The Peninsula Paris

The first time I stayed at a Peninsula hotel was in 2006 in Hong Kong. Back then I was still writing for a travel magazine that no longer exists. The editor sent me to write a piece about the Kowloon Peninsula Hotel after its renovation. The magazine paid $1,500 USD for the article, and the hotel gave me two nights at the media rate, roughly 40% of the regular price. At the time, I thought that was the highlight of my career.

Looking back now, it seems rather amusing.

The Hong Kong Peninsula opened in 1928; the Paris Peninsula didn't open until 2014. Eighty-six years apart. The Peninsula Hotels group expands very slowly, which makes it something of an anomaly in the hotel industry. Look at Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, Aman—they've been opening properties everywhere over the past twenty years. Peninsula still only has about a dozen properties worldwide. When I was in Paris in December 2014, I made a detour specifically to see the newly opened Paris Peninsula. I didn't stay there—just sat in the lobby for a while and had a cup of coffee. The coffee was 14 euros. I remember clearly because I thought the price was outrageous at the time (looking at it now, it's really nothing).

The Paris Peninsula is located at 19 Avenue Kléber, a five-minute walk from the Arc de Triomphe. The building was originally an apartment building constructed in 1908. After Peninsula acquired it, they spent four years on renovations. I didn't actually stay there until 2019, five years after I first had coffee in that lobby.

Let me explain why it took so long.

The 2019 trip was an exception. I had accepted an invitation to speak at a hotel industry conference. The organizers gave me a budget for three nights and let me choose where to stay. I chose the Paris Peninsula.

(Now that I think about it, I actually regret it a bit, because the speaking fee for that conference was quite low. If I had chosen a cheaper hotel and taken the difference in cash, it might have been a better deal. But at that time, I just wanted to stay at the Peninsula. People are like that sometimes.)

About the Building

The history of 19 Avenue Kléber is more interesting than the Peninsula hotel itself. When it was built in 1908, it was a luxury apartment building. Then in 1936, a hotel group called Majestic bought it and converted it into a hotel. During World War II, when the Germans occupied Paris, the building was requisitioned as the German headquarters in Paris. After the war, the French government took it back, and until 1973, it served as a venue for various government meetings and international negotiations. The Paris Peace Accords of 1973—the ones that ended the Vietnam War—were signed here.

When I stayed there in 2019, a staff member at the front desk mentioned this history to me in passing. I looked it up later and found it was indeed true. The hotel doesn't seem to actively promote this history—I'm guessing because it involves the German occupation period.

When Peninsula opened in 2014, they did very extensive renovations. The original building facade was largely preserved, but the interior was completely redone. I've seen some before-and-after photos of the renovation, and the changes are dramatic. But they kept some original architectural elements, like the wrought-iron railings of the main staircase and some of the plaster moldings on the ceilings.

I have a friend in London who works in architectural conservation. She told me that converting historic European buildings into hotels is a very nuanced art. Change too much and you lose the original character; change too little and you can't meet the functional requirements of a modern hotel. The Paris Peninsula does reasonably well in this regard. Although the interior is completely modern hotel configuration, you can still feel when you walk in that this is a building with history.

The Room

In 2019, I stayed in a room type called Superior Room, about 45 square meters, which is entry-level for the hotel.

Peninsula Hotels has a tradition I quite like: the in-room technology control system. They've been working on this since the nineties. The Hong Kong Peninsula was probably one of the earliest hotels to deploy room automation systems at scale. The Paris property has the 2014 version of the system. Each room has a tablet that controls lighting, curtains, temperature, and the TV, and can also be used to order food and request room service.

This system is not as convenient to use as you might imagine.

I remember the first night I spent about fifteen minutes figuring out how to turn off all the lights. Some lights can only be turned off on the tablet. Some lights have switches by the bed. Some lights can be controlled from both places but they override each other. I later asked the front desk, and they said many guests have this problem. They suggested I just press a "master off" button by the bed. I hadn't noticed that button at all before.

The bathroom is one of the better designs I've encountered in hotels. Double sinks, separate shower and bathtub, and the toilet area has a door you can close. The amenities are Peninsula's own brand—the scent is very subtle, not overpoweringly fragrant like some hotels. There's a small TV screen next to the bathtub. I never used it because I don't really understand why anyone would want to watch TV while taking a bath. (I know some people like this—I'm not criticizing, I just don't understand.)

Dining

The Paris Peninsula has several restaurants. There's a French restaurant on the top floor called L'Oiseau Blanc that has one Michelin star. On the ground floor there's an all-day restaurant and a Chinese restaurant.

I had dinner once at L'Oiseau Blanc, about 200 euros per person, not including wine. The view is indeed very good—you can see the Eiffel Tower. The food I thought was standard one-Michelin-star French fare. Nothing particularly amazing, nothing problematic either.

The Chinese restaurant is called LiLi. I didn't eat a proper meal there, just ordered room service once. I ordered a fried rice and a dim sum platter, totaling over 70 euros. The fried rice was mediocre; the dim sum was okay. I have a principle of trying not to eat Chinese food at hotels in cities where Chinese cuisine isn't the main focus. I made an exception this time because I was too tired that night to go out and didn't feel like eating Western food.

I didn't eat breakfast at the hotel. The Paris Peninsula breakfast is a 48-euro buffet, or you can order à la carte. The days I stayed there, I went out every morning to find a café. Paris has too many good options in this regard—I wasn't willing to spend 48 euros on a hotel buffet.

Some Scattered Observations

Peninsula Hotels' service style is quite different from Four Seasons or Aman. Four Seasons has that warm, personal feeling. Aman is minimalist and serene. Peninsula is more like an old-school formal style. The staff dress very formally, speak very politely, but won't chat with you. I personally prefer this style, but I know some people find it too cold.

There are staff in the elevators. At first I didn't understand what was going on—I thought I had just happened to encounter employees riding the elevator. Later I realized they stand there specifically to press floor buttons for guests. The Hong Kong Peninsula has this tradition too. I don't know how to evaluate this. Every time I get in the elevator, I instinctively go to press the button, then find someone has already pressed it for me, and then I just stand there awkwardly.

On checkout day, while waiting for my car in the lobby, I counted the number of staff. In the lobby area (including reception, concierge, doormen, and managers walking around), there were about eleven or twelve people. At that moment, there were only four or five guests in the lobby. This staffing density is very high compared to hotels I've stayed at.

What I Want to Say

I'm writing this piece because recently several friends have asked me where to stay in Paris, and two of them specifically mentioned the Peninsula.

Let me say a few more words about pricing.

Over the years, I've stayed in hotels ranging from $30 Southeast Asian guesthouses to $3,000 Aman properties. I don't think expensive hotels are necessarily good, and I don't think cheap hotels are necessarily bad. For a hotel at the Paris Peninsula's level, of the money you're paying, roughly one-third is for the location, one-third is for the service, and the remaining third is for the feeling of "I'm staying at the Peninsula."

Whether that last third is worth it depends entirely on the individual.

After my 2019 stay, I wrote a very short note and posted it on my own newsletter. I just dug it up and looked at it. The last sentence I wrote then was: "Next time I come to Paris, I might stay here again, or I might not."

Four years have passed. I went to Paris once each in 2022 and 2023, and neither time did I stay at the Peninsula. Once I stayed at a friend's place, once at a small hotel in the Marais. Not because the Peninsula isn't good—it just happened not to be my choice.

I think that's probably the nature of my relationship with the Paris Peninsula. It's a very good hotel. I don't regret staying there. I don't particularly miss it either. Maybe someday I'll stay there again, maybe I won't.