Here's a few ideas....

Stick with searching for a 2 star hotel. You'll get a clean, comfortable room with a private bathroom.

Location: In my opinion, stick to the following arrondisements

(districts) 3rd or 4th....if they say it's in the Marais 5th - also called the Latin Quartier (tons of college students) 6th - also known as the St. Germain area You can tell which arrondisement a place is by the zip code - the last two digits will determine. 75016 is the 16th, 75004 is the 4th,

Call Best Western. They have a US 800 number. They operate some lovely little hotels in Paris. (you'd never know they were Best

Westerns). I've walked by a couple of their places in the 6th and they look good. One of them is Hotel Left Bank Saint-Germain. You can access by going to http://www.bestwestern.fr or http://www.paris-hotels-charm.com

Here are a few others in the 5th & the 6th.....

Grand Hotel des Balcons - http://www.balcons.com Hotel Le Clement - http://www.hotel-clement.fr (great location) Hotel du Lys - don't have website, but been around for ages and very popular with budget travelers. Hotel Bonaparte - no web or email. Fantastic location on rue

Bonaparte. I've walked into lobby, looks good, but never saw rooms. Crystal Hotel - http://www.pariserve.tm.fr/hotel/crystal-hotel/english.htm (3 star, but well priced. Fantastic location right off Blvd. St. Germain in the 6th.)

Candice NYC