Any room at the inn?
December 28, 2010 5:03 AM   Subscribe

Last minute accomodation in Paris this NYE?

My girlfriend and I are heading to Paris for a couple of nights this new years eve. We are traveling on the Eurostar from London first thing on the 30th and leaving on the 1st.

Everything I've tried to find online on is booked up (not too surprising, but we're trying not to let that spoil our spontaneous last minute trip) and I'm thinking we might be better off finding something on arrival. My girlfriend would prefer to set off with something in place. Please help us weigh up our options.

We're hoping to get something relatively central (or at least accessible by metro) but appreciate we're not going to have a huge amount of choice at this stage. Cheaper options preferred but we'd probably pay over the odds if we have to.

I'd appreciate any tips for taking advantage of last minute cancellations etc. Any ideas for where to start looking when we get there would also be helpful.
posted by verisimilitude to Travel & Transportation around Paris, France (7 answers total)
 
Have you tried airbnb or couchsurfing?
posted by phoenixy at 5:18 AM on December 28, 2010


I am getting quite a few options on Last Minute when i put in your particulars. I'm not sure of your budget - most of the cheap ones that come up are not really very central, but there does seem to be some stuff available?
posted by SoftRain at 5:27 AM on December 28, 2010


Like most cities, the walk up fees for hotels in Paris are often many times that available in advance.

I've had success with lastminutes 'secret' hotel bookings in Paris - getting rooms for 20% of the price they were advertising in the reception.
posted by Simon_ at 6:09 AM on December 28, 2010


Searching on Tripadvisor for hotels with available rooms gives several results.
posted by lioness at 6:12 AM on December 28, 2010


As SoftRain said, LastMinute.com has plenty of choices, but very few within the city limits for under 100 Euros. So a lot depends on your budget.

Trip Advisor has some reasonable choices, as does Paris35.

If you stay within the city limits, you'll be fine, as Paris is fairly easy to get around by Métro. As an added bonus, the Métro will run all night long on New Year's Eve until noon New Year's Day - for free. But only certain stops will be functional between 2:15 am and 5:30 am. So one strategy might be to have a look at this New Year's Eve subway map, and choose a hotel near one of the working stations.

Have fun!
posted by Paris Elk at 6:25 AM on December 28, 2010


Priceline Name Your Own Price is an absurdly wonderful thing. I routinely save 50% compared to selecting a hotel on any website. You might not save that much because it's a peak period, but you could easily save 25%.

Here's an advanced tip for getting the most out of Priceline. Other advanced tricks include the use of a prepaid card with a low balance. If they give you a message saying the card was rejected, it means your bid was accepted, and you can attempt a lower bid with a working card.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 6:47 AM on December 28, 2010


As price is a factor you might have more luck looking outside of Paris proper, in one of the suburbs. We generally stay in Suresnes Longchamp; about ten minutes by Tram (the T2) to La Défense where you can connect to several Metro lines. Time from there to Boulevard Saint-Michel and The Latin Quarter is perhaps about fifteen minutes. All in all, a rather pleasant ride, and Suresnes Longchamp is very laid back, I lived there for about three months, nice contrast to Paris' hustle.
posted by Mutant at 7:43 AM on December 28, 2010


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