Where to Search
To search for accommodations in France, we recommend the Booking.com platform, for two reasons :
- It’s the largest database of accommodations in the country.
- It provides the most complete and user-friendly interface for comparing accommodations.
It is recommended to conduct your accommodation search on a desktop, as the screen size makes it easier to compare between different accommodations.
This tuto is illustrated with the example of Paris, but you can also use it for other areas in France and even other countries. In such cases, be relevant in your use of filters.
Location and Dates
1. Ensure that your currency and country are correctly selected.
2. Check that you are logged in. If you don’t have an account, it’s advisable to create one. This way, you can sometimes access “Genius” discounts.
3. Enter the city, your dates, number of adults, children, and rooms. Then proceed to Search.
Filters
4. [No screenshot]. Once the search is initiated, a long column of filters by category appears on the left. The order of the first three categories is the same, but the order of the subsequent ones can be random. Here, the useful categories are highlighted in red, while the grey ones are rarely useful.
Your Budget (per night) – Set a maximum budget limit.
Popular Filters
Property Type
Property rating – Select at least 2
Bed Preference
Room Facilities – For example : Air conditioning, Accessible by elevator, etc.
Neighborhood – For “arrondissements” and quarters, check the last layer of the Paris Travel Map – access from home page).
Facilities – If needed, for example : Swimming pool, Spa, Fitness center, Parking.
If you want a room larger than standard, select ‘Family rooms’ (and if you want to do so without increasing your price range, lower the “Property rating” filter by one level).
Review Score – This will be done through the “Sort by” option in the next step.
Distance from center of Paris – This is done through the “Neighborhood” category.
Reservation Policy – This will be done at the time of room selection in step 8.3
Meals – You can always opt to pay for breakfast on-site on the day itself, so you don’t have to decide in advance.
Bedrooms and bathrooms – Already included at the time of Step 3.
Room Accessibility – If you need it.
Property Accessibility – If you need it.
Landmarks
Fun Things To Do
Travel Sustainable
Deals
Brands
Sort by and Select a Place
5. Change the “Sort by” option by selecting “Best reviewed & lowest price”.
→ Accommodations with higher review scores appear higher up. Within each 0.5 segment (between 10 and 9.5, between 9.5 and 9, etc.) the ones with lower prices appear higher up.
Overall, don’t rely solely on reviews but also on photos of the room (Step 8.1.a).
This is especially important when the number of reviews is low (or consists only of external reviews), which is more common for apartments.
If the number of results is too large > add filters.
If it’s too low > remove filters.
6. If you want to get an overview of the location of the accommodations based on your filters, you can do so using the map (however, if the number of results is high, not everything will be displayed on the map initially, but as you zoom in).
Once the map is open, click on “Only show available properties” in the top left corner.
Place Overview
7. Map. Similar to Step 6, but only for the selected place.
8. Info & Prices or Availability
Check next screeshot : steps 8.1, 8.2 and 8.3 for Types of Rooms and Prices Overview.
9. Photos of the place. The room is more important than the place, so look at the photos in Step 8.1.a.
Then, if you need to see pictures of the common areas of the place, check the photos here.
10. Facilities. If you need specific items, you can use the search function with the Ctrl+F or Cmd+F keys.
11. House rules. Check the check-in and check-out times.
And if a deposit is required (this can be the case for a place managed by a private host)
12. Guest reviews. You can filter by categories or topics and sort by, then read customer reviews.
Pay close attention to how recent the comment is and in what type of room the person stayed – unless it’s a topic common to the place. Also, consider the statistical proportion : how many reviews in category or topic X out of how many total reviews.
13. Save. If you need to save the selected accommodation (you must have an account).
You can check it later by clicking on your account at the top right of the page, then on the list displayed under “Saved”.
Types of Rooms and Prices Overview
8.1 Type of Room, N° and Type of Bed, Room Size, Main and All Facilities.
Check Steps 8.1.a and 8.1.b for a Selected Room Overview, especially its photos.
8.2 ↓ Other Rooms.
Scroll down in the table to view the other type of rooms available.
8.3 Prices : Number of guests, Breakfast, Refundable or Not.
You can always opt to pay for breakfast on-site on the day itself, so you don’t have to decide in advance.
City tax (“Taxe de séjour” in French) among other taxes are normally included in the prices displayed. You can verify this after step 14.
14. Reservation
Selected Room Photos
8.1.a Room Photos
8.1.b Room Size. If it wasn’t shown in Step 8.1
