When Le Royal Monceau reopens on Avenue Hoche on 1 October after a multimillion-euro makeover, the iconic Parisian hotel will ooze Frenchness like a soufflé: it is steps away from the Champs-Elysées; its suites overlook rooftops straight out of Amélie; its executive chef is Alain Ducasse protégé Laurent André; its pâtissier is Pierre Hermé – the man behind the city’s white truffle hazelnut macaroon hysteria; its spa will be a cocoon of Clarins; and its salons and 100-seat cinema devoted to l’art de vivre. Almost inevitably, the whole grandiose production has been “conceptualised” by Philippe Starck.

Yet the name sharing top billing above the gilded entrance is not remotely French. The hotel represents the first European unfurling of the Raffles brand, which, although now ultimately owned by investment vehicles based in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the Caymans, is part of Raffles Hotels and Resorts, the ultra high-end Asian hospitality group whose first property was the renovation of the colonial-style 1887 Singapore landmark.

Meanwhile, about 2.5km south-east of Le Royal Monceau, on the no less shabby Rue Saint Honoré, work is well advanced on another palatial hotel, which will be a flagship of another feted Asian brand, Mandarin Oriental, and will open next spring. The company, based in Hong Kong (although its Singapore- listed parent, Jardine Matheson Holdings, is incorporated in Bermuda), is also spending millions to showcase French luxury, and has drafted in several big- name French designers, including one to oversee its own blockbuster spa.

Singapore’s flourishing Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts has also chosen Paris to make its European debut – in an 1896 building next to the Trocadéro, with views of the Eiffel Tower and boasting French and Cantonese restaurants and designer Pierre-Yves Rochon’s “Empire-style” rooms. And from a dusty site near the Arc de Triomphe, Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels is claiming that its upcoming offering, The Peninsula Paris, will “bring a new level of distinction to the luxury hotel scene”.

However, while hoping to outdazzle each other in the City of Light, these Asian hospitality giants’ Parisian forays are part of bigger strategies. Raffles, which opened a beachhead in Dubai in 2007, is also targeting London, New York, Hong Kong and Shanghai but first will come Doha, Qatar, and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Mandarin Oriental, which owns or manages five hotels in Europe and seven in North America, has even itchier feet: Marrakech is due to open next month; Moscow, Milan, Marbella, Doha and Abu Dhabi are in the pipeline; under review are Beirut, Cape Town and more European locations. Meanwhile, Shangri-La has 40 projects in development, taking in Austria, India, Russia, Qatar, the Seychelles and Turkey; its second European hotel will dock at London Bridge by 2012.

These are not the only venerable Asian brands on a spree. Singapore and Shanghai-based GHM has just announced new projects for Seoul, Morocco, Jordan, Egypt, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Oman and Mexico; Langham Hotels International, owned by Hong Kong-listed Great Eagle Holdings, has plans for 24 new hotels within three years, mostly in China but also in the Middle East; and in July, Steven Pan, chairman of Taipei-listed Formosa International Hotel Group, proclaimed he was “committed to global expansion” after his company paid $50m (€38m) for faded upmarket business hotel chain Regent from Carlson Hospitality Group and Rezidor Hotel Group. Pan hopes to raise between €225m and €380m from private investors to open new hotels in Hong Kong, New York and London, in addition to the 10 ventures it already has in the pipeline.

While analysts highlight the strength of various Asian currencies against the euro and dollar as a major reason why Asian hotel brands are currently expanding so aggressively outside their traditional comfort zone, the deluxe brands themselves insist they are merely responding to pent-up demand for the high levels of service and comfort associated with Asia’s hotel culture.

Andrew Hirst, who is responsible for Mandarin Oriental’s portfolio in Asia, says: “I dare say recent currency changes have been attractive to some property developers and hoteliers but our pipeline of development is at too advanced a stage to be affected by the recent weakening of the euro.

"Our heartlands are in Asia but we’ve always had the desire to grow our brand internationally. In 2003, our primary focus was in the US, our largest feeder market, and the second step was Europe and the Middle East. Playing the Asian card will certainly help outside Asia; our spas are key. In Paris, for example, we expect that 60%–80% of spa treatment users will be coming just for the spa treatments.”

John Johnston, president of Raffles Hotels & Resorts, also believe Asian brands are filling a gap in the market: “In major cities there are usually four to six major brands and each develop a style and a niche. Our Asian culture means our service will be the big differentiator in every city we go into. The opening of the Paris hotel is a really important event in our company’s history: we will attract business and travel guests and the hotel will increase our brand awareness in Europe and everywhere else.

