Dog Jaunt

Photo by boltron-

We’ve decided to spend a couple of weeks in Paris this fall, and we’re bringing Chloe with us. I’ll be writing a series of posts about our trip; this one focuses on finding a dog-friendly apartment to rent. (We’ve enjoyed the hotels we’ve stayed in in Paris, but for a longer trip — anything, really, over just a few days — we recommend renting an apartment. It’s cheaper and way more fun.)

Given how open Parisians are to seeing dogs in restaurants and shops, I thought finding a dog-friendly apartment would be a piece of gâteau. In fact, it takes a little effort, even if you don’t (as we did) create trouble for yourself by insisting on staying on a favorite street in a favorite neighborhood.

We began by contacting the rental agencies we’ve rented from (or nearly rented from) in the past. If you’re starting from scratch, you’ll likely do a Google search for Paris rental apartments and end up with a list that includes the companies we’ve worked with, and a few more. Here are the pet policies for sixteen of Google’s favorite agencies (in alphabetical order). I’ll indicate which ones I’ve worked with, but you should research travelers’ reviews before you commit to any agency.

One suggestion: I recommend getting an apartment that is on the third floor (or second floor, if you’re British) or higher. Many apartments don’t have air-conditioning, and you may want to keep the windows open while you sleep. My sister-in-law lost a purse to a burglar who shinnied up to the open windows of our second-floor apartment during the night; when we reported the loss to the rental agency and the police, we learned that it was not an uncommon occurrence.

A La Carte Paris (www.alacarte-paris-apartments.com) — No dogs allowed. We liked this agency, but we won’t be renting from them this time.

At Home in France (www.athomeinfrance.com) — No dogs allowed. This company has a great e-mail newsletter that you should sign up for, but we won’t be renting from them this time.

Bienvenue à Paris (www.bienvenueaparis.com) — No dogs allowed

Casamundo (www.casamundo.co.uk) — British agency with worldwide rental properties. Select “France,” then “Paris/Île-de-France,” then “Paris,” and click on “Pet” under “Extras.” You’ll get a list of 60 properties.

Chez Vous (www.chezvous.com) — Apartments available if your dog is small. A dog-less (but otherwise intelligent and discriminating) friend uses Chez Vous for her Paris visits, and thinks well of the company.

HomeAway and VRBO (www.homeaway.com and www.vrbo.com) — A related pair of U.S. agencies with worldwide properties. It’s fairly easy to find dog-friendly properties on both sites. VRBO currently lists 181 Paris properties where pets are “considered.”

Parisaddress (www.parisaddress.com) — A customer service representative told me that about half of their apartments are pet-friendly. He recommended that I give him a list of apartments I was interested in, and he would check with the owners.

Paris Attitude (www.parisattitude.com) — Some of the owners do allow pets. The customer service representative I corresponded with encouraged me to give her my preferred dates, budget and location, and she would help me find a pet-friendly apartment that fit my needs.

Paris Bestlodge (www.parisbestlodge.com) — No pets allowed

Paris for Rent and France for Rent (www.parisforrent.com and www.franceforrent.com) — A related pair of sites. Pets are officially not allowed, but because we had rented from them before, and because one of their owners has a dog and is willing (sometimes) to allow a dog in the off season, we were able to get permission for Chloe to come with us. Call, and expect to be turned down, but you may be happily surprised.

Parisian Home (www.parisianhome.com) — This company’s pet policy is that “pets are not allowed in any apartment, unless prior authorization has been obtained,” which suggests to me that it is possible to obtain prior authorization in at least some cases.

Paris Net (www.parisnet.com) — This seems to me not so much an agency as a kind of Craigslist for French apartment owners. You’ll need to raise the topic directly with the owners of the apartments you’re interested in.

Paristay.com (www.paristay.com) — Some properties have a dog symbol that has not been barred through, indicating that dogs are acceptable, but there is no obvious way to search for just dog-friendly properties. The company also does not encourage information-gathering calls or e-mails (they want to hear from you only after you have filled in a request form). Apparently, you’ll have to scroll through all of the choices in your desired location, and see which ones have the pets-OK symbol.

Rentapart.com (www.rentapart.com) — This company’s pet policy is as follows: “Pets are allowed but only with a prior written permission of us. You may be asked for additional deep cleaning service and security deposit.”

Have I missed your favorite agency? Let me know, and I’ll add it to the list. And stay tuned for the next installment of Chloe Goes to Paris!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 12th, 2010 at 10:05 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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