Paris Apartments

Andrea - Our family used VacationinParis for our stay in Paris. I liked the fact that they were based in the US, you paid in dollars and we had the keys before we departed for Paris.

Hi Andrea! Nice name by the way!! I use vrbo.com and homeaway.com. To rent apartments. For my Paris apartment rental last fall they wanted a cashiers check for 400€ for the deposit, to be returned when I checked out. That was not something I was willing to do. I asked if he would take my credit card number as the deposit and he agreed to do that. It doesn't hurt to ask. You are dealing with the owners generally on those two sites, and they are usually willing to be a little more flexible than the rental agencies can be. I have never been asked to leave a cash deposit on any of my rentals. I have had several rentals where they didn't require any deposit.

What Joel said.

We rented 2 apts in Paris in 2010 through a reputable Paris agency and had to pay a large cash deposit on both. It's actually common practice, and we had no problems. We got the cash back the day we left the apt. I've read a lot of good reviews of VacationinParis, and they seem to be the easiest, but their prices are high imo. I'd like to rent from them someday, if money allows, just because they make it so easy.

The deposit is pretty common. I've rented twice from vacationinparis.com and the main reason I went with them was precisely because I didn't have to deal with a damage deposit or wire transfer. If you are considering vacationinparis, I'd suggest that you just contact them with your dates and price limit and they will send you a list of what is available. There probably won't be many choices at this late date. I know when I booked just 6 weeks out, there were only a few apartments to choose from with them.

I rented with VIP in 2010 and am renting from them again in the fall. When I contacted them, I told them my dates, price range and areas I was interested in, and they emailed back the options on the same day. Don't get too excited about a specific rental before you see your options because it may already be snapped up, especially if you are booking late.

We had a very good experience with Cobblestone Paris. www.cobblestoneparis.com. We had to pay a deposit up front to reserve the apartment - it was of course, applied to the rent. I believe there was a $50 fee for a cancellation. We did not have to pay a damages deposit - but we did have to leave a credit card number that they would charge on the backend if there were any damages. Since we had no damages, it was not an issue.

You all are fabulous and Andrea, yes, great name :). I've read some of your other posts about Paris that have been helpful. I'm checking out all your suggestions and will probably end up going with VIP. While there may not be as many choices as there would have been had I checked months ago, I'm still finding there is more than enough to make my decision difficult. Thanks for all your help. I've been looking at which is the best area to stay in in Paris and it sounds like it would be tough to find a bad one so it doesn't make it any easier! I'm very grateful for the input!

If this is your first trip to Paris ( and even if it's not), I would look in the 4th, 5th and 6th arrondissements. The closer to the river you are, the more central you are. You can walk almost everywhere from there. The Eiffel Tower is a bit far and of course you would take the metro to go to Montmartre. You can't go wrong in those areas.