Sometimes when I travel I want pure luxury and pampering. I want a spa, and a bar, and a concierge and all the trappings of a swanky hotel. Other times, I’d rather live like a local for a few days. I want to imagine what it would be like to wake up in my own apartment, make breakfast with ingredients bought at the local market, and come “home” to my own private place each evening. On a recent trip to Paris, I wanted to live like a Parisian, and I was able to do just that with Paris Perfect.
Paris Perfect rents out three dozen luxury apartments around Paris in a variety of neighborhoods, price ranges, and sizes. What they all have in common: attention to detail, beautiful decor, excellent locations, and the service of the Paris Perfect team, which has been in the business for more than 20 years. From booking to checkout, my experience was—you guessed it—perfect, and gave me the chance to feel like I was living the Parisian life, if only for a few days.
I booked the Bandol apartment, a one-bedroom apartment set in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower—I could actually see a bit of it peeking above the rooftops out of my bedroom window. Decorated in lush teal and grey tones, it had a small bedroom with a bit of storage space, a petite living room, and a cozy dining space. Large windows provided plenty of natural light and a glimpse at the bustling street life below.
There was a fully-equipped kitchen with a large fridge, oven, microwave, coffee maker, dishwasher, and plenty of plates, glasses, pots, pans, and utensils. The small bathroom had a tiled shower, a combo washer-dryer, hair dryer, towels, soaps, lotion, and heated towel rack. It was the perfect size for two people staying for five nights, and had just about everything we could possibly need during our stay.
As with all Paris Perfect apartments, ours also came with plug converters, free wifi, a phone to make free calls to any landline in the world, cable TV, and a welcome basket with a bottle of wine, a massive book of local recommendations ranging from grocery stores and public transport to restaurants and cafes, and a supply of dishwasher and laundry soaps, garbage bags and paper towels.
I’d been in touch with Paris Perfect prior to my trip to inform them of our arrival time. Every renter is personally greeted by a Paris Perfect employee, who hands over the keys and answers any questions about the apartment. When my train from Amsterdam ended up being delayed, and then delayed again, and then delayed again, my greeter was in constant contact to make sure he’d be at the apartment when we arrived.
Once we’d settled in, we never needed to reach the company again, but had we needed to, they are available at any time in an emergency. When it was time to leave, we simply tidied up, took out the trash, left the key on the counter, and let the door lock behind us.
- Get a universal plug adapter
- Get an eSim to be able to use your smartphone abroad.
- Search for Great Tours HERE
- Buy Travel Insurance
- Get a Car Rental
Paris Perfect made everything easy and convenient—almost as convenient as if we’d been staying in a full-service hotel. But, instead, we were able to pretend we were locals, or at least in-the-know visitors staying at a friend’s apartment. We loved being able to cook a few meals in our kitchen, wash our clothes after a week of traveling, and just relax in our private space. It was the perfect way to pretend to be Parisian, just for a little while.
If you go: Paris Perfect offers a range of apartments, which can sleep 2 to 8 people, and cost €175 up to €2195 per night. Paris Perfect typically requests a minimum stay of seven nights but will allow shorter stays of 5 or 6 nights based on availability. Check-in time is 3:30 pm and checkout time is 10 am, however, guests are welcome to store their luggage at the Paris Perfect office before or after.
Don’t recommend this company. They charged my credit card, but had to cancel the booking since the owner wanted 2 of the 7 days booked. I can’t get a refund because their finance director is traveling. A week later and same excuse. Of course I’ll submit this to AMEX, but warning others they are sketchy.
Same comment as above : Guest beware: how Paris Perfect is fleecing customers.
The weeks and months in Covid would have separated the good companies caring about their customers for their long-term business and the rest. Paris Perfect is part of the rest.
We had a confirmed reservation for three weeks in Paris for the amount of €17,183 that included an exorbitant 3 1/4% charge on my credit card.
France decided to close the border for travelers coming from the UK. We could not travel we were forced to cancel. The Airline give us back our money, the car rental company give us back our money, a credit card deposit in a restaurant was also refunded for the full amount. No charge at all and we will rerun the favor to those companies.
This was not the case for Paris Perfect. They brandish their contract and charged us yet another 3 1/4% to obtain a refund plus $350 for “administrative fee which is about what the worst airline would charge you on a bad day.
In total we lost $1,430. But in truth, we were lucky to cancel 61 days before our departure the next day we would have lost half of our money! No understanding, no accommodation in a dire situation just grabbing our money.
For future travelers you may want to know that Europe does not allow additional charges for payment done with credit card. It is not because it is part of the contract that it is legal.
Further when a purchase is canceled the card processing company will refund that fee to the merchant and charging only a small flat fee.
We sent a formal complaint to the financial ombudsman in Paris because the vacation was in Paris and Paris Perfect as a physical location in Paris so they must follow what is being done in Europe and not hide behind the registration of their company in Bermuda – how convenient!
We had a vacation insurance but they didn’t want to refund the exorbitant fee on the credit card (they were as surprised as we were) and there’s a $300 minimum before a claim can be entered.
We learned our lesson the hard way, so we decided as soon as Paris does open to take a suite in a 5 star hotel in the center of Paris for the same budget. You can cancel 24 hours prior – Your bed is made every day…. And who wants to cook in Paris when you are there for a couple of weeks.
Ps – and as soon as it happens your account is deleted on their site so you can’t leave review at all – very sneaky people.