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Hotel Pullman
We are booked on the April 26 Rendezvous on the Seine River Cruise. We are arriving one day early and have been booked at the Pullman. After reviewing several responses in the forum, we are thinking about changing our first nights stay in Paris. Since there are over 1700 hotels in Paris, could someone who is an experienced visitor to Paris recommend a good "French" hotel that is closer to the center of the city for our first night?
We are not experienced travelers and have not used forums, so the information in the forums helps us to make better choices.
Thank You!
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Please remember the logistics of not staying in the Tauck hotel. You will have to pay for your taxi from the airport, tips, lug your own luggage, check out early, get a taxi, lug your luggage, possibly wait for your room, My opinion, not worth it for just one night. All these things are included in a Tauck tour. You also mention you are not experienced travelers, you really have to be careful in Paris, it's a prime place for pick pockets and the like. I have to say I have not been on this trip, but I have read the past reports on the hotel. I assume the problems have since been resolved or I am sure Tauck would not be staying there. I think it is used primarily for its location to the boat. I think it might be a good idea to call Tauck and voice your concerns about past comments on the forum and see if they can update you. Enjoy your trip, Tauck are a great company.
If you are staying somewhere other than the Tauck hotel .... there are many reasons why this might be so .... friends, relatives, prior business .... you do not necessarily forfeit the transfer & associated services. Transport is provided to the Tauck hotel, you just have to get yourselves to your chosen accommodation from there, then back again to the Tauck hotel for the tour commencement. And tell Tauck where you will be in case they need to contact you. I have done just this on a number of occasions. You must make your own decision, hopefully well informed by your own research.
I make no comment on the dangers of travelling. They are always present, where ever in the world you might be. The goal is to blend in as best you can, rather than drawing attention to yourself as a naive tourist ripe for the plucking. I have no knowledge of the Pullman Hotel. The only comment I would make about Trip Advisor reviews is that very often, they are not genuine reviews. I get the impression that one must read the reviews, particularly the glowing ones, with a grain of salt. I'll call them "plants". I think there is a more techy, social media geek term!
Cheers,
Jan
Which reminds me .... Metro Trains here in Melbourne put out an award winning public service, safety video. It's one of the best adds I've ever seen. Talk about catchy!
You can watch it here: http://dumbwaystodie.com
and read about the campaign here:
I'm sure the basic principles would work for Paris, too!
Cheers,
Jan
If you still want to find another hotel, I would recommend the Hotel Brighton. It's nothing fancy, but clean, comfortable, very well located (and reasonable for Paris). It is right across from the Tuileries on the Rue de Rivoli and a short walk to the Louvre. We also stayed at its sister hotel, the Hotel d'Orsay. It's on the other side of the Seine, but still well located. It was nice, but the Brighton is better.
We are booked on the April 26th trip too. Coming in a day early to the Pullman. Like you, I've read the reviews and am anxious about the hotel. We don't want to complicate matters with switching hotels for one night. Tauck is supposed to be "top drawer" so let's see how it goes. Looking forward to the journey.
The welcome dinner was held on the 10th floor, which also has a balcony with even better views of Tour Eiffel and the surrounding neighborhoods for pictures. The food and wine were enjoyable, the waiters attentive.
The breakfasts were provided in the hotel's restaurant, with a nice variety of cooked items and cold choices.
A word about the electricity in French hotels. There are two room access cards. One card must be inserted into a card slot, and pressed down to activate the electric lights in the room. I'd only seen this once before in another French hotel, but it might be a money saving measure in hotel management. Since I haven't traveled much, it might be a common European innovation in hotels.
Oh, I almost forgot about the elevators. There is a security feature that requires the use of your room card to activate the elevator when going up to the floor where your room is located. The room card has an RFID chip in it. You have to pass the room card in front of the card reader on the control panel, then hit the button for your floor. The elevator will take you down to the lobby without using the card. I've only seen this feature in one hotel in the U. S. in the last few years.
The elevators in the new, futuristic-looking, Intercontinental in Davos, Switzerland go one step further. When you wave your key near the lobby sensor, the "computer" summons one of 6 elevators, announces which elevator to enter, and automatically takes you to the correct floor- all quite high tech.
Cheers,
Jan