I’m looking at options for a trip to Paris and I had some questions:
what’s the difference between a twin and a double room?
it was my understanding from reading prior discussions that shared bathrooms may be common in European hotels. But when I check the hotel websites or Trip Advisor, I don’t see a place that tells you whether the bathrooms are shared or ensuite. Any advice?
Twin are two separate beds, double is a two person bed.
I have never been to a hotel in Europe where the bathrooms were shared.
Thanks!
In France you may have shared bathrooms in the very cheapest hotels, like Formule1. (And even so, some of them have private bathrooms)
I have. Several times. Three of those come easily to my mind: Cheap room in the Quartier Latin with sink and bidet in the room, but shower and toilet bowl shared for all rooms on the floor. B&B type hotel in Alsace with sink in the room, but all other facilities shared. And then the hotel in Norway which had some of the best food I’ve ever eaten, but with small and extremely affordable (by Norwegian standards) rooms with shared bathrooms on each floor.
Such things do exist, but only in the “very affordable” price range. And if you’re lucky, it’s actually a fun experience with lots of charm
I have, both in London and in Paris, but I wouldn’t say it’s the standard level.
It’s generally only small private hotels/guesthouses that have shared bathrooms, or larger (but very cheap) hostel-type establishments.
Likewise, the French squat-style toilets (source of much amusement on school trips in my youth) seem to be an endangered species.
The shared bathroom thing used to be a LOT more common.
Now, you’ve GOT to explain what you meant by that.
This is probably close to zombie awakening, but considering your user name I guess it’s appropriate 
There’s really nothing juicy here. It’s just that the most charming hotel I’ve ever slept in was in a small village in Lorraine, with a big brass bed and a mattress you could drown in, a concierge who insisted we inspected the room before allowing us to rent it, breakfast of café au lait and baguettes in the downstairs cafeteria where the locals were having their first “refreshments” that day while bantering with the girl behind the counter and, yes, a sink in the room and only a shared bathroom. Utterly charming. Highly recommended, but with a certain risk of ending up in a dump if you’re unlucky
It might be worth emphasising that ‘twin’ means two ‘single’ beds, rather than the, what appears to me, purely American practice of having two double beds in one room.
I know it’s very rare in the US, but it’s not unknown. In 1999 I stayed in a hotel in New York that had a shared bathroom. It was dirt cheap, but only about 5 mins from Times Square. I think it had the name of a president, can’t remember which one.
That’d be either the Roosevelt or the Carter, and I’m betting it was the Carter. A dump if there ever was one.
I found it in an old photo, it was actually the Washington Jefferson. Their website now doesn’t mention shared bathrooms and it gets good reviews on tripadvisor, so I think it must have had a bit of a revamp.
Hotel rooms in the centre of Paris tend to be either very small or very expensive or both. There is a lot to be said for paying the extra amount to be in a central location, within walking distance of the famous parks and sights. However, you can save a lot of money by staying further from the centre (for example along metro lines 1 or 4) and still be only 20 minutes from the centre by public transport. As an added bonus, you won’t be paying eye-watering central Paris prices for breakfast.
I just came back from NYC a few weeks ago, and I stayed in a hotel with shared bathrooms. It was actually quite quaint and cute and the bathrooms were spotless. Having spent a great deal of time in hostels, I wasn’t bothered by the sharing thing.
When I was looking online for semi-affordable hotels in NYC I found quite a few with shared bathrooms. I wouldn’t expect that anywhere else in North America though.
When you say “shared” bathrooms, does that mean like it’s at the end of a hall, or there’s like 2 to a bathroom (like independently locking doors or something)? I’ve never heard of shared bathrooms in hotels so I’m not sure on the concept.
The place that I stayed had two bathrooms in a small hall with about 10 hotel rooms. Sort of like a university residence hall.