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Cheap hotel in Paris
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One thing you’ll truly appreciate is that finding a cheap hotel in Paris doesn’t have to be a sentence to spend your vacation in a lousy area.
I personally love the fact that Paris center is a pretty homogeneous place. Sure, you have your pricey neighborhoods, but it doesn’t mean that to find a cheap hotel in Paris, you have to only look in less opulent areas. (See also Paris Discount Hotels).
The reality is that some “modest” neighborhoods will offer exclusive luxury boutique hotels and, thankfully, some posh areas will have affordable, economic hotels as well. It is up to each person to work at finding what hotel characteristics he or she is after.
Obviously, depending on what you can afford, you will not get the same level of amenities in a cheaper hotel than in a luxury one, even if located in the same area. But I find it gratifying that you can find a cheap hotel in Paris 7th Arrondissement near the prestigious Eiffel Tower, and likewise, a luxury 4-star hotel can be found in “bohemian” Montmartre in the 18th Arrondissement.
That said, a cheap hotel in Paris in these days where all hotels strive to offer a standard level of quality and comfort, means you could get beaten to the punch. The best deals might be gone by the time you get there, so you have to be resourceful and flexible.
This is usually not an issue during slow season, but at the height of peak season things can get merciless, enough to make you want to pull your hair out in frustration. Lol…
(Side note: If you ever get yourself caught in this predicament, don’t panic, just relax and be persistent! Find an internet café, get on the Web and you will find something if only for one night, even if it’s not in your preferred area. The next day, be first off the starting blocks).
You may have noticed that I intentionally avoid offering a selection of “recommended hotels”.
That’s because I believe the hotel industry is going in a different direction and even your run-of-the-mill cheap hotel in Paris has completely embraced the Information Age.
It makes more sense to use technology and calibrate your hotel search to your own preferences than to take someone’s recommendation whose budget or neighborhood choices may be totally different from yours.
These days, there are no hidden surprises. Even the diminutive size of some rooms in older buildings, which used to shock American travelers who are accustomed to spacious amenities back home, can now be detected with a quick look at the photos on most hotel Web sites.
For all those reasons, I like to start my hotel searches with one of the Discount Hotels features at Kayak.com. I recommend only what I personally like and I think their travel search engine is tremendous. It is very handy and it allows you to narrow down the range of price you’re interested in with a slider that you adjust to your specifications, to only display hotels in your price range.
You can then proceed to sort out areas of Paris you'd prefer to stay in. Keep in mind that if you’re truly looking to slash costs, your cheap hotel in Paris can be in peripheral areas of the city or the “banlieue proche” (nearest suburbs). Public transportation is superlative and will get you to and back from the city center in half an hour. This is good to know during peak season.
So, you can start your search now by clicking Discount Hotels. But after you've checked out the link, I'd like you to come back here. Fair is fair, right?
Besides Kayak.com, another great resource that specializes in finding the lowest hotel rates around is Gulliver’s Travel Services at gtahotels.com. Gulliver’s allows you to book through them at bargain rates and they offer an impressive selection of associated hotels. You can go directly to their page at http://www.gtahotels.com and select destination Paris.
Through both of these resources you’ll have a chance to view photos of the hotels, customer reviews, location and area maps, and you’ll be able to book an online reservation, which includes terms of cancellation. I think that's a much smarter way to go than to rely on another person’s idea of a good hotel, unless it’s a close friend, or perhaps your older sister... ;=)
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