The ParisSharing Blog

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Joie de vivre in 2012.

For many, times seem to be getting harder, and the New Year carries a full load of uncertainties.

Still, we wish you many rich and rewarding travels in 2012 and remain committed to providing the best value for your stay in Paris, as a couple, a family or a small group.

But that’s only what we sell.

More important is what we share, and what we’d most like to share with you is joie de vivre…a life full of joys, great and small. The sheer beauty of Paris, and the endless sources of pleasure and enrichment that the city offers, will already give you a dose of those joys. Now, just imagine what it will be like to be greeted and hosted by people who share that joie de vivre with you. Imagine staying in homes with a soul where the joy of living is palpable.

In 2012, we’ll be offering you several exclusive Parisian delights, all selected to make your experience of joie de vivre à la parisienne all the more memorable.  Have a glimpse at some of these,  a few of our favourite things, on our Joie de Vivre photo collection.

Stay subscribed to our newsletter to learn about these new delights as they are revealed, and join us on Facebook to give us your suggestions.

Remember, if you live a life that is open to the world, there will always be two places of joy: one that is  your own and one that is called joie de vivre. Thomas Jefferson would certainly have agreed when he wrote : “Everyone has two homelands, their own and La France.”

Join us for joie de vivre this year!

And here are some recently added joie de vivre places to stay from ParisSharing, just waiting for you. Click on photos to see details.

While another global economic crisis is lurking, we at ParisSharing are intent on making travel to the city of lights an affordable proposition in spite of it all. During the second half of August, we are offering our guests the following freebies:

A free night’s stay in a real Parisian self-catering apartment.

This offer is valid for a stay of at least 5 nights. Otherwise, you will receive a 10% discount off the normal price. There are currently numerous choices available and you can see a list of these by making an availability search on www.paris-sharing.com.

Free lunch at a selected ParisSharing eatery

We’ve gone to some length to find great value eateries. So, if you happen to be traveling with kids, or are on a tight budget, you can still enjoy eating out as well as eating in (since your ParisSharing apartment provides you with a splendid kitchen!). You can see our list of eateries by clicking here. The free lunch is valid for a value of 12€. If you don’t think it’s possible, just check our list. In addition, if you find another eatery worth sharing, write up your experience for our website and we’ll reimburse you the 12€.

Free bottle of white wine (Domaine de Tariquet classic)

Did you know that the Uni Blanc grape used by the Domaine de Tariquet, grown in Gascogne, is the same used to produce Cognac? It’s a dry, rather acidic wine, great with seafood. Savor it with a view over the roofs of Paris from your ParisSharing apartment, such as this one.

Free drinks on the beach

The city of Paris, in an effort to better communicate on the excellent quality of the city’s tap water, is serving up syrop-based drinks, where you fill your glass in a nearby water fountain. Passion fruit, apple, and more. Drinking tap water is better for the environment. It reduces the the production and disposal of plastic bottles. The drinks are served on the Paris beach (Paris Plage) at the “Bar à eau” near the Pont Marie metro stop.

Free jazz manouche

Gypsy-style jazz at a trendy café-restaurant near Bastille. The concert is free (and worth the listen).

You just have to buy a drink at the regular price. l’Atelier Charonne 21b rue de Charonne 75011 PARIS 11EME ARRONDISSEMENT

Plan d’accès

Free moonlight cinema

For the 11th consecutive year, Paris’ Image Forum offers Parisians and visitors a taste of great French films under the moonlight and across the city. Watching such a movie while sitting outside in a famous place will give you that uncanny feeling of being both here and there.  Click here for the list of French films an a schedule of showings. Yes, the films are in French!

Free entrance to the Petit Palais and the Musée Carnavalet

As it turns out, these two museums are free for the public, except for special exhibits. But for many it is a well-kept secret that we are sharing with you! For more info on the Petit Palais, which is no less than the fine arts museum of the city of Paris, click here. The Carnavalet Museum in the Marais covers the history of Paris. More information about the museum is also available on Guide2Paris.

To benefit from those freebies offered directly by ParisSharing, you do need to do the following:

1/ register as a member on www.Paris-Sharing.com and agree to receive newsletters

2/ become a Facebook fan

3/ Reserve one of our self-catering apartments for a stay beginning on or after August 12th and by August 31st at the latest.

