Just wondering if anyone else has discovered this... I have reached out to a couple of the Paris properties as listed in the 2012 book and have found many have almost doubled their listed prices "because they get so many Rick Steves" requests....
For example, the gent who has 2 studios listed has raised his rates from E590 to E990 a week!!!! Is this a common occurrence? Hotels get recommended and suddenly their popularity, and rates, explode?
it's too bad but I guess it makes sense. That's why I don't use Rick's books for his suggested properties. I like them for the practical information offered about sites and walks, etc.
I can't imagine why anyone is surprised. People charge what they can get. I stopped using Rick's hotel suggestion years ago after spending time in the total dump (I believe it has since been rennovated) Grand Hotel Leveque on Rue Cler -- absolutely the worst hotel we ever stayed in in a major city -- horrible desk people who told our baby sitter repeatedly we were not registered and were just generally surly and unhelpful. The place was dirty noisy and badly run.) We also stayed in the place in the CT recommended and they required half board -- it is the only time in Italy we have been served inedible tomatoes. Just an awful place. We travel close to the ground and admire Rick's excellent advice about traveling like a local -- but so far his hotels have underwhelmed -- I usually do very well with apartments and hotels by doing my own research.
While I don't doubt your experience I also don't think you can generalize based on one or two examples.
Supply and demand. Small hotels and b&b's that have a small number of rooms and many, many requests for accommodations know how to react. Many of these places were off the 'map' as far as other guide books were concerned so charged lower prices than the local going rate to fill their rooms. This is the biggest problem with people reading RS books and only wanting to stay in his recommended places, the high demand forces prices up. I don't think his books 'guarantee' rates at his recommended hotels and if they do, then those places would honor that I'm sure.
Like others have stated, I love the RS books for their wealth of information on practical matters - how to get there, how to get around, what to expect, etc.. I do not use them for his hotel recommendations, never have. I do my own research on where to stay and base my choices on current rates, reviews from others who have stayed there (not just from Rick), and my particular needs.
I spent a dozen years staying at Rick's properties all over Europe - I think this question is far far bigger than just the France Forum it has wound up in - and no longer.
I just can't afford his places any more. There are too many Americans, Indians, and Canadians staying at all his recommended places and both filling them and raising the prices through the roof.
For me it is now TA, booking, VRBO, chains, and some other apartment engines.
It is called free enterprise. The hotels did not sign an undertaking not to raise their rates.
Check back in a couple of years and see if, adjusted for inflation, the premium prices have been lowered to compensate for people's reactions to the sudden price hikes in 2014.
Some places proudly post decals on their entrances that they're recommended in Fodor's, Guide Routard, etc., and that "cachet" could make them ask for more cash.
Question: I thought that hotel prices are regulated in France. (Not so apartments).
So there is an upper limit a 2-star can charge; to charge more it must add amenities to qualify for another star.
Has this changed?
Hotels tend to raise prices nearly every year, but I don't think the accumulated 80% increase that you describe is typical. Remodeling or other service upgrades are usually the reason for a significant change. Not every listing stays in the book from year to year, if customer feedback or researchers bring up significant changes in service or value, or the descriptions get adjusted. I'd be interested to know the properties you're looking at, so I can compare what info is in the 2015 edition of the book.
Edit: I misread your price description and now see that €590-990 is the price range depending on season, and I'll assume that it's almost always high season. Maybe the increase was not 80%, but it was noticeable.
Donna, are you looking at a particularly busy week - say in September, or off season?
Donna,
I use Ricks books as references but dont consider them the end all solution. i use other sources and other search engines too. I will use everything i have at hand to make my decision.
as you have found out, just because its was a good deal in 2011 or 2012 or 2013 doesnt mean squat later on.
If you dont like the prices, look for other accommodations. Thats what i do if i dont like the price. however sometimes you have to pay to play depending on whats going on and where you want to stay. its a +/- situation where the final call is up to you.
happy trails.
Traveling off season I found the recommendations were right on target. We were generally quite satisfied with quality for price and in a few cases expectations were far exceeded. Paris was the exception - couldn't get a response from the desired property and while I was fooling with that and looking at alternatives we decided to rent an apartment (which was wonderful btw). If they're full fine - but I'd think its good business (and courtesy) to at least respond.
There are too many Americans, Indians, and Canadians staying at all his recommended places
When I go about choosing which lodgings to stay at I look at things like price, reviews, location.... never the racial makeup or citizenship of it's clientele. To do so seems a bit unsavory.
And be wary of places that Rick lists but describes with faint praise. If he mentions a place is "tired," or "could sometimes be cleaner," it's absolutely filthy. However, he does list many excellent places that are also a good value, and it's too bad if a place that once made the cut gets dropped from future editions. There is an advantage to Rick's guides, compared with guidebooks that are only updated every few years.
