Hoteliers aim for high-networth guests in Paris

A stone's throw from the Arc de Triomphe, in a building where George Gershwin composed "An American in Paris" in 1928, the Peninsula opened its doors on Aug 1, becoming the French capital's latest five-star hotel.

Qatar's Katara Hospitality and The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels spent $1 billion on the project, buying the building from the French Foreign Ministry, which had taken it over after World War II, when it had served as the German army headquarters.

The Peninsula's opening coincided with the reopening of another luxury hotel in the city, the Plaza Athenee, which had been closed for several months for refurbishment, increasing super-high-end lodging options for the world's rich. While Paris - one of the world's most-visited cities - has fewer five-star hotels than New York or London, the market's heating up with several new and renovated hotels set to come on stream by 2016.