I will be travelling to Paris in April and am considering staying in one of the above apartments for 6 nights with my husband and 2 children. I just wanted to know any one%26#39;s first hand experience staying in these apartments and if there were any compliments or complaints on any of them. Also, if anyone could tell me if there are good restaurants/markets within walking distance of the apartments and if they are in a safe area.
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Although I%26#39;ve not stayed in any of the apts you mentioned, I%26#39;ve done business with VIP five times, all with great success. If this is your first trip to Paris, I might stay at #55 only because it%26#39;s so central. The other two, while they look very nice, are a bit farther afield. But Paris is quite compact, and so long as a metro stop is closeby, you%26#39;ll have no trouble getting to the centre quickly if you do stay at the other two. All the apartments look very comfortable and are very reasonably priced.
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Could you post the link to those apartments, please.
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Just go to vacationinparis.com and then to the bottom of the page, click on %26quot;site%26quot; and then all the numbered apartments come up. We are staying in #55 in a few weeks, so I%26#39;ll let you know on that one (we are renting from the owner, not VIP, though.)
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Here are the links to the apartments I%26#39;m interested in:
http://www.vacationinparis.com/apts/id_55.htm
http://www.vacationinparis.com/apts/id_85.htm
www.vacationinparis.com/apts/id_163.htm
By the way, is renting directly from the owner a lot cheaper than renting with VIP?
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Guess I should answer that, no, I just happened to find the owner%26#39;s Web site: parisholidayapts.com and booked there before I realized he has a few apartments listed on VIP as well. Probably other various apt. owners list with VIP, too. The owner%26#39;s prices are in Euros, VIP is dollars, so I guess it depends. Some things differ like deposits (owner has none) and payment procedures, but it%26#39;s pretty much the same.
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Hello Ragdoll!!
We have reserved VIP #163 for our trip in August so I can%26#39;t comment directly on it. However, I did receive an email from Marmalade who rented it this April. She recently replied to my email to her re: the apartment. She said the location is quiet and about 75 meters from the Port Royal RER station. She said that the apartment was spacious with good beds and very clean. The kitchen is also large by Paris standards.
I will post a report when we return in mid August. Don%26#39;t know if you%26#39;ll be booking before then so that part of the report may not be helpful but since my husband and I are also traveling with our two boys some of my report may be helpful!!
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I recently used VIP and definitely would NOT recommend them. Our reason for staying in an apartment this time was primarily to use the cooking facilities and TV in the evenings as we had a sometimes sleepy teenager.
Neither the stove nor the TV worked.
There were no directions for either. I might add that there were directions for a GAS stove but this was an unusual electric one .
We were unable to contact the on site manager despite many phone calls and even leaving a note . The owner never returned our phone calls.
In desperation, we finally contacted VIP who were able to get in touch with the on-site manager . This was on day 6 of a 9 day rental.
He explained the use of the stove ( activated ONLY by placing a heavy pot of water on it NOT by pressing a button or dial ..to start the heating process in case you rent # 134 ).
In our fairly frequent European travels we have never encountered such a system.
The TV was so messed up that it took him til the night of day 7 to access one English channel
VIP refunded a token 100 dollars for this dreadful inconvenience.
We have been awaiting a more equitable reimbursement since our return the 31st of March when they assured us that they would check further with the owner.
My suggestion for using any rental agency is to make an international call to insure that you WILL in fact have an on site manager as the agency advertises and that they would at least be available should you encounter any problems at all.
Unfortunately ours was an absentee manager.
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^^ What a strange way to operate the stove. Very bizarre.
I rented #133 last year, which is in the same building. While I had none of the problems mentioned above, I agree with the remarks about the absentee manager - several phone calls made and none returned.
In my case it was around how to operate the washer/dryer and TV, but with a bit of fiddling about I managed to figure it out.
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As for the stove, it isn%26#39;t strange. It is an induction cooktop - which is very popular in Europe and is also becoming more popular here in the U.S. It is more energy efficient and safer than electric or gas.
It works via magnetics - so the cooktop doesn%26#39;t heat up - only the pan does.
I%26#39;ve cooked on them many times and actually prefer them - better heat control, etc.
So, for those traveling to Europe put your pot on the stove first and you shouldn%26#39;t have any problems!
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