Another company recognising the European opportunities is Hong Kong’s Harilela Group, which has just struck a joint venture with New York boutique chain Thompson Hotels. The Belgraves, which opens next summer in the husk of the Sheraton Belgravia, in one of London’s priciest corners, marks a long-planned international push by Thompson, which has seven hotels in North America, and an even longer-planned move by Harilela, which has hotels in Singapore, Hong Kong and is eyeing India. Chief executive Aron Harilela says: “For me there was a big gap for a cool, bohemian hotel, with the Thompson vibe and the sort of service you get in Asia. But we had to wait a long time for the right property to come up.”

Luckily, Harilela may not have to wait so long to find his next property. The current availability of discounted real estate in much of Europe and the Middle East is certainly helping Asian hoteliers keen to expand into those regions, a factor not lost on Formosa’s Pan. Although looking for grander locales, Pan also favours acquiring existing hotels in Europe and the US, telling the Financial Times in July: “Because of the financial crisis [the property market in the West] doesn’t justify development.”

Loh Lik Peng, another iconoclastic hotelier who, in 2006, turned an abandoned building in the red-light district of Singapore’s Chinatown into the city’ first boutique hotel, the New Majestic, and who has just opened The Waterhouse boutique hotel in the generally out-of- bounds Shiliupu Dock area, has also recently turned his attention west – paying £20m for a neglected former town hall in Bethnal Green, London. Flanked by housing estates and fast food joints, Loh has turned it into the bright and airy Town Hall Hotel & Apartments, where its top- price suite costs around £2,500 per night and its Viajante restaurant offers £85-per- head tasting menus.

“Finding properties to buy outright is hard but you can have more fun by not looking in obvious locations. There are adventurous, cool people who don’t have to be next to Harrods,” says Loh, who is also eyeing similar enterprises in Paris, Prague and Berlin, and, even New York. “As well as a business, a hotel is also a property – if you buy in an emerging area you expect to make money back in five years, except in China, where you can’t really own the asset anyway,” adds Loh.

Raffles’ Johnston also acknowledges the importance of emerging markets and expanding early into them, but knows that having the appropriate backing can be invaluable. Raffles parent company, FRHI, recently sold a 40% majority stake to Qatari Diar, an arm of state-controlled Qatar Investment Authority, for $467m (€350m), a move that has certainly influenced the hotel group’s expansion plans. “Clearly, we’re now owned by two major Middle-East entities; however, Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh are going to be key cities for high-level finance oil industries and key regional centres for conferences and so it is probably right for major brands to be opening there,” says Johnston. “Our owners enhance our abilities to get involved with major transactions; they get behind good cities. Hotels are long-term investments. We’re in the luxury market, catering for the upper echelon – when we go into cities it’s for the long haul.”

There is, however, another significant reason why large Asian chains are taking the long view and doing whatever they can to plant flags in Europe and the Middle East: the rising number of wealthy Asian tourists, particularly from China where the yuan has strengthened 20% against the euro in the past six months. In 2009, international Chinese travellers were up 21% on 2008, surpassing the French and ranked only behind the Germans at number one, the Americans at two, and the Brits at three, according to the UN World Tourism Organisation – the $43.7bn (€33bn) spent in 2009 could double within a few years.

“Clearly, the outbound travel from China is growing exponentially, and this will continue for decades,” says Johnston. ”As the Chinese middle class emerges it will be a huge source of business and leisure travel. People will want to travel, initially in Asia, then North America and Europe. Many may prefer Asian brands just as the first American and European travellers looked for familiar names on their first trip to China.”

Mandarin Oriental’s Andrew Hirst echoes this: “There is a long tradition of going to hotels for dinner in Asia. We have a big following of Chinese guests and we have invested in technology to capitalise on this – if you stay with us in Hong Kong, we will know your preferences in all our hotels by the year-end.”

But with so many Asian hotels entering the market there are challenges facing hoteliers, not in the least in keeping the standards high enough to justify far higher prices than in Asia, where staff wages and training costs are lower. Johnston talks of “bringing different efficiencies” to the table while Hirst concedes that no matter how deep the pockets of Mandarin Orientals’ investors, “there are not that many cities that can sustain our end of the luxury spectrum.” The cheapest rooms in Paris’s top hotels are around €850 a night; in Hong Kong they are around half this amount.

