Great New Business Hotels in Paris

A perennial winner in “world’s most-visited city” listings, the French capital is a favorite among business travelers. In 2010, Paris hosted a record 959 conventions, as the number of overnight stays for business rose by 11.2 percent to 16.2 million. And ongoing improvements in the city’s transportation and lodging infrastructure will keep them coming. At Charles de Gaulle Airport, a new connecting building is under construction between Terminals 2A and 2C. When it opens in mid-2012, it will handle up to 10 million passengers a year in 13 passport control stations, 16 security lanes, about 24,800 square feet of retail space and airline lounges. New high-end hotels include the intimate (81-room) Shangri-La Paris, located near the Trocadero; the 138-room Mandarin Oriental opened this summer on Rue Saint-Honoré, with a restaurant directed by Michelin star-winner Thierry Marx; and the W Paris-Opéra, a Starwood property slated to debut in 2012 with 69 rooms and 21 loft-style suites in an 1870s-era building close to the Palais Garnier Opera House. Five-star Le Royal Monceau, now a Raffles hotel, is fresh from a renovation with new interiors by Philippe Starck; 61 suites are designed as private apartments.