Housing in Paris - Hotel Champ de de Mars? Other economical suggestions?

The comma is the same as our (American) decimal, but there should not be 3 zeros following, only two. So, for example: 22,00 is 22 euro. But 22,000 is confusing.

My husband and I have traveled many times to France and we always stay at the Hotel Champ de Mars. Although you will read some bad reviews about it, we love it and would never stay anywhere else when in Paris. The location cannot be beat. The Rue Cler is centrally located and that street is a market street where you can get any thing you want to eat. We love the little pastry shop at the corner of Rue Cler and Champ de Mars. We even buy wonderful baguette sandwiches there in the morning, put them in my backpack, and are off for the day photographing. This hotel is close to the Metro, Eiffel tower,Post office, everything really. It is very small. We always reserve the twin-bedded rooms in the back. They are bigger and the beds are shoved together to make a bigger one. The bathrooms are great and the area is as safe as you can get.The couple that own the hotel are wonderful, contrary to the posts you will read on some of these websites.

Sorry my rant is so long I had to continue here. The owners of the hotel are rather reserved when they first meet you, but they are very nice. They do not appreciate loud American tourists and are rather put off , I think ,by some pushiness on the part of some tourists. We have never had any problem at all. The rooms are rather small. and not air-conditioned, unless they have recently added that. The price is certainly right. If you want air-conditioning there are a lot of good places in the Rue Cler area in Rick Steves' Paris book. They will be more money. Check out his website and go to theguidebooks, then click on Paris, and see all the best and worst accomodations. One more thing..these hotels in the Rue Cler area are booked solid months ahead of time!! You will be very lucky to find a place now for this August. We are going in October and reserved 10 months ahead of time for a room. Be carefull because all the hotels may have is a very small room, very small.

One thing to consider when finding a place to stay is transportation costs. You will end up spending more on metro costs, and taxis will be reluctant to take you if you are too far away. A great hotel that is out of the way is a false economy. Go for location, location, location. And do not be afraid of the Venere.com website to pay, I think it is called. Most small hotels use it so they don't have to deal with the surcharge VISA makes vendors pay. I'd spring for a hotel with AC in August, if possible.

Happy travels.

Check out the website www.jeudeclefs.com to view their five properties in Paris. Our family of six stayed in the loft in the Marais neighborhood in June. We appreciated having a kitchen, washing machine, and room to sprawl. Good luck!

economical is difficult, espec consider air conditioning as it can be very hot. One August it was 112 F when I was there in 2003.It might be good to give a rate that you consider economical. The $ is not worth much anymore when comp to Euros or GBP.

Paris is having pleasant summer temperatures right now, but it is hard to say what August will bring. Regarding safety, most areas in Paris are very safe, I was there on my own and felt very comfortable walking. Remember that Parisians don't begin dining usually until after 8 or 9, and are usually having their coffee at 11.

Hotel Champ du Mars is near the Eiffel Tower and a bit of a walk to the Metro stop. I haven't stayed there, but if you want to stay in that area, I can recommend the Hotel Londres Eiffel on Rue Augerau and Hotel Kensington on Avenue de la Bourdonnais, both walking distance to Rue Cler and Ecole Militaire Metro stop. Hotel Kensington is not air-conditioned, but is only 57 Euro plus 6 Euro for breakfast.

Another area to stay in is the Marais, near Place de la Bastille and Place du Republique Metro stops, hotels I can recommend are Hotel Castex and Hotel Saint Louis Bastille, both have a-c and are in busy but convenient areas, both near excellent cafes and bistros.

Have you thought about renting an apartment. Rates can be reduced for last minutes rentals (and in August). We just rented a beautiful apartment on www.VRBO.com - complete with computer, washer/dryer and lots of room.

My boyfriend and I stayed at Hotel du Champ de Mars last September and LOVED it. It’s the most adorable little hotel. The rooms are tiny but decorated super cute and very clean. The hotel workers have a spaniel dog that is always in the lobby, Cannelle (spelled wrong I’m sure, it’s French for Cinnamon). I, too, have read the owners can be snotty - but they were always nice to us. The neighborhood is great, with lots of shops and cafes. There’s a grocery market on the corner you can buy water and snacks at. We like Ulysses for crepes at night, and especially loved Chez Agnes which is a short walk away (we also like Café le Bousquet!). The Eiffel Tower is near by and the Ecole Miliataire subway stop is conveniently close. The morning market on Rue Cler is also a memorable experience, it’s a great place to put together a picnic lunch to eat in front of the Eiffel Tower!

Jenny

We just returned from a week in Paris. Not sure how it compares in price but the 5 of us rented an apartment on Rue de Champs de Mars from Pascal at www.rentalfrance.com. It was a 2bedroom/2bath with AC, WD, and kitchen. It was perfectly located to Metro, Rue Cler, and Eiffel Tower. The boulangeries were great in the immediate area as was Chez Agnes (ate there 2 nights out of 7 - wish we had found it earlier!). Not sure if you can rent it now for August but check it out.

Just around the corner on Rue Valadon is Hotel Valadon. It is a lovely small hotel,a block from rue cler. We paid about 125 euros October 2007 and that included a delicious breakfast of croissant, roll, juice, either coffee, tea or hot chocolate along with the owner's homemade jam- a different flavor each morning.The owners, Victor & Marie Orsenne are cordial and speak perfect English. They are quite helpful in giving directions, recommending transportation options to various attractions and restaurants. The rooms are comfortable, have a modern bath with shower and the hotel has a small elevator.The hotel lobby features a small library filled with local tourist information. The email address is: www.hotelvaladon.com
Hope this helps anyone interested in the rue cler area.

I also recommend the Hotel Valadon. I was there for a week in 2006 and we enjoyed our stay there very much. The owners are very nice and extremely helpful. The cost was very reasonable approx 120 euros per night with breakfast. Look into it.

We just booked 10 rooms at the Royal Phare Hotel which is located right at the Ecole Militaire Metro station. It does not have aircondition, but it is located in the 7th in a very nice area. A couple of years ago we stayed at Hotel La Bourdonnais - just a few steps away from Royal Phare. It was an expensive hotel, but I guessed that we would be more comfortable since we would be paying more...wrong!

La Bourdonnais promised air-conditioned rooms which was the absolute main reason I chose it over others. When we arrived the air-conditioning in the whole building was "broken", but they hoped to have it fixed soon. They never did and we never saw anyone EVER working on it.

So don't think that paying more will get you a nicer place. The Royal Phare is about 1/2 the price of the La Bourdonnais and gets really good reviews on Tripadvisor.

How do get Hotel du Champs de Mars to confirm a reservation? We are trying to stay there in June. I have sent 3 emails, 2 faxes and made 4 telephone calls to the hotel over the last month. They have said they have rooms, that we are "in the book" and that they have received my credit card information to confirm the reservation; and in telephone calls, they have promised repeatedly to send email confirmation of the reservation, but they never do it. We are very reluctant to rely on a telephone conversation for a reservation in Paris, but now I don't know if I should just give up and look elsewhere, or trust that someday, the hotel will confirm the reservation. Has anyone else had this problem?

I was having the same problem with Hotel Leveque in Paris and finally had a french-speaking friend of mine to call. They said they had been attempting to send me email to my bellsouth account, but that it always failed. They instead sent an email confirmation to my friend's email address and he got it just fine. There was also another hotel in Paris that ended up faxing me a copy of the email they attempted to send to my bellsouth account showing that the delivery attempt failed...I wonder if something is going on with bellsouth email accounts?