After four years of refurbishment work costing €430 million (Dh2.12 billion), the Peninsula Paris hotel opened its doors at the weekend, promising prince-like treatment to well-heeled visitors to the French capital. The new hotel located in a 1908 building a stone’s throw from the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysees, will offer rooms starting a just over €1,000 a night and rising to €25,000 for a penthouse suite with its own rooftop garden. Each of its 200 rooms allows guests to make free phone calls anywhere in the world and is fitted with a printer, coffee machine, a nail-dryer and a tablet centralising all functions from dimming the lights to ordering breakfast.
Peninsula Hotels is a powerhouse in Asia, with exclusive properties in Beijing, Shanghai and Singapore and its flagship in Hong Kong. It also has two properties in the United States — in Chicago and Los Angeles. But this is the company’s first foray into Europe.
The property opens while Parisian hotel doyennes the Ritz and the Hotel de Crillon are closed for renovation. It also pips by a whisker the revitalised Hotel Athenee, officially due to open on August 23, (the Athenee also unlocked its doors on August 1 but with a “soft opening”). The Peninsula is pure, grand statement and is likely to be the “It” luxury hotel — at least until the curiosity about the Asian interloper wears off.
The Peninsula Paris inhabits the old Hotel Majestic just off the Champs-Elysees, a Belle Époque stunner that fell into disrepair and, according to the Wall Street Journal, was bought by Qatar-based property group, Barwa Real Estate, for US$550m. It split 80-20 ownership with Hongong and Shanghai Hotels, which operates the Peninsula group. The Journal says $580m was spent on not just restoring former glory, but surpassing it.
Reducing the 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 the Second World War and where the Paris Peace Accords were signed to end the Vietnam War.
And the Peninsula ghas its work cut out to attract today’s wealthy guests. Once the refurbished Ritz and Crillon hotels reopen next year, Paris will have increased by more than 50 per cent its number of five-star beds to over 2000 in little over a decade.
* Agencies
Follow The National's Business section on Twitter
