Paris hotel question

I would post this on the ta forum also. .
Personally hotel looks like typical two star , with the very typical complaints from mostly north american travellers. Rooms are too small. Rooms ARE going to be smaller then what is normal here in NA. Carpet shabby. Its a two star, as long as room is generally clean get over the details. Night staff not as friendly as day staff, they never are and while day staff usually speak english , night staff often have little to none( night shift sucks). The only thing I noticed is the prices seemed a little high to me. Probably since its in a guide book, rates always seem to go up after a place gets all that free advertizing. Look at Hotel Eugenie,, I have stayed there and liked it, plus it has mini fridge in room to store cold drinks in, a plus to me.

I've never stayed there, but here's the problem I have with this place: I sent an inquiry and then had to follow-up and still never heard back from them. The price was right, but the reviews were all over the board. Still, I would have stayed there had they responded, but with so many other great options, I'm not going to wait for a lodging to take their sweet time (and maybe never respond). And I remember others complaining about this same thing at the time. It's been a few years, but I can recommend Hotel de la Tulipe. You'll pay more, but the location is just as good (better actually) and the boutique hotel is very cool...in an old convent with some original stonework still exposed. Check tripadvisor...if it still gets 3.5 or 4 stars, I would stay there again.

Michael - when a hotel doesn't respond it almost always means they are full for your dates. A small place doesn't have time to send out a bunch of "sorry we're full" emails. If I don't get a reply I just move on to the next place on the list.

Kathy: I hear you, but I really don't care what it COULD mean. I'm not a mind reader...perhaps that's what it means at this hotel. But that's a piss poor approach for a small business IMHO. Not only does it mean I'm not staying there now, but I won't even bother to inquire next time, and I sure can't recommend you to friends, family, or complete strangers on the Helpline. It's simply not good business if it's intentional. And I honestly can't think of another time when a hotel anywhere just hasn't responded at all. Maybe that's the approach some places take, but I haven't seen it anywhere else. Let's face it, there's probably a reason this place gets bad reviews and negative feedback. Nevertheless, I do what you do and move on. If they can't take the time to respond, I can't take the time to stay and spend my money there. And when someone asks for feedback, I'll share my experience. My guess is that good business people would prefer to have fair feedback provided instead of poor. Oh well, they must be doing some things okay...they are still in business I see.

I would highly recommend staying elsewhere. My friends just came back from staying there and while the location is great, the hotel was very unsatisfactory. They tried twice to check out. They said the carpet was extremely dirty & the room was like a closet. The would have checked out, but they kept trying to charge them and finally moved them to better room so they stayed.

We just stayed there when we were in Paris a few weeks ago and we didn't have any issues. Yes the rooms are small (most places we stayed in over there were small), however we had enough space to store our bags. The street is quiet and the location is good. The rooms are a little tired, but they're clean. We found them to respond efficiently to our request for a room and also when we emailed again to confirm. It was a good basic room. No complaints. If you're expecting more amenities, I would go elsewhere.

If you find a review on Trip Advisor, read the poster's other reviews. You'll be able to tell from those where else they have been, if they have a valid complaint or experience. Don't trust all Trip Advisor's reviews. Look closely at tne name of th ereviewer and their location. I do not value reviews from someone who only posted once. Also must agree with what Kathy said: If you don't get a response, they are full- very standard procedure. Small hotels just don;t have the staff.

I completely disagree that it's very standard procedure for European lodgings of any size to simply not respond when full due to lack of staff. Someone opens an e-mail to check dates requested, right? But they "don't have enough staff" to click reply and type three words, indicating they're full. That just doesn't make sense. The "staff" has already opened and read your message...think about it. They just don't want to respond - bad business. I don't doubt that this may happen at times in France, but I've personally experienced it just once that I can recall (with this place). I've had tiny B&Bs and places with just two rooms in a private home respond. I know I read something in one of Rick's books once along these lines – "they just don't have the staff". Maybe that's where this myth comes from. It's surprisingly similar to other myths from these guidebooks – "Europeans don't wear running shoes/shorts" or "there aren't any toilets in European cities".

"The "staff" has already opened and read your message.." - not necessarily. I put the dates I'm asking about in the subject line of my email. If they're full for those dates they can just delete the email. And it is certainly quicker to click delete than to type an answer in a foreign language, even if it's just a few words.

Okay, fair enough. But the hotel with a staff too small to bother with sending you a courtesy reply has at least enough staff to monitor e-mail messages with inquiries in the subject line. In order to help set expectations for new travelers, how long do you typically wait before concluding that this incredibly small and very busy staff isn't going to respond? A week, a month?

I completely agree with everything Michael has said. You took the words right out of my mouth! If they can't be bothered to respond with 3 simple words they don't deserve to be in business.

I usually give it 24 hours, maybe 48 hours if I'm booking several towns at the same time, longer on the weekend. I often email more than one place at a time, too. I'm happy for you to skip those places next time - more chance for me.

If I am trying to book a place where I really want to stay for whatever reason, I send them an e-mail. If I do not hear from them in one week, I send them another e-mail mentioning that I have not heard from them concerning my first e-mail. If I have still not received a reply in another few days, I give them a call, mindful of the time zone changes.
If it is a place I do not have my heart set on staying at, I skip the telephone call and move on to other places. If the place that does not respond is listed in one of RS guide books, I drop him an e-mail to the place where you can report issues with his guide books. I notice that in several of his guide books where he is listing places to stay, he mentions that a particular place may be hard to contact and suggests a phone call if really interested or, that the place is real popular and reservations should be made a long time ahead of your stay.

The French are notoriously horrible at answering their emails. I used to email by boss and co workers concerning work all of the time, and they rarely replied. If you asked more than one questions they would pick and choose. Funny, my friends all had the same experience.

"The French are notoriously horrible at answering their e-mails". Really !! First I heard of it. Apparently your "boss and co-workers" are your proof of this, so not actually "the French" collectively. (Is that you, Steve?)

Who else? He's using five or six names at the same time right now.

Yes, really. And who the hell is Steve? Ed, you always seem to be a self-proclaimed expert. There's more to the French than sitting on bridges, you know.

We are going to be staying at Hotel Relais Bosquet. They have been very good about responding to all questions, and I'm hopeful it will be as pleasant as it looks.

check out this hotel. the reviews have been really good. i'm staying there in July so i can't give my 100% guarantee but they are very responsive and helpful via emails I sent. http://www.collegefrance-paris-hotel.com/

In July 2009, we stayed at the Hotel-St. Louis Marais, a smaller rs recommended hotel. Location was very good (Marais), it was quite comfortable & quiet neighborhood. Stairs up to our room, smaller room of course (it's Paris!). They were very nice & friendly, arranged an airport taxi for us when leaving.

I completely agree with Michael, it's good business practice and common curtesy to answer your query, as he says it only takes a few seconds. I do find the French more difficult to deal with when trying to get something organised. I am having a really difficult time at present and they 'refuse' to understand my bad French, but wont talk to me in English or German either, and it is the tourist information in Metz, on the German border, so I find it hard to believe that there is no one on the staff who can help me. I am at my wits end, and they just keep asking me to send my emails in French. I've tried, really I have, but they just shrug their gallic shoulders. If it wasn't so important I would just tell them to 'prenez une promenade'.