Shangri-La Hotel Paris attracts all ages, including the young upwardly-mobile, and already successful – many Australians of course already know the brand, says Guy Bertaud, GM of the 101-room. This is for travellers who want to stay in a luxury hotel that is also an authentic Parisian palace. It was built in the last decade of the 19th century for Prince Roland Bonaparte, a great-nephew of Napoleon. Current owner Shangri-La Asia worked with architect Richard Martinet, and with Pierre-Yves Rochon for interiors that skilfully include just a few valuable oriental urns in a theatre that is quintessentially of the ornate lacquer and gilding style. The hotel opened in 2010 and achieved the French hotel industry’s coveted ‘palace’ status four years later.

The highly-anticipated InterContinental Lyon – Hotel Dieu will open this summer, following an extensive four-year restoration to one of the city’s most iconic buildings.