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.

Oh to be in Paris in springtime… and all I want is to see the Eiffel Tower.