April in Paris

Hotel Info from Relais du Louvre

As I had told mom a couple of days ago, we received confirmation from Relais du Louvre, but the price quoted in the confirmation email (180 euros/night) was different than the price we were originally quoted (145 euros/night). So, I emailed the hotel directly, and ended up having a very nice exchange with both Marie and Sophie:

Bonjour,

We made two reservations at Hotel Le Relais du Louvre through Pariserve.com (Reservation Code 24755 and 24756). I am confused because the original price quoted was 145 euros/night, but the price indicated in our confirmation email is 180 euros/night. Is the lower rate available forrooms with a double bed and bath/shower? Also - do you offer any discount for longer stays (one reservation is for 9 days, the other is for 11 days)?

Merci beaucoup,
Chris Braunsdorf

One other question - I noticed on the Pariserve.com website that you are offering 12% off published rates for reservations made on the internet (as we did). So, would this mean that the 145 euro/night rate would be 127.60 and the 180 euro/night rate would be 158.40?

Merci beaucoup,
Chris Braunsdorf

Dear Madam, dear Sir,

The rooms booked are quoted 180 Euros, it is superior double rooms because the hotel is fully booked and when the agency called yesterday it was our 2 last rooms. For a long stay, we recommend the rooms at 180 Euros, because at 145 Euros they are much smaller, so, we think it is anyway better to have the larger rooms.

If you want, we can waitlist you for the smaller rooms in case of cancellation, and we will change your booking.

Regarding the 12% discount it is a mistake at it is high season, and for information you have breakfast offered during your stay, but if you prefer, we can propose you a discount of 12% because it is still on the page of the agency “Pariserve”, but in this case the breakfast will be extras. (10 Euros per person).

Please advise.

Best regards.
Marie
HOTEL LE RELAIS DU LOUVRE
19 rue des Prètres-Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois
75001 PARIS
tel : 01 40 41 96 42
fax: 01 40 41 96 44
email : contact@relaisdulouvre.com
web : www.relaisdulouvre.com

Thank you for your prompt reply and for explaining the difference between the two prices.

One other question - if we opt for the 12% discount instead of having breakfast included, will we have to decide when we arrive whether we want breakfast added (at 10 euros/day) for our stay? Can we have breakfast some days and not other days or, if we get breakfast, is it added to our bill for the entire stay?

Regards,
Chris Braunsdorf

Dear Madam,

Breakfast is totally optional and works day by day. We only ask you to inform us the night before for the next morning. In France, all hotels propose breakfast because we don’t have the nice breakfast cafes you have in the US. Here, if you don’t take breakfast in the hotel or home, you only have kinds of bars where you get a cup of expresso coffee and a croissant for 5 euros. Or you go in a real pastry shop but it is much more expensive. At the hotel, for 10 euros you get delivered on the room a breakfast with 2croissants, one chocolate croissant, some fresh baguette, one big pot of thea, coffee or hot chocolate, marmelade, butter, honey, cheese and a fresh pressed orange juice…

Best regards

Sophie Aulnette
General Manager
HOTEL LE RELAIS DU LOUVRE

Excellent. Again, thanks so much for your prompt reply.

We would like to keep the two superior double rooms at 180 euros/day minus the 12% discount (158.40 euros/night). We will decide on breakfast day by day and understand that we will be charged 10 euros/day for each day that we have breakfast.

I understand from Marie’s earlier message that the superior rooms are larger than the standard rooms. Are there other differences? I assume that each of our rooms will have one large bed and a shower/bath, correct?

One other question - would it be possible for you to assist us in making some of our restaurant reservations for our stay in Paris? We are traveling with my parents for their 60th birthdays and want to make sure that it is a memorable trip. If we send you the names of some restaurants and some proposed dates, is it possible for you to call?

Merci beaucoup!

Best regards,
Chris

Dear Madam,

The price difference between the 2 kinds of rooms is based only on the size of the rooms. Because of the shape of the building, all superior rooms are on the back side facing our private couryard and all standard rooms are on the street side.

All rooms are equiped with bath AND shower + minibar, safety box, air conditioning, individual heating systems, modem sockets, hair dryer and we also have an internet point a the reception.

We will be very pleased to help you making restaurant’s reservations but do not organize a booking for every day because you might discover places during your trip you want to go to or just feel too tired one day to have a big dinner. Send us the names / phone numers (if you have them) and dates you prefer for each place and we will do it. Also indicate on wich dates you might NOT be free just in case one day is not available and we get an other day proposed by the restaurant.

The location of the hotel is perfect for a nice stay in Paris as most monuments are walking distance and I am really sure that you will enjoy your stay with us!

(you can have more pictures on our website)

Best regards

Sophie Aulnette
General Manager
HOTEL LE RELAIS DU LOUVRE

Thank you so much for all your information. I agree with your advice about not making special dinner plans for every day - part of the fun of a vacation is discovering new places! In the next few days, we will email you a list of some restaurants with proposed dates.

We are very excited about our trip to Paris and looking forward to staying at Relais du Louvre. By the way, what does “Relais” mean in English? My French-English dictionary gives the definition as “relay”, but I don’t quite understand how this relates to hotels (since I have seen other hotels with “Relais” in the name).

Thank you for all your assistance.

Best regards,
Chris Braunsdorf

This is an old french world mainly used 300 years ago…It was describing the places where travellers would stop to get some food for the horses and for themselves. The origine of the word means : “to put together” and on the same time the word “rest” (repos in french.

Regards

Sophie
HOTEL LE RELAIS DU LOUVRE

Thanks for the useful French lesson :)

Regards,
Chris

I am extremely impressed with their English skills (though Sophie apparently thinks I am a woman :) and customer service skills and think that it’s definitely worth spending a little extra to stay someplace where we’ll have that level of service. You can also go here to read a whole bunch of comments from satisfied customers.

Posted by Chris on 3 April 2003