Paris Hotels: How to reduce your risk of being disappointed

Travel forums are gold mines of information if you care to review the postings of enchanted and disgruntled travelers coming back from abroad. I often peruse these forums to find out about the concerns voiced by fellow travelers headed to the 'City of Lights'. Among the postings which keep coming back, one stands out from the crowd: what does a 3-star rating really mean? Travelers tend to be confused by the many star-rating systems in use. I felt the subject called for an educated explanation. The meaning of stars in the US First of all, let's be clear: there is absolutely no relationship whatsoever between the number of stars commercial travel sites award to hotels, and the hotel rating system in use in France. The core business of commercial travel sites is to sell you hotel rooms, flight tickets, car rentals, and cruise packages. They purport to guide your choice by awarding stars to the products they peddle. When you book a room on such sites, a significant portion of your money goes to the travel operator which presents the hotel - up to 50% on well-known websites. For this…