Dr. HFH

After seeing the list of closings, I agree that the closings are significant. But, as others have said, that's the risk of a non-refundable rezzie. You gave up the right to any type of change or refund in exchange for a lower rate. I was in Bangkok when the central part of the city was "occupied" and shut down a few years ago (2014? 2010? I can't remember exactly.). Safety for tourists was not an issue, as both the military and the protesters understood the huge negative consequences which would hit the economy if tourists were injured or killed. As I walked around both the occupied and "normal" areas, everyone (military and protesters) was friendly, kind and solicitous of my welfare and safety. The military dispatched soldiers to surround my hotel (to keep us safe, not locked in) and stationed a mobile water cannon by the entrance.

The GM told me at the time that while meetings, groups, etc. cancelled, individual reservations were basically unaffected.

Have you checked with the American embassy in Paris? In Bangkok, the U.S. embassy held a security briefing for citizens who were there; you had to show a passport for admission. The meeting was conducted by the Ambassador and the Security Officer (who, at that time, was Randall Bennett, who earlier had been responsible for investigating the murder of Daniel Pearl and bringing the perpetrators to justice). The briefing was extremely professional and informative, providing useful information as well as effective strategies for staying safe in different eventualities.

Yahillwe

Am sorry that your sister got to see such criminality.

I was on Rue St Dominique when lots of "casseurs" passed by right, breaking car windows and store windows, after them came the CRS and cornered them. We, bystanders, watched, then went on our day and had our drinks. I already posted the photos in PR, but will do here as well.







Maybe it is scary to visitors, but we know that no one gets physically hurt.

EuropeanPete

vilntrav

So now a new sad event : the possible terrorist attack in Strasbourg. I remember that after the July 14th 2016 terrorist attack my wife refused categorically to have vacation in France. Fortunately I hadn't booked a non-refundable stay with Marriott.

Thanks anyway to everybody for the good advices. In case there are more problems until our departure I will contact directly the property, to see if they would make a commercial gesture (as I go there at least once a year).

Yahillwe

I don't know where you are, but if you are based in the US, the probability of being shot is much higher in the US than in France or Europe.

MSPeconomist

LondonElite

Mr. Vker

They are using AF Life Jackets? Now we have a real FT connection!

Happy

You guys dont get it.

OP wants a nice vacation - holiday season in Paris, which in the ordinary would be a romantic thing to do with his wife but now his wife has a second thought... and OP wants to know if he could back out of his nonrefundable reservation without too much loss. That to me, should be where the suggestions are focus - like contact the hotel directly, plead with the hotel if they could either let him cancel or let him move the dates to future stays... yada yada.
Yet, the whole thread turns into, like

1) You booked a nonrefundable, so now you have to deal with the bargain you get. We all know that. Should we further run the salt?

2) You Americans have no clue on how things work in Paris. We Parisians just watch the street demonstration, then went about our drinks afterward.

Nobody who lives in Paris that posted here, care about how the OP feels, or even an ordinary tourist would feel when his look forward to nice vacation now turns out to be something that he needs to be vigilant and watchful and the sights, the wonderful Holiday Seasons cheerfulness is replaced by boarded up showcases and canceled opera / ballet performances, as well as attraction closures.
I dont think anyone who would enjoy his vacation or try to salvage it from the bad situation if he can help it - i.e. would prefer to postpone the trip to another time.

OP does not hate people live in Paris nor anything remotely relates to that. He just wanted to know what he should / could do. Yet what he was thrown at, is all the arrogance and push back, just because you live in Paris and think that is no big deal. Why can't you think about how OP has spent time and money to plan their winter vacation and now the vacation would definitely not as nice as it was originally hoped for? No compassion and full of inconsideration are all I can think about those who defend how Paris is far better than US, with less murders and what not.
The part berated Detroit is particularly poor taste - there are people have families in Detroit and they would go back to families for their X'mas family gatherings. Just because Detroit is a poor city, lots of crimes because of that, does not mean it should be berated with such arrogance.

MSPeconomist

rny321

Although I've been in actually dangerous situations that I would never suggest to others and lived to tell about it (too many times as my children would probably add), the OP is in a different situation from what I faced when traveling alone. He is a parent with young children and a wife who is afraid (Perhaps the concern isn't warranted - but how often are the things we fear as dangerous as we perceive?), which not only will but should influence his decision making. Situational awareness is compromised when you are watching your own children. It is also much easier to deal with crowds when one is alone. Although I agree with everyone that Paris is mostly safe, there is the risk that a child gets injured if there is a disturbance that causes a police response. Although I believe the trip would be uneventful, it may not be the experience that he hoped for if his wife is worried about the safety of their children.

Rereading the OP's post, it is clear that he is not unduly emotional or irrational. He hasn't even stated that his family won't still make the trip to Paris. He simply asked for suggestions about approaching a potential cancellation of non-refundable reservations in case it becomes unsafe in his family's opinion to travel. Unfortunately, there is little the OP can do beside ask for some form of accommodation. Hopefully, his family's concerns will dissipate and together they will have the safe and enjoyable trip that they probably expected when planning it.

EuropeanPete

I really don't think that you can have been reading the same posts from myself and others who actually know Paris and doubt that I will find any way not to offend you, but let me try one last time. When anyone is on a holiday, they want to be able to have fun with their family. Often random things will spoil that fun, and if you know that's the case, then of course it makes sense to not go on that holiday. For me, I dislike New Year's Eve, so I will tend to avoid places on the 31st and 1st of December even though there would be no real impact on the things that I would do. What the OP chooses to do with his holiday is his own choice, what he should expect from Flyertalk though is fact-based input to allow him to make his decision.

The strong push-back that you saw here from people who actually live in France was from people invariably not in France who were suggesting based on their consumption of TV news that there was a legitimate threat to the lives of anyone who visited Paris for the holiday season based on one day where tourist sites were closed and a routine weekly ritual of burning cars and smashing windows on one street. These were poorly informed, misleading and at worst untruthful. I can understand why someone from Detroit might get a bit frustrated at the comparisons we've seen here, but as personal safety is always a relative thing I don't think that the point that France remains significantly safer than almost any major US city is an unreasonable one to make - even if a family were to deliberately walk into the area full of protests and to walk right up to the protesters and warm their hands on a burning car.

This does have an impact on how likely hotels or travel insurance are to respond to requests to cancel an unchangeable booking and it is again important that the OP approached these conversations with a fact-based understanding of how he would be perceived. Following the advice of some on here and calling up with "Paris is burning, I want to cancel - also ... about Strasbourg" is likely to go down very, very badly with a Paris hotel Operations Manager, but a simple call with "Because of the uncertainty with the ongoing protests I've had to change my plans and wanted to see if you would be willing to refund my booking" will often work.

Happy, if I may, can I offer one piece of advice I sometimes give people on Internet forums? I always find it better to focus on what people actually write rather than to get caught up in assumptions about the motivations of why you think someone is writing something. The things that you're angry at myself and other Parisians for thinking are not actually what we're thinking.

Yahillwe

Are you kidding me, the French have to have "sufficient" income to own a car, or travel overseas, really..... They are the MOST travelled people I have ever seen. Just check how many travel agencies there are. Every flight that I have taken out of Paris has been FULL of french tourists going places. Every 10 weeks they go on a trip. Toussaint, Sport D'hiver, easter, summer, they are always going some place exotic. And Yes, AF (had to take it going to the south) does have airbags for the flights that I have taken.

Rue St Dominique ends into the Champs De Mars, where the Tour Eiffel is. It is in the 7th, not far from the new russian spy center (as we locals call it) an Ecole Militaire. Not far from Rue Cler. In one of the pictures one can see a restaurant where President Obama had dinner.

nexusCFX

Sounds like the tax bump should be no biggie then.

Yahillwe

The tax bump would hurt the small merchants, like my fisherman and my cheesemonger who have to drive in. I wished that the govt had done small incremental increases instead a big one.

Now, the protesters are just protesting without much objective after President Macron increased the minimum way, retirement benefits etc etc.