Even though some of these freebies are obviously available to anyone and not just ParisSharing guests, by wrapping all them into one package we demonstrate that we are dedicated to your total Paris experience.

Maybe you know of other freebies in Paris during the month of August. We’d love to hear about them on our Facebook page.

After boasting a million stays, Airbnb.com recently ran up against a major issue. One of its hosts was robbed and her apartment sacked. We at ParisSharing would like to express our support both to the unfortunate host as well as to the management team and employees of Airbnb. There has been, as can be expected, enormous buzz around this freakish event that has caused unnecessary damage to what we believe is a well-intentioned company. Since the probability of such an event happening seems to be about the same as an airplane crash, we should keep in mind that all positive actions we take in life (meeting people, driving from one place to another, using our credit card, walking down the street….) do involve risks. No risk, no reward!

At the same time, the event has revealed certain security issues that could have been better addressed. This purpose of this blog entry is to explain how ParisSharing has already addressed these issues through its existing policy and practice, as well as some of the improvements we will be making in the future.

Like Airbnb, ParisSharing is founded on the belief that the vast majority of international travelers are well-intentioned and respectful of other people’s homes when they are not acting anonymously. This is why we have gone to great lengths to make ParisSharing a community-based website, meaning that both hosts and guests provide information about themselves as real people. We encourage our hosts not to accept guests who refuse to provide sufficient information about themselves.

The Airbnb robbery was an instance where the host made no identity control whatsoever of the guest (who happened to live in the same area), and there was never any person-to-person meeting between the host or her representative and the guest. The keys were sent through the mail.

This is where ParisSharing takes a distinctively different approach. We maintain that having someone welcome each guest is an extremely important aspect of the accommodation experience. Even though guest satisfaction is our key motivating factor, it just so happens that this is also a practice that both deters and helps to detect crooks and weird people.

At ParisSharing, we don’t send keys though the mail. We meet people, both hosts and guests for that matter. As a matter of fact, we have a clearly set out check-in and check-out process, with standard documents and a standard contract that is always signed in person.

Although we are not liable (like Airbnb) for controlling traveller identity and do not in fact have the authority to do so, we do take steps (unlike Airbnb) to verify identity. After travellers book on ParisSharing, they must provide their home address as it will appear on a contract that they sign upon arrival.

Starting next month, we will also ask for a copy of the guest’s airline or train ticket after booking, and will reserve the right to verify and/or record an image of their passport upon arrival. We will also reserve the right to cancel and reimburse a reservation in the case where a future guest does not provide requested profile and travel information.

The above measures being preventative, we also offer protective measures in case anything unfortunate happens. Unlike Airbnb, we provide an escrow service allowing guests to authorize a security deposit, without having to leave a check or cash. The amount of this deposit represents four times the price per night of the accommodation. Our premium members are also entitled to an additional indemnity up to the same amount, if ever the security deposit as well as homeowner insurance does not cover the cost of damages.

ParisSharing does not deal in the same volume of transactions as Airbnb, but so far we have never encountered a fraud or ill-intentioned guest. The worst we’ve had to deal with is a stained towel. We will continue to adapt our policy and practices to keep it that way.

We’re running a contest on Facebook!  Enter to win a FREE night’s stay at a ParisSharing apartment!

Contest Details
Can you guess which ParisSharing apartment features this lady’s image just around the corner?  If you can provide the name or title of the apartment and are the first to post the correct answer on our Facebook page, you’ll win one FREE night’s stay in the very same apartment! The prize is valid for one free night in August 2011 when you book at least 5 nights in that apartment. If you aren’t coming to Paris in August, you can still participate in the contest and transfer the FREE night to a friend. You will simply need to register as a member on our website and sponsor your friend to register as well.

Go to our Facebook page and start guessing! The first correct answer that’s posted will win the award.  If you need some help, check out this map of all the ParisSharing apartment locations.

ParisSharing appeared today on the BBC travel programme called Fast:Track, commenting on the rise in home swapping. A seven minute story is aimed more at capturing attention and interest than providing information and insight, so we’d like to fill in between the lines. Below are some questions you may be asking yourself if you are considering home exchange for the first time, and wondering which home exchange site to choose.