Adam, we (I mean the France book co-author and I) have never heard of price limits based on French hotel star ratings. The star ratings do depend on specific amenities offered, but don't dictate a price range. FYI, our researchers always enquire "what will your prices be next year," which can be a hard question to answer in many countries, but getting better results in France.
I'm with Nigel on this one. What dates are you planning to travel? I never realized that Paris fashion week was in September - I thought this would be off- season. I know that RS popularity has made some places more difficult to book and as the world's economic situation has improved, travel is more expensive in general.
I've always had good luck staying in the places listed in the RS guidebooks, including the apparently unpopular Grand Hotel Leveque in Paris. I've stayed there a number of times, and while the rooms are somewhat basic and certainly not luxurious, they've always been comfortable and I've never had any issues with the staff.
I've found that there's generally a good mix of nationalities, even in the RS-recommended hotels in all the countries I've visited.
I have never used RS books to book places.. frankly they are simply not hidden gems anymore and I agree they likely get too big for their britches so to speak.
Those guide books are read by hundreds of thousands.. if not millions of people.. what on earth do you expect.. trust me.. they do not need your business once they are in the book. I bet they get hundreds of inquiries from RS readers ..
I find my own choices and am much happier with them... I actually dislike one of the areas RS recommends in Paris anyways.
September is not just busy because of fashion week, its all the tourists who think they are avoiding the crowds of summer.. PLUS the business travel for all the trade shows in that season.. ( many have nothing to do with fashion)
I always cross-check any hotel on TripAdvisor or Hotels.com and look at the number of posts and their overall rating. I tend to favor the listings with more pictures. You can sometimes use Google Street View to get a look at the surrounding neighborhood. We 'walked' the streets around the apartment we rented in Paris to get a better feel for the surroundings and close-by amenities.
We've used Rick's recommendations maybe 50% of the time and haven't noticed significant price hikes. His listings are usually a good starting point to get a feel for market prices, perhaps a little low because he's made an effort to find good value hotels.
Richard if the first two times I take advice both are lousy, I don't have to beat my head against the wall to understand that the advisor is not all that for this particular decision. How many really bad hotels should I stay at before deciding to look elsewhere for hotel advice? I first discovered Rick Steves after traveling a bit and finding that he was recommending many of the things I had found on my own e.g. we hiked the Cinque Terre over 30 years ago when there were literally no Americans on the trail the day we were there. It was us, a British couple and a class of local 14 year olds on a field trip. It was truly undiscovered except by the occasional German hiking group. He also recommended spots in Assisi where we had hiked and picnicked. I love the way he makes independent travel possible for timid Americans who might otherwise stick with tour groups. The original Europe Through the Back Door was an enormous contribution to independent tourism. But hotels? Never again without ample cross checks of other sources.
I've been fortunate to have traveled a lot in Europe and the United States for both business and vacations over the past 20 years and what I want out of a travel guide, website, etc. are realistic expectations (you will pay this amount and you will get this, etc.). In my experience, the RS guidebooks have a better track record at setting expectations for lodging than any other source (though Trip Adviser is an excellent resource too) . If I take all of my travels in the USA and Canada, I would say that on average, the places I stayed in met my expectations, with an equal number of places missing expectations as those that exceeded expectations. In comparison, I can honestly say that every single place I've every stayed in that was recommended by RS either met or exceeded my expectations. There have been instances where I've gone with other travel guide recommendations (Nice, Milan, Trim) and paid the price (Lonely Planet did not point out that the recommended hotel in Nice would have the water supplied by garden hose (seriously)).
Thank you Laura, I appreciate your sharing that. I do not know where I got the idea that prices were fixed by rating class.
After seeing other threads here in the forum, I learned that the 2 studios originally referenced are by Paris Home. They were priced "unusually low" in the past, according to our editors. The listing in Rick's 2015 edition of Paris is up-to-date with the new price range (p. 436, apartment resources listed after the section on hotels). I don't pay attention to apartment prices, but a range of €590-990 per week doesn't sound like it would be unusual in Paris.
We used Rick's suggestions in two of the four cities on our tour and indirectly in Paris. In his tour skills video series, he goes over options including B&B's. Our Paris B&B was among the highlights of our trip. But we did the legwork to track it down.
The rates for the places we used from his guidebooks were a bit higher than those quoted. However, his tip to contact each place directly and offer to pay in cash helped us get a better rate in both instances. And, both places, while definitely budget accommodations, were clean, comfortable, relatively quiet at night, and staffed by very polite and accommodating people.
For us, we found that using a variety of different sources to find accommodations yielded the best results. And for Paris, we found these two sites to be the most helpful "for us:"
http://www.bed-and-breakfast-in-paris.com/ - the site we used to book our B&B
https://www.airbnb.com/ - ended up not using their services in Paris, but did book through them in Copenhagen
Not sure if this was helpful or not. Our experience I guess -- happy travels!