Christoph Mares, Mandarin Oriental’s operations director for Europe, Middle East and Africa, believes innovation is the key for brands to really stand out, not just from other Asian hotels but established local ones. With this in mind, Mandarin Oriental is poised to open a restaurant co-venture in London with high-profile eccentric chef Heston Blumenthal; it is opening a “freshen-up spa” in the main souk in Marrakech and possibly a VIP lounge at Marrakech airport, when its new hotel opens in the city; and it is developing residences at certain properties, where apartment-dwellers can avail themselves of hotel laundry and room service. There are also opportunities to open airport lounges in the Gulf and possibly more standalone food and drink outlets like the one in a Bangkok mall. “There are lots of opportunities to enhance our services while reinforcing the brand,” says Mares.

However, can you overdo the whole Asian lifestyle approach? Loh thinks so. “Asian companies are rightly renowned for good service. Raffles, Shangri-la, Mandarin Oriental – these guys have decades of experience managing other people’s hotels, decades of reputation- building. But one trait in Asian hotels is that they do take themselves very seriously. Sometimes you need a sense of fun.” There is another pitfall, he notes: “After a while, they all start to become interchangeable; in 10 years they could be homogenised all over the world, just like Hilton.”

DESIGNS ON ASIA

It may have checked in late but Swire Hotels' slow and steady business approach looks to be paying off.

Reports Lucy Fitzgeorge-Parker

Some might call it luck; Brian Williams calls it serendipity. In 2005, the veteran hotelier came up with the idea of starting a chain of boutique properties in southern Britain. A long-time Hong Kong resident, he showed his business plan to his contacts at Swire Properties. “They said, ‘Funnily enough we’re just beginning to talk about whether we should develop our own management team’,” says Williams.

For Swire, it was a natural progression. Parent company Swire Pacific, one of Hong Kong’s oldest trading houses, already had a travel management firm and two airlines, Cathay Pacific and Dragonair, among its diverse business interests, while the group’s property arm owned hefty stakes in the hotels in its Pacific Place and Citygate developments in Hong Kong, as well as on Brickell Key island in Miami.

Indeed, the only surprising thing about the creation of Swire Hotels is that it took so long, particularly given the success of rival developer Hong Kong Land, which started the Mandarin Oriental chain – where Williams spent the majority of his 25-year career in hospitality – back in 1974. But that, according to Williams, is typical of Swire. “They take a long time to do things and they do them well,” he says.

That has certainly been true so far of the hotel venture. Swire’s primary motive in establishing the division was to “add shine” to its mixed-use developments in Hong Kong and China, and Williams has amply fulfilled his brief. The first property, The Opposite House, opened in Swire’s Sanlitun Village in Beijing in time for the 2008 Olympics to rave reviews and its sister property,The Upper House, caused similar excitement when it launched last year at the top of a skyscraper in Hong Kong’s Central district as part of Swire’s HK$1.5bn (€150m) revamp of its Pacific Place complex.

“I thought that if you took the backbone – the service – of a five-star and married it with the aspects of a contemporary, design-driven hotel then you’d have a great format. That’s really what the Houses have done,” says Williams. However, Swire is not only focusing on ultra-luxury. January saw the launch of its second Hong Kong property, East, designed for corporate visitors to its commercial development at Tai Koo Shing. The 345-room hotel is a four-star plus but still features what Williams calls the group’s DNA: restaurants and bars that attract a local clientele and create a buzz; young, intelligent resourceful staff; cutting-edge technology, including paperless check-in and room service via iTouch; and well-curated displays of contemporary art.

It also reflects Williams’ refusal, unusual for a business-oriented hotel, to embrace the lucrative meetings and events market: “It ruins your day when you arrive in the lobby and realise there’s a convention of 500 motor manufacturers, and you go to the restaurant for breakfast and everybody’s wearing the same cap. If we’re going to be a hotel for individuals, then I’m going to try to keep it for individuals.”

Williams admits that he has had some complaints about the lack of meeting space in East Hong Kong and says the next East, due to open in early 2012 in Beijing’s Chaoyang district, will feature small meeting rooms aimed at the learning and development market; however, he insists that any forthcoming House hotels will remain meetings-free.

In Asia at least, Swire has no plans to open hotels outside its own developments so expansion will inevitably be slow. Shanghai is likely to be after Beijing, but as it’s only at a planning stage, decisions on brand or size are a way off.