What happens if my exchange partners cancel their trip?

This is a plausible risk. For professional or personal reasons, a trip that seemed like a great idea six months ago is now fret with difficulties. Or, maybe some other extraordinary opportunity has come up. Regardless of whether you think the reason your exchange partner has given you is valid, you may find yourself in a mess because of it.

The first piece of advice is to buy refundable tickets. Yes, these are more expensive, but provide a form of insurance. If, in spite of your exchange partner’s cancellation, you are intent on making the trip, ParisSharing will assist you in finding alternative accommodations. Instead of a home exchange, you may have to settle for a reasonably priced vacation rental, but that’s still far better than being stuck with nothing!

ParisSharing charges its members a cancellation fee if they cancel without sufficient notice, and reimburses the annual subscription to those members who have been penalized by the cancellation.

How do I protect myself against stalkers?

Stalkers are people attempting to track your activity with the intent of causing harm, for example, learning about when you will be absent from your home in order to organize a burglary.

You are far less likely to run across such people on professional home exchange sites that require payment and profile information, compared to fully anonymous and un-monitored sites such as Craig’s list.

Sites such as ParisSharing, for example, do not reveal full address information until two members have officially concluded an exchange agreement. Physical identities of the host are verified because each host also has a contract with ParisSharing. By host, we mean the exchange party who is physically present in France.

How do I protect myself against scams?

A home exchange scam is probably less likely than a car accident, but we can still advise precautions.

As a general rule, never wire funds to a stranger’s personal account (including Paypal).

On ParisSharing, physical identities of the host are verified because each host also has a separate contract with ParisSharing. By host, we mean the exchange party who is physically present in France.

If you have left your apartment in Paris and show up in New York to discover that the flat you were promised does not exist, you can be rassured that ParisSharing can take immediate legal action in France against the imposters who have taken your apartment. ParisSharing is also able to debit the offending member’s credit card for the amount of the security deposit that it is authorised to hold on your behalf.

What happens if I encounter a problem in the apartment, such as a gas burner malfunctioning or a stopped-up toilet?

This can be rather daunting in a foreign country. Your host should leave you with a list of people to contact in such cases. Ask for it if they have neglected this point. ParisSharing also assists hosts by providing local customer service for such cases.

What are the advantages of home exchange, compared to a hotel?

The obvious advantage is economic. It would cost between 1500-2000€ for a family of four to stay in a three-star Paris hotel for a week, not including the cost of having to eat out since there is no kitchen.

Home exchange is practically free. You should budget for the subscription to the home exchange website (59€ for ParisSharing, around 100€ for the major sites) plus extra costs associated with buying a refundable ticket (just to be on the safe side).

There are other advantages, of course:

-           the chance to live like a local, and possible friendship with your home exchange partner

-           enjoying more space, comfort, and all the benefits that can come with a home

-           having someone take care of your pets or plants while you’re away

-           having someone occupy your home while you’re away (it’s less likely to be broken into)

What are the advantages of a home exchange, compared to a vacation rental ?

Most vacation rentals do not feature people’s real homes (the exception being ParisSharing), so home exchange has the advantage of providing a more authentic cultural immersion, and a real connection with other human beings.

Even though vacation rentals give better value for money than hotels, they obviously cannot be compared to the zero budget of home exchanges.

What are the drawbacks of home exchange?

-           Advanced planning required, and considerable time required to search for the right match

-           No “quality control.” If you’re not happy with a hotel room, you can always complain. With a home exchange, you pretty much have to grin and bear with it. Your standards may not be the same as those of your home exchange partner.

-           Considerable organisation required, to make sure your guest is properly welcomed and assisted if need be during the stay. This should be less of a drawback with service providers such as ParisSharing who do some of this for you.

-           You have to have a home where people would want to come to spend their vacation. Not everybody is so lucky.

Vacation rentals, home exchanges, and B&B are all complementary alternatives to more authentic vacations. ParisSharing is pleased to make all of them available to you.  It’s simple, secure, and social.

Click here to see the BBC fast:track program featuring ParisSharing.

Also see our interview with the founder of ParisSharing and the CEO of HomeAway for contrasting views on the vacation rental market.