At the new Peninsula Paris Hotel, not far from the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, workers are frantically hanging paintings and placing umbrellas on the rooftop terrace in preparation for this Friday's grand opening.
The Peninsula combines two related trends in the Paris luxury hotel landscape, both brought about by the shifting desires of the hotels' wealthy international guests, most recently those from China, who are coming in ever-greater numbers. For many such guests, the history, culture and class of the city's old palaces are no longer enough. They also require bigness, brashness and glitz: spa suites with private saunas and rain showers, trendy nightclubs, private butlers and on-site contemporary art consultants.
As a result, many of the city's old-timers, including the Ritz, the Plaza-Athénée and the Crillon, have closed for extensive makeovers in recent years, while other classics, including the Bristol and the Meurice, have gambled that they can renovate discreetly while keeping their doors open. Meanwhile, ultramodern, Asia-themed hotels with expansive accommodations, including the Shangri-La in the 16th Arrondissement, which opened in 2010, and the Mandarin Oriental on the rue Saint-Honoré luxury boutique strip, which opened in 2011, have become wildly popular.
The Peninsula hopes it can be both a palace with history and a palace for the future. Built in 1908, it was for 29 years the site of the mythical Hotel Majestic, where James Joyce and Marcel Proust had their first and only meeting at a private dinner; Igor Stravinsky and Pablo Picasso also attended as guests. During a visit, George Gershwin composed the entire blues section of "An American in Paris" from his large suite, working with a Steinway and an array of French taxi horns. In 1969, Henry Kissinger opened peace talks with the North Vietnamese in the ballroom, which will become an all-day dining room and lobby. Four years later, he signed the treaty ending the Vietnam War in an oak-paneled, gilt-trimmed room nearby, which will now be the hotel's main bar.
The Hong Kong-based Peninsula Group and the government of Qatar invested about $1 billion to buy the building and restore it to its former grandeur. This is the first Peninsula Hotel in Europe, and if it has a theme, it is that big is better. The indoor heated swimming pool is 65 feet long. The limousine service includes two Rolls-Royces (one a restored 1934 Rolls-Royce Phantom) and 10 BMW limousines. Among the 200 rooms are 34 suites, five of which enjoy 360-degree views of Paris from their private roof gardens. The largest suite is more than 3,400 square feet and goes for $33,500 a night. Cigar smokers can store their collections in personal locked humidors in the cigar lounge. Even the most modest accommodation features a living room, bedroom, dressing room, marble bathroom (with a separate rain shower and deep-soak bathtub), contemporary art, a customized interactive digital bedside and desk tablets preset in one of 11 languages.
It may take some time before the Peninsula establishes its identity as a European hotel. Its signature restaurant is Cantonese, with Chi Keung Tang, a chef who enjoyed one-star Michelin status in Tokyo. Its décor is fusion: modern-day Chinese (lacquer doors, futuristic crystal chandeliers) and turn-of-the-20th-century French. However, "all of the public areas are very French," insists Nicolas Béliard, the hotel's director general. "You are in Paris here. You are definitely in Paris."
But it will have to compete with the Paris of places like the Mandarin Oriental, which offers amenities such as a swimming pool whose water is mixed with ozone, the effect of which has been likened to swimming in Evian. At the Shangri-La, the seventh-floor Shangri-La Suite comes with a 900-square-foot terrace with one of the most spectacular views of Paris (the Eiffel Tower, the Seine, Notre-Dame). It can be connected to an adjoining apartment for a nearly 5,400-square-foot living space. Even at $27,000 a night, it is almost always booked.
Top luxury hotels in Paris today enjoy an occupancy rate of 80 percent, primarily with guests from the United States, Britain, the Middle East, Brazil, Russia and China. Well over 10 percent of the clientele at both the Shangri-La and the Mandarin Oriental are Chinese. Both hotels cater to them by offering Mandarin and Cantonese-speaking staff and a variety of Asian dining options. In respect for Chinese sensibilities, the Mandarin Oriental does not use the number 4 or decorate rooms with white flowers, and serves its Chinese clients water at room temperature, never iced.
"The rate of visitors from mainland China to Paris is increasing 15 percent a year," says Philippe Leboeuf, the general manager of the Mandarin Oriental. "More and more, they are looking for luxury."
More luxury is on the way. The Ritz and the Crillon will reopen next year. After that, LVMH will finish renovations on a luxury hotel in the former La Samaritaine department store on the rue de Rivoli near City Hall. "Each of these hotels has its pluses, each has its own soul," says Didier Le Calvez, president of the hotel owners' trade group UMIH and president of the Bristol Hotel. "There is plenty of demand. Happily for everyone, there is room for all."
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