travel, hotel and booking Information

Travel forums are gold mines of information if you care to review the postings of enchanted and disgruntled travelers coming back from abroad.

Hotel Booking As Senior Editor of http://www.Paris-Eiffel-Tower-News, I often peruse these forums to find out about the concerns voiced by fellow travelers headed to the 'City of Lights'.

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Travel Agency Among the postings which keep coming back, one stands out from the crowd: what does a 3-star rating really mean? Travelers tend to be confused by the many star-rating systems in use. I felt the subject called for an educated explanation.

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Cheap Hotel
The meaning of stars in the US

From DisneyWorld to Paris, For Dummies Travel is your destination for popular vacation spots, including hotel and restaurant reviews, both in the U.S. and worldwide.

Flight Booking
First of all, let's be clear: there is absolutely no relationship whatsoever between the number of stars commercial travel sites award to hotels, and the hotel rating system in use in France.

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Travel Agent The core business of commercial travel sites is to sell you hotel rooms, flight tickets, car rentals, and cruise packages. They purport to guide your choice by awarding stars to the products they peddle.

Hotel Chicago When you book a room on such sites, a significant portion of your money goes to the travel operator which presents the hotel - up to 50% on well-known websites.

Online Booking For this reason alone, you could reasonably ask yourself: are these ratings unbiased, or tainted by corporate greed?

Travel Health Insurance To make matters more complicated, each travel website uses its own rating method. Consumer Reports published an enlightening article on the topic in its November 2005 issue.

Hotel Reservation In other words, the number of stars awarded by commercial travel sites is not a fully reliable yardstick for selecting a hotel.

London Hotel Booking
The meaning of stars in France

Discount Travel
The French hotel rating system works on a completely different set of rules.

Orlando Hotel 1.It is a standardized system: meaning, all hotels across France are categorized on the same unique basis.

Booking Agency 2.The rating system was not born out of mercantile purposes: it was framed by the French lawmakers without any concern for profit.

International Travel Medical 3.Last but not least, the French hotel rating system does not measure quality. Instead, it uses 22 measurement criteria to assess the presence or absence of certain features in the hotel.

New York Hotel Among the main criteria used:

Online Travel Booking - Room sizes and numbers - Room soundproofing - Heating and air-conditioning - Design of bathroom facilities - Phone system - Electrical equipment - Elevators

Travel Medical Insurance Each requirement varies from one star category to another.

Miami Hotel You can download the full list of criteria and a clear explanation of each at http://www.Paris-Eiffel-Tower-News.com/hotel-rating.html.

Air Deccan Booking
Subjective quality vs. objective quantity

Las Vegas Nevada Travel
The French rating system does not take into account subjective quality criteria.

Las Vegas Nv Hotel And because of this limited approach, it does not guarantee your expectations will be fulfilled.

Hotel Florence Booking Online First, there are keen differences in perception between populations. For example, American travellers are used to larger sizes of rooms and beds than the average room and bed sizes offered in Parisian hotels. This can be a source of disappointment.

Orlando Travel Moreover, the French rating system does not measure service quality - cleanliness, absence of smells, staff attitude, speed of service, etc.

Hilton Hotel It may thus be chancy to base your hotel choice solely on the French rating system.

Booking Delta Com
The safer bet

Travel Insurance Online
To afford the best chances to pick the right hotel in Paris I recommend the following 4 steps:

London Hotel - Have a basic understanding of the French rating criteria (see above link to download them) - Check guests' reviews on www.travelocity.com - Visit the hotel's own website - Do not hesitate to e-mail your questions to the hotel.

Online Hotel Booking Many travellers use Travelocity.com to write reviews on the hotels they stayed at. No hotel satisfies 100% of its guests throughout the year, so both extreme judgments and moderate opinions can be found on this open forum. My advice: favor moderate reviews with some flesh on the bones. They will usually give you a useful picture of what to expect from the hotel - good and less good.

Travel Insurance Visiting the hotel's website will usually allow you to see multiple views of its rooms and bathrooms. I insist on visiting the hotel's own website since it usually is the place which offers the greatest number of photos.

Paris Hotel Lastly, e-mailing your questions to the hotel owners may or may not get you an answer, usually depending on the proficiency of the receptionist in your language. Receiving informative answers to your questions is a good sign that the hotel cares for his prospective guests.

Airline Booking Following these 4 steps should help you minimize the risk of being disappointed during your stay in Paris. This is no guarantee though. Remember that cultures differ from each other, and your expectations of service might not be fully understood. In such case, communicate with the owner. They are usually keen on serving you to the best of their means.

Travel Trailer Have a safe and pleasant trip to Paris!

San Francisco Hotel About The Author:

Air Ticket Booking Phil Chavanne spent 30 years in Paris. Share his breadth of
knowledge at http://www.Paris-Eiffel-Tower-News.com.
Download a simple explanation of the French hotel rating
system at http://www.Paris-Eiffel-Tower-News.com/hotel-rating.html.

Cheap Travel Phil Chavanne lived 30 years in Paris, and knows the French capital throughout. He acts as Senior Editor of 2 Paris guides: www.Paris-Eiffel-Tower-News.com (in English) and www.Parismooz.com (in Japanese). Currently residing in the Tampa bay area, he travels and writes mostly about Paris.

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