Choosing your Paris Hotel

Saturday at the AAUW luncheon, one of the women at our table gave high marks to the Hotel de Lys, 23 rue Serpent, close to both St. Germain des Pres and Notre Dame. Because this was a recommendation from a well-traveled mature woman, I thought this would be a slam-dunk, but just to be safe before passing the word-of-mouth on to Paris Blog readers, I took a look at some of the reviews on TripAdvisor.com and it just goes to show that one person's castle is another person's hovel. Likewise, the Trip Advisor reviews offered such a range of hate it/love it that I'm tempted to stay there for a night just to see for myself. The bottom line is that no matter what you read in a guide book, no one can guarantee you a good hotel experience - even at five-star hotels. You can be in the most perfect surroundings, fall upon a mediocre desk clerk and it can be almost as bad as staying at a dump (because you know how much money you've spent). You know I've mentioned in the past some hotels in the Montparnasse area (Like the Hotel Arcadie which is on our street) and I've noted that WICE also offers some recommendations for participants in their Paris Writers Workshop program this July. I noted they mentioned Hotel Delambre which is located on Rue Delambre, one of my favorite streets in the neighborhood. If you are at all squeamish about 'hairs in your bathtub' which seemed to be a big complaint in readers reviews for the Hotel de Lys, you really need to opt for a 3-star hotel minimum. The other thing you need to know is that Paris hotels (like London) do tend to have small rooms unless you're going 5-star. There is no accounting for what happens at the front desk. Go in with your best smile - try never to be in a hurry - if you have to catch a train or need to call a taxi, try to give desk staff ample time to accommodate you.