Williams knows gradual development is a luxury: “When you are an operator, by definition you want to grow quite rapidly to extend your revenues by operating more hotels. Our model is to maximise the value of our real estate. There’s no one saying you need X hotels with Y keys in Z cities within Y years – it’s build it, get a good ROI and take it from there.”

Fans of Swire, however, need not despair – the first of Williams’ UK boutique hotels will open in Cheltenham in November, with properties in Bristol, Exeter and Brighton following in the next three years. All will be renovated period buildings, and will have the same emphasis on design and technology as the Asian properties – a combination, says Williams, that should provide a welcome change for travellers in the UK provinces, whose usual options are pricey country houses, dreary mid-range function hotels and soulless budget blocks. Williams says there won’t be a chintz sofa or Laura Ashley curtain in sight – British touches will be restricted to fireplaces, gardens and breakfasts.

The locations have raised a few eyebrows – hotel operators from outside the UK usually target London first, and Cheltenham’s Regency villas are a far cry from Hong Kong’s glittering towers. Williams admits that London would have been a more natural choice but say the barriers to entry are high and the market crowded. “If I want to buy a hotel in London I’ve got to be looking at a minimum of £1m, whereas I can buy bits of real estate that need redevelopment in the south-west and the price of entry is fairly reasonable.”

The combination of relatively affordable property and a shortage of decent hotel stock means that, if the early openings live up to expectations, Swire could expand more rapidly in the UK. “This is a different model [from Asia],” says Williams. “As and when we prove our point, we’ll scale up.”

So far, the prospects look good – with the Asian hotels showing healthy returns, Williams has already proved that he can go against the received industry wisdom. “There was a suspicion that you can’t make money with smaller hotels but if you have the right team, the right market, the right product in the right place at the right time, there can be a significant return on investment.”

SLEEPING BEAUTIES

With Asia-Pacific’s hotels seeing occupancy levels rise, LF-P reviews the latest developments

When the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong reopens in December, it is sure to be the most talked- about hotel in the territory. Even in a city groaning with luxury digs, the prospect of staying at the very top of the 490m International Commerce Centre in Kowloon – not to mention the promised infinity pool and al fresco bar on the 118th floor – was enough to create a buzz six months ahead of the launch party.

The fireworks will come at the end of an amazing year for the hotel industry in Asia- Pacific. After a dismal 2009, business has bounced back – in May, occupancy across the region was up 15.3% year-on-year while revenue per available room (RevPAR) increased by 25.2% to $79.24 (€60), according to data compiled by STR Global.

Unsurprisingly, a resurgent China led the way, with a 49.5% jump in RevPAR, as travellers finally took up the slack in Beijing's hotel stock and Shanghai reaped the rewards of hosting the World Expo. But RevPAR in both Kuala Lumpur and Singapore also rose by more than 40%, while Osaka outperformed the Japanese market with an occupancy rise of 27.8%.

Even more impressive is the fact that these numbers are being achieved despite thousands of new rooms coming on line. Many of these are in landmark properties, including the Mandarin Oriental Macau, a second Ritz-Carlton in Shanghai, a Kempinski in Yinchuan – the Chinese city’s first international five-star hotel – Four Seasons properties in Guangzhou and Hangzhou, a Grand Hyatt in Shenzhen, a pair of InterContinentals in Shanghai and Nanjing, the Fairmont Beijing, a Raffl es in Tianjin, Swissotel's Indian debut in Kolkata, and for Japan, the Westin Sendai, the St Regis Osaka, and the region's largest Hilton hotel, the Hilton Fukuoka Sea Hawk.

But it's not all about five-star palaces – Lodging Econometrics forecasts that 421 hotels will open in China before the year- end, adding more than 93,000 rooms, while India will gain a record 78 hotels and 13,709 rooms, more than double the 2009 total.

Although many hotel groups put their development pipelines on hold during the financial crisis, the return of growth in China in particular has prompted a fresh wave of announcements. InterContinental Hotels Group, the largest foreign operator in China, recently unveiled plans to double its presence in the country to 250 properties within five years; Sofitel plans to open its fourth hotel in Shanghai in 2011; while Hilton is aiming to open 79 hotels in China and more than 60 in India by 2015. Starwood also has big regional ambitions, with 140 properties in the pipeline; Four Seasons has nine properties under development in China; while Hyatt intends to build on its strength in India with openings in 15 new cities.

