stimpy

Which terminal? The old T1 or the cheapo airline T3? I was referring to T2 where most decent airlines arrive. And to keep this on topic, there are some airports where a special meet and greet inside of immigration means a lot. CDG T2 just isn't one of them IMHO.

As for Parisiens hanging out near George V? How long have you lived here? I don't know anyone who goes anywhere near there. That area is filled with hordes of tourists, nasty touristic restaurants, hundreds of tourist shops and a few seriously high priced restaurants. These are things that Parisiens avoid like the plague.

Kagehitokiri

(thousands) gross / EBITDA / net / debt / occupancy / % accommodation vs other

2011 ________ / ______ / $11,872
2010 $137,476 / $42,788 / -$28 / ? / 76.5% / 63.3%
2009 $138,368 / $44,657 / $17,680 / $507,200 / 75% / 63.4%
2008 $157,114 / $56,100 / $20,118 / $503,900 / 81.2% / 62.2%
2007 $140,465 / $48,137 / $9,071 / $532,400 / 83.2% / ?
2006 $115,800 / $37,700 / $4,001 / $368,100 / 83.1% / ?
(net -$28 > $20,118)

stimpy, they mentioned "nightlife" (clubs/etc?)

re meet & greet, at SIN you can buy what LH FCT offers - plane > tarmac > sedan > exclusive terminal
so nothing unusual, but certainly hotels like FS/pen/aman do an extraordinary job when its their own employees meeting you, etc.

FSPP is the way to get full breakfast, including in-room (not just continental)
have FSPP book through FHR and get spa credit in euros, and 4PM checkout.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxur...-george-v.html

luxury

If price was not a consideration, yes, the George V is my all time favourite hotel. As Vuittons has pointed out, the flowers are amazing and the hotel runs ever so smoothly. No hotel is perfect but for a city hotel this is the closest there is -- the hotel, in my experience, makes very very few mistakes. I can phone room service to place a breakfast order and at the same time have housekeeping come pick up an urgent dry cleaning and set the wake up call, all through one person. Roderick and the Concierge team make spectacular restaurant reservations and can get me into almost anywhere I want -- I even by-passed an hour long line up at the Louis Vuitton store thanks to them.

I cannot remember if the internet was wired or wireless but the TVs are now flat panel as on our last stay we were placed in a deluxe room (my sister was quite ill due to food poisoning from a restaurant the Hilton Arc De Triomphe recommended the night before) whilst are Executive Suite was being prepped.

My mom used to "live" in the Peninsula Hong Kong when my Dad used to work in HKG and she loved that hotel very much. However, when I took her to the George V, she loved it even more than the Pen. She said the Pen was great but Le George is better. She couldn't quite place what it was but she loves it there.

BTW, if money is a consideration, I would choose the Grand Inter-Continental in Paris as my second choice. If I could not stay at Le George, the IC it is, for me. The IC, since its renovation, is trying very hard to "up the game" and I think they are doing a good job. As Raffles mentioned, the Opera view Jr. Suites are very lovely and I always enjoy waking up with the sun shining on the gold statuettes of the Opera Garnier. The Crillon is very nice -- the bathrooms are gorgeous (at least in our Jr. Suite which overlooked the Boissy D'Anglas).

Worldwide, if money is a consideration, I would choose the Waldorf Towers in NYC which is not a choice which is very popular on this board. As a regular, I am treated SO well there, it is hard to go elsewhere.

I love the George V enough that I have spent more and more money on each subsequent stay and while expensive I feel I get my money's worth. To put into context, I have troubles (bordering on refusal to) spending GBP 400 in London for a top hotel, which may get me a decent room. I would spend 700-800 EUR in a heartbeat for a room at Le George. It's that good, for me.

xray

Big fan of the FSGV and agree with all your comments except for this point as we have done several meet-and-greets including FSGV at CDG. It was stellar but the number one meet-and-greet service thus far has been St Regis Singapore - they meet you at the jetway, whisk you away to the CIP area, take your passport and do all the immigration necessities while you sit in the leather chaises and munch on appys ! They then show you to the Bentley where your bags are already in the trunk and bring you to the hotel. It was amazing ! Kudos to FT because this is where I found out about it and booked it !

Kagehitokiri

xray, are you talking about jetquay service booked for st regis suite guests? thats what i was talking about earlier, one of the threads > http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...l-service.html ("jetside" includes plane > tarmac > sedan)

if FS GV still uses wayport for internet, thats one (the only?) thing they should just pay to replace with quality infrastructure. they could even charge more, especially if they make it really fast.

xray

whichever 3rd party service provides the service for the St. Regis is excellent. I have not heard of these transfers being readily available for other hotels in SIN but I am sure it could likely be arranged...

xray

yup, that's it....stellar !

Kettering Northants QC

pretty common these days IMO. Is the Wireless free?

I thought this was the norm in decent luxury hotels. The MO in HK got me a copy of the full UK Sunday Times without hesitation

Kagehitokiri

it was a film on DVD, for 7 euros less than what the employee paid for it.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401711/

stimpy

I can think of one very upscale nightclub nearby, on the Champs-Élysées, which I enjoyed a bit. Other than that, there isn't anything that attracts me to that area other than the hotels themselves of course. The rest is just over the top touristy. Once you have been to Paris a few dozen times, or lived there, you learn that the other arrondissements have much more to offer.

Note that in none of my posts here am I advising against the George V. It is a wonderful hotel. But there are other options that may be just as wonderful. I agree with both points in the title of this thread. The George V is truly wonderful and over-hyped. All IMHO of course.

Regarding meet and greet, there are a lot of nice examples world-wide. The IC Bali for instance, which isn't quite in the FS class, offered up until just a month ago the best arrival service of any hotel at DPS. If you like this sort of thing, ask in the appropriate forum and you should find something good most anywhere.

Kagehitokiri

IC bali beat aman/FS? but they stopped offering it?

stimpy

That's one of the things that puts me off on FS and certain other luxury brands. The nickle and diming. For the money we pay we shouldn't have to worry about added charges for things like Internet which some countries in Europe now call a basic human right.

As noted above the Lancaster gets it. Free Internet and no nickle and diming on other small items.

And I especially love the free mini-bar I get at all Intercontinental hotels, thanks to their frequent stay program. It is more about not stressing than it is the actual cost.

stimpy

They had the service for years and yes they beat Aman and all the others high end hotels with this service. But apparently, from some flyertalk threads I have seen in the last few weeks, the government stopped the service from operating airside. Now the IC has to operate groundside like everyone else.

I think the IC Bali may have had some tight government connections, but perhaps those days are done now.

Kagehitokiri

FSPP now offers free internet to exec suites and above.

FS often includes tons of stuff, as listed on /value/ pages.

dont recall offhand if any FS include minibar/etc, but its certainly not uncommon. IC RA may be the largest field there, but its earned status. some FHR/virtuoso have it as amenity.

riversair

ha - well I refused to visit Paris until I could stay in George V. Now that I can afford it, Paris is coming soon (1st visit) and it definitely will be George V...so it better be good.