Good apartment but poor booking process
Review Submitted: November 14, 2008
Date of Stay: September 2008
We stayed in this apartment for 8 days in Sept 2008. It turned out to be as described, but I was quite put off by the reluctance of the owners to give address details until only three days before arrival (even though we booked and paid a deposit seven months in advance). After having paid the required deposit I tried three times over the coming months to get the address of the property but was fobbed off each time. Concern as to whether we had been the subject of an internet scam quite spoiled the anticipation of a visit to Paris. I can see no reason why the address should be kept a secret from a client who has paid a deposit. I have never experienced this attitude before. We also arranged to pay for a Sat night so that we could go straight into the apartment on our arrival in the early hours of Sun morning. We were not informed until three days prior to our arrival that the owners did not work on weekends and we would need to pick up the key from a safe in a building in the 2nd Arr, and then travel on to the apartment in the 18th Arr. This process did work, but the uncertainty of arriving in Paris not knowing if it would or how we would get from airport to 2nd Arr and then onto the 18th Arr spoilt the pleasure of arriving in Paris. The apartment is as described, but I would have liked English instructions to to the washing machine, which is a top loading front loader with combined drying cycle (a type I have had no experience of before). I would also recommend that anyone taking the apartment do as we did and immediately buy new 100 W globes to shed some light on the apartment (replacing the original dim watt globes on leaving). The cleaning of the apartment before we arrived was adequate, but I would nor be surprised if the drain from the bath completely clogs up in the very near future from hairs. A good point of the apartment is that the kitchen has a reasonable dining table, and the kitchen can be accessed from the bedroom through the bathroom, thus allowing the living room to be used as a pseudo second bedroom (as it was in our case by our daughter). A negative is that the apartment is 10-15 minutes walk from the nearest Metro station, although there is a bus stop 2 minutes walk away that takes you right into the centre, and through the Louvre. The closest supermarket (Franprix) is directly north along Rue Damrement (on the corner of Rue Lamark), and is open on Sun morning (till 12.45) but closed all day Monday.
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Helpful votes: 42/42
