Accommodations outside of Paris

I would not stay outside Paris, comute can eat almost 2 hours of your day, no thanks,, and the cost is increased too.. I agree September is horrendous at this point to find a hotel , but not impossible. Suggest you enter your dates and use Venere or hotels.com. both are pretty reputable.. Also, what is your budget per night in euros.. perhaps its not realisitic.?

La Defense to the north can be reached by metro & bus and the Ibis chain has a large hotel there. Ibis hotels are not expensive nor are they charming, but they are reliable, that is, no ugly surprises await you.

La Défense is a great suggestion and not far at all. If you want a taste of a smaller, charming city I always suggest Chartres. It's about an hour trip via the gare Montparnasse. Prices there are much cheaper than Paris (depending on what's going on in town). Or closer, there's Rambouillet which isn't as charming. but it's not bad.

Chartres is lovely , but at 25-30 euros for a return ticket it would not be very practical to use it as a base to commute to and from Paris, a couple would be adding 50-60 euros to their daily budget just for train tickets.. I think looking by Defence may be best bet.

It would depend on the point of your trip. If you're not going to Paris every day Chartres would be lovely so that you could visit surrounding cities (Maintenon, Vendôme, Châteaudun, Nogent-le-Rotrou,La Loupe, Le Mans). But if your main point is to stay in Paris, your best bet is to be in Paris. La Défense is close enough, but let me tell you, travelling Line 1 is not a picnic to be travelling all the time. But neither would taking the train. Sometimes it's better to spend a little more money for location that to take the time to travel every day. That would be like going to Chicago and staying in Schamburg. You miss so much. If you do consider Chartres, let me know.

Thanks for your replies. I think that we should continue to look for a hotel in Paris and stay in a less expensive district. I would say 200-250 euros per night is out budget. It will be for 3 nights. Thanks for the specific hotel and website info.
I would love to see Chartres, but will save it for another trip. Thanks for the info on time and logistics for staying outside of the city, I would rather spend the time wandering around Paris!

If budget is a main factor, try www.accorhotels.com Ibis hotels are just the basics, Ibis Styles are trendier. More expensive are the Novotel's, which are nice, Mercure's are pretty nice, and Sofitel's (quite expensive) are marvelous. But I'm sure you can get a good Ibis hotel in a great part of town.

Try Hotel du Parc Montsouris. It's a small one next to the park in the 14th and has just been upgraded to 3 stars. It's tiny and hidden on a tiny street but between the RER Cite Universitaire and Porte d'Orleans and on the tram line.

Also try Hotel de l'Avre in the 15th. It's a very nice budget hotel near the Eiffel Tower and close to a great Metro hub. Cheerful, very clean, nice size rooms, good beds, nice bathrooms, good size elevator, lovely garden and wonderful owner and staff.