French concierges

Any suggestions on how to approach French concerges when attempting to book a hotel. It has been a frustrating experience attempting to book various hotels that people on the sight have recommended. I cannot afford a lot so I like to save some money - i.e. Hotel Tonnetique (?) I try to speak French but they are not friendly/accepting of my attempts.

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I%26#39;m guessing that you mean Hotel Tiquetonne on the street by the same name?

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Yes it is Tiquetonne on 6 rue Tiquetonne.

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How do you want to %26quot;approach%26quot; a concierge other than asking %26quot;do you speak english?%26quot;. And usually it is not the concierge but the receptionnist who makes the reservation. The concierge is usually found in 4 star hotels and makes restaurants reservations, car hire for the clients.

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There is a common misimpression that every hotel desk clerk is a Coincierge. This is wrong. A concierge is a dedicated positon with in some hotels--most usually 4-satr and 4-star deluxe establishemnts. At most hotels, desk/reception staff will usually try to assist guests with routine chores, telephoning for reservations, finding local shops and services, etc. but their primary job is to assist gueats with direct hotel services. The HOTEL TIQUETONNE is a Paris budget 1-star and I would be shocked and amazed id they had a dedicated Concierge on staff.

In any event, as has already been pointed out, the staff that you want to speak or communicate with are the hotel%26#39;s reservations clerks. Rather than trying to conduct business in a language which you evidently are not fluent in, it may be better to simplky ask to speak if there is someone at the hotel who speaks English to make your reservation, or send a fax with your reservation details and requeest a confirmation either by return fax or e-mail.

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When I looked into this hotel in January, I finally learned they do not take reservations more than 30 days in advance. I wasn%26#39;t willing to wait that long to securing reservations, so I dropped it.

I called several times, but never during the weekday business hours. I made a very poor attempt to speak French; he hung up on me each time. What more could he do; I didn%26#39;t speak his language? It was actually a member of TA who lives in Paris who made a call for me. It was through that call I learned about the reservation policy. For what it is worth, I also learned they have a lift. At the time I was looking, another poster said he also had hit a deadend with this hotel. I suppose someone should post a review explaining the basic problem -- sounds like it would save a lot of people time, money and frustration

After the experience I knew I%26#39;d be more comfortable with a hotel where someone spoke enough English to be able to answer some basic questions.

What is your ideal location?

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Thanks WingedVictory for understanding. Yes, I have tried speaking in French and asked if they spoke English. Unfortunately, the hotel is not acessible through e-mail and my written French is comparable to my spoken French so fax was probably out of the question as well. And I guess, I am sorry to have used the word concierge. I just thought it was a universal word that all would understand. I didn%26#39;t realize I would be getting a lecture - I am sorry.

Thanks to all who written but I will have an acquaintance, who speaks French, do the reservation by phone.

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I have sometimes used the fax machine to handle a reservation. That way, I could think over the phrases I wanted to use to make sure I asked for everything. If you don%26#39;t have a fax machine at home or at the office, maybe there is a service you can go to. In the US, there is %26quot;Kinkos%26quot;, a copy/printing service that has faxes you can use and just pay them a small fee ( mine was about 4-5 US dollars).

I posted about Tiquetonne in other threads, pretty sure I posted a fax number.

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I just stayed at Tiquetonne two weeks ago. I had a similar problem when making my reservation - the man who works there after 5 pm does not handle reservations at all, so that might be part of the problem. When I called and spoke with him after business hours, he informed me that I would have to call between 9 and 5 when the woman is there to make reservations. I also thought on some Tripadvisor reviews people said she spoke some English, although I only spoke to her in French.