This expansion is not just catering to the business traveller; leisure visitors are also growing in number. Brett Butcher, CEO of Hong Kong’s Langham Hotels International, says that wealthier people from northern China will increasingly want to take holidays in warmer climates, which will prove a boon to hotels in Sanya on China’s Hainan Island and destinations in South-East Asia. However, he says that leisure guests are more demanding, wanting the lifestyle product: “The business traveller just wants a hot shower, a cold beer and a place to do business. Corporates who used to pay the highest rates now, in fact, pay the lowest.”

The increased willingness of hoteliers to cater to this demand by launching their latest brands in a region that has traditionally been seen as conservative when it comes to accommodation shows that the Asian hotel market is not only growing but also maturing. Millennium & Copthorne opened its first Studio M property in Singapore this summer, and other groups with plans to bring their 'lifestyle' offerings to Asia include Dubai’s Jumeirah Group, whose ‘futuristic’ VENU brand will launch in Shanghai next year, and Hyatt, which will bring its Andaz brand to Delhi in 2014. Meanwhile, IHG aims to introduce its boutique brand, Indigo, to South-East Asia, with a property in Bangkok towards the end of 2012. Local players are also becoming more adventurous: The PuLi Hotel and Spa in Shanghai’s Jing’An district is being heralded as the city’s first designer spa hotel, while Peng Loh’s latest venture, the 19-room Waterhouse boutique hotel, has just opened in the city’s South Bund.

This is all good news for business travellers to the region, who will have more choice than ever. Yet the most welcome announcement this year, certainly for emerging markets specialists, may well have been the relatively modest one by Rezidor that it plans to open a Radisson Blu in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, in early 2011. While it is unlikely to feature skyline dining and infinity pools, it will be a much-needed addition to the dismal hotel stock of a city that is starting to attract international attention for its proximity to some of the world's richest mineral deposits.

EUROPE’S 25 BEST HOTELS FOR BUSINESS

Our annual guide to the best that Europe has to offer the executive traveller

Not very long ago, it was easy to determine what made a good business hotel. Would the chatty receptionist remember to slip that important fax under your door? Could you make a direct-dial, long-distance call from your bedside? And was there anyone on the premises who actually knew how to switch the overhead projector on?

Now, in our wireless, digitised, atomised lives we conduct our business on the move, talking into our pockets, letting our fingers do the scrolling. While we appreciate an ergonomically designed desk and a cheery, prompt wake-up call, the hospitality industry has grasped that the new business amenities, are really the health spas, the billboard-sized flat-screen TVs, the NASA-thwarting entertainment consoles, the in-room massages and everything else that rejuvenates someone who has just endured the increasingly wretched air travel experience.

Nevertheless, no matter how many amenities it offers, or how long its menu of edible spa treatments is, or how many different shaped pillows it can balance on your bed – and just why did this pillow multiplication frenzy start, by the way? – a hotel is only as good as its service. In an era when most business travellers need dongles not directions, and smiles of familiarity not idiotic check-in forms to fill in, service is what fundamentally makes a hotel and what makes guests return.

If our list – compiled by a panel of business and travel writers – has an emphasis on design it is because design is simply service applied to amenities. Having 20 different lamps dotted around your room is all well and good until you find that you can’t turn them all off when you’re lying in your bed.

It goes without saying that we have not included any hotels in our list that charge guests separately for internet access – every establishment ranked on the next few pages offers free Wi-fithroughout. We have also omitted others, including some quite grand ones, for failing to offer complimentary bottled water in their guestrooms or other displays of bad manners. Yes, we are pretty demanding but then so are our readers.

25 Be Manos
Brussels

Brussels is hardly short of quality business hotels and Be Manos does sound suspiciously like a gay club in Ibiza, but we’ve included this 60-room boutique, very close to the Thalys and Eurostar terminal, because it gives the business city a welcome splash of style. Rooms are large, well fitted out and well priced and the hotel offers plenty to enhance your stay: wellness centre, meeting facilities, and restaurants promoting healthy menus. Even the website is well thought- out with links to the Thalys and Eurostar sites. Why don’t more hotels do this? www.bemanos.com

24 Cocoon
Munich

Munich is another city that is hardly lacking in decent digs but Cocoon is a breath of freah air. ‘Check in and chill out’ is the mantra here, and every room, though compact, has a divan-like space for work or napping. Your accountant will love the austerity-respecting prices and you’ll enjoy the friendly service. Maybe it’s about time other cities got to enjoy the concept and the hotel became a fully fledged chain. www.hotel-cocoon.de

23 Radisson Royal Hotel
Moscow

Boutiques haven’t caught on here