Luxurious hotels like George V, the Ritz or the Bristol represent some of the finest addresses for 5-star accommodation in Paris, however there are not enough luxury hotel rooms to meet demand in the French capital. Paris has only 1,200 luxury hotel rooms compared to New York’s 8,000, or Hong Kong’s 5,000.
However, these numbers will improve soon thanks to four new Asian-owned 5-star hotels. Last October, after spending more than $140 million for a complete overhaul, the Singapore-based Raffles Group reopened Le Royal Monceau, which dates from 1928.
In December 2010, the Hong Kong-based Shangri-La opened its doors as the former residence of Napoleon’s grandnephew. In June, Mandarin Oriental will welcome guests to its 130-room property near the Louvre. In early 2013, the Peninsula Group debuts its first European hotel on the swanky Avenue Kléber. All together, these hotels will boost the number of luxury rooms in the city by 40 percent, according to Time magazine.
The average room rates at five-star properties in Paris are $350 to $700 per night, but rooms at the palaces start at $1,000 all the way up to $31,000. Their iconic status kept their rooms filled through most of the recession, even at those prices.
Meanwhile, France is trying to set a new classification standard for luxury to include the ‘palace’ label, although there is some resistance in the industry to being labeled too luxurious for lucrative business functions.