone’s throw from one of the world’s most popular monuments – the Eiffel Tower.

Saint Germain / Latin Quarter: This quarter is characterized by music, books, poetry, romanticism and night-life. Parisians agree that this is one of their most magical locations. Saint Germain and the Latin Quarter differ from the rest of “Romantic Paris”.

Hotel in Paris Montparnasse: Located just down from the Eiffel Tower and Saint Germain, the Montparnasse area is popular with tourists for its affordable prices and because it offers easy access to various sightseeing locations within the capital. Montparnasse is, you might say, the “Bastille/République” of Paris’ Right Bank.

Paris Centre: The fulcrum of the center of Paris is Ile de la Cité, an island in the middle of the River Seine and home to the famous cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. The Louvre and Musée d'Orsay museums are also located in this area. If you want to be able to enjoy the Seine (including night-time strolls along its banks) and be within easy and quick reach of the whole city, you should book your hotel in Paris in this area.

Paris Hotels

Friday, May 1, 2009

Hotel in Paris: where to find the best price

You will always find the best price on the hotel’s own web site. Because the trading costs are almost nil on their own sites, the hotels themselves can afford to offer better prices than those displayed on reseller sites representing a hotel in Paris.

Consequently, depending on the accommodation and the season, you may benefit from a reduction of anything up to 30% if you go through the hotel’s official site. There are only two ways of finding the right price: you can use a search engine to look for the hotel, by typing its name then finding the “official site”; or, better still, you can use a specialized hotel site directory.

The advantage of such directories is that they group information and give you access to the hotels’ bottom-line prices.

Paris Hotels

Hotel with charm in Paris: scrutinizing prices

You may be looking for a hotel with charm in Paris, one that offers a particular soul of its own: an old building, with typical Parisian architectural style.

Hotel Relais Bosquet is a good example of this. Prices in Paris can double, depending on the season or whether or not there is a particular event occurring. However, to make a bargain, you need to know a few unchanging rules. These are the average daily prices for a hotel in Paris as per classification: 2-star: 70 to 120 euros, 3-star: 120 to 180 euros, 4-star: 200 euros and above.

Paris Hotels

Hotel in Paris Opéra and the Right Bank: on the doorstep of the main tourist attractions

Eiffel Tower / Champs-Elysées: Ideal for sightseeing (Eiffel Tower, Trocadéro, Champs de Mars), shopping and nightlife, on the Champs-Elysées. The hotels in this area are described as upscale and luxurious. If you have no budget restrictions and want to spoil yourself, this is the perfect neighborhood for you!

Hotel in Paris Opéra: The Opéra neighborhood is renowned for both Paris’ historical opera house and its shopping district (Galeries La Fayette, Printemps and all the clothes stores in the area). Commodities are affordable. It’s the favorite area for many tourists, especially the Japanese.

Montmartre: The Sacré Cœur, Montmartre village and the street illustrators and painters are to be found in this district, one of the most historical in Paris. This is also where the movie “The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain” was filmed. If you’re looking for a typically Parisian stay, book your hotel in Montmartre, complete with one of the finest views of the city, from the top of the hill (the “Butte de Montmartre”).

République / Bastille / Marais: République and Bastille guarantee a pleasant, lively stay, with direct access to Paris’ tourist attractions. This area offers good hotel prices and fast transportation to the heart of the city. As far as booking a hotel in Paris is concerned, this neighborhood is one of the best in terms of value for money. It’s just a stone’s throw from the Marais district, which means you get all of the attractions of the Marais (shopping, bars, clubs, theaters, and much more) while benefiting from lower prices.

Paris Hotels

Monday, January 5, 2009

Hotels in Paris: how to reduce your bill by 15 to 20%...

Today it’s easy to find a hotel in Paris using famous booking websites which abound on the Internet. But for those who wish to quickly and easily find an cheap hotel in Paris, things aren’t so simple.

Booking websites save valuable time for Internet users, but on the other hand the hotel has to pay a commission on each booking, therefore, the hotels raise their prices on these sites. This means that you pay the commission… (the additional cost can reach 15% or even 20% per room per night). So how do you reconcile time savings and fair rates?

Direct bookings are cheaper!

There is the solution of methodically going through any Booking website, to prepare a list of Paris hotels that fits your criteria, then search on Google for their official websites. You will never find a better rate than on the Hotel's official website, as no commission is added.

This is an effective, but laborious, solution, given the number of competing hotels and the amount of time you’ll devote to finding each of the official websites (they are not always easy to find on Google).

However, for the busy Internet user seeking a good price there are hotel directories where you can find the same price as the official hotel's website. They work on a different economic model, so you won't have to pay any commission on their rates (and sometimes they also provide a direct link to the official website of the hotel - you won't waste your time searching on Google).

With these directories, you will get the same rate as the hotel's website, but without loosing hours to find it.

Paris Hotels