singapore hotel: Peninsula Paris a game-changer on the luxury hotel scene

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Reducing room numbers from 400 to 200 and spending a record amount on each was just the start. Peninsula is known for its blend of luxury and technology. The Paris property is its best yet in that respect. But what makes a hotel grand is its history, and considering that of the Majestic, the hefty price tag looks (almost) worth it. In 1922, the hotel hosted a legendary dinner party with guests including Marcel Proust, Pablo Picasso and James Joyce. George Gershwin spent three weeks there in 1928 composing An American in Paris. It was also the German military headquarters for occupied France in World War II and where the Paris Peace Accords were signed to end the Vietnam War.

Located in a 1908 building a stone’s throw from the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysees, the hotel will offer rooms starting at just over 1,000 euros (A$1,440) a night and rising to 25,000 euros (A$36,009) for a penthouse suite with its own roof-top garden. Each of the 200 rooms allows guests to make free phone calls anywhere in the world and is fitted with a printer, coffee machine, a nail polish-dryer and a tablet centralising all functions from dimming lights to ordering breakfast. A fleet of BMWs, Mini Coopers, two Rolls-Royces together with 600 staff, including masseuses and cigar connoisseurs, are on hand to cater to every whim of its guests.

The Peninsula will need to spare no effort to stand out against other newcomers such as the Mandarin Oriental, the Shangri-La and the Royal Monceau operated by the Singapore hotel group Raffles which opened their doors in recent years. Once the refurbished Ritz and Crillon hotels re-open next year, Paris will have increased by over 50 per cent its number of five-star beds to over 2000 in little over a decade.

The opening of Peninsula Paris is part of a battle to attract Asia’s new class of super-rich that not only pits the world’s top hotel groups against each other but also cities such as Paris, New York and London. For the Peninsula team, it is a long-term investment, piggybacking on Paris’s efforts to woo the Chinese in particular over the past decade – yet it comes as the luxury industry in France is feeling the pinch from a drop in traffic from Russian, Indonesian and Japanese tourists.

With Reuters