Surely part of the charm of France is that it *isn't* the US and that there's always that frisson of excitment as to how good your room is going to be. I'd much rather stay somewhere unique than Hotel Anywhere.

If all you're going to do is stay in your room and watch tv you don't deserve to be in France You are probably one of the people that gives all Americans a bad reputation abroad.

Some of the most charming inns that I've experienced are in France. Many of them are family run and serve food worthy of a Michelin star. Try going out to the countryside and exploring if you can tear yourself away from the tv.

There is no charm when you arrive back in the room late at night after a nice meal to a dumpy bed that sinks to the floor, and then waking up to a handheld shower that soaks the floor because the owner was too cheap to buy a $3 plastic curtain. I'll take the Ritz Carlton any day over something "unique."

As for Accor, yes they are french and bought Motel 6, it is too bad they haven't learned anything about lodging in the process. I don't know if they have permitted the chain to sink to low French standards, but I will staying at one soon so I'll let you know.

As for TV, most people I know like to watch the late news and perhaps early a.m. business or sports news. We don't spend "all day" and "all night" watching TV, but that doesn't mean we don't value the option of relaxing for an hour before bed. Without cable or satellite there is no point in even buying a TV for the guest room.

What makes you think the French have mastered anything aside from losing wars?

Among the things that make me think the French have mastered things aside from losing wars:

coq au vin, cassoulet, foie gras, Roquefort cheese with Perigord walnuts, Pomerol wine...

Renoir, Degas, Monet, Cezanne...

Chartres, St. Denis, Notre Dame, Amiens cathedrals...

Hermes, Dior, Chanel, Vuitton...

Renault, Citroen, ... uh, scratch that category!

In things losing war, they could learn something from us: Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq... We are not winning any lately and the problem is, we start them all.

There is still a question that nags me: if some of you hate France so much, then, what the h**l, why do you keep coming back? I did not know so many belonged to the SM scene...

You're out of date. I recently bought a new Renault Grand Scenic. It's a great car and a darn sight better than any Chrysler or GM car these days.

I agree with magexpect. Love it or leave it. Moi, je prefer France.

Here in britain there are loads of problems with Renaults, and I'm surprised how this isn't the case in France...maybe they send us all the cars that fail QC!
But Peugeots (at least the bigger ones) are very good...

I recommend Etap. It is very like Formule 1, but with a private bathroom. About 25 Euros. Unbeatable at that price. On motorways mainly, sometimes right next to the Formule 1 or the Ibis. So you would need a car for most of them. Much quieter than Formule 1, because guests dont need to walk along the corridor at all hours to get to the bathroom.

I don't know about you, but after my four hour love making sessions in my hotel room, and after the excitement and exhileration has worn off, I'm still noticing the saggy old mattress, small tv, and how small and dumpy the rest of the room is, and how much money was spent for it.

You would think that since the Parisans are so famous for love making, they would have nicer hotel rooms to do it in. If Americans can have things like bigger TVs and newer mattresses without outrageous room rates, the French can do it too. If they wanted.

What are you talking about...we won the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In Iraq, we utterly destroyed what was the 4th largest standing Army in the world in a matter of weeks and accomplished our mission of deposing Saddam Hussein, his government, and his military.

The conflicts and skirmishes in Iraq today are against "Insurgents" sponsored by terrorist entitys outside Iraq, probably with some help from Saddam sympathizers inside Iraq.

These insurgents have no problem killing and murdering hundreds or thousands of innocent Iraqi brothers for doing such harmless things as talking to an American soldier or enlisting to join the local police force, or working to restore electricity and other infrastructure to the country.

In Afghanistan, we destroyed and vanquished the Al Qaeda sponsored Taliban government. Score a victory there.

We have won peanuts. The army in Iraq would not have been able to shoot and kill an elephant in a tunnel...
In Afghanistan, we not controling more than a fifth of the country. The Talibans, albeit without government still rule everywhere else in the country, increased their opium production 5folds.

If you call that winning a war, you are easy to satisfy

Now to a more pleasant subject: After four hours of love, take her by the hand, stroll through the streets, go eat oysters and foie gras, drink some Sauternes or Champagne, take a bottle back with you to your small room and start another round You'll soon forget the small TV...
Next time you plan to get to Paris, let me know. I'll provide you with some hotel addresses where you'll have plasma TV and extremely nice mattresses with real duck feathers duvets, all that for less than your limit of $150.-
As far as the size of the room is concerned, I cannot garantee standard US size, but then again, Paris has been built within the last 1100 centuries... Some of the hotels you may stay in may be two or three centuries old and except for the patrician buildings, the rest was built quite small as France does not have the unlimited acreage that the US have. Be a little tolerant.

You'd think that the opportunity to rip on the French would be satisfying enough for people but I guess not.

and champaaaaaaaaaaaaaagne!

Ever tried finding a good hotel in a small French city like Mulhouse or Hazebrouck? There's one or two hotels in town! I've stayed at the wonderful Hilton CDG, and also at the FT-recommended Albert 1er Montmartre which was a total dump. (hmmmm....the Hilton is owned by an American firm??? But it's a schlep into downtown Paris)

As for making love, I don't think my wife would appreciate that while I'm travelling on business.

My philosophy is sleep cheap and eat well. Like I said, German hotels are a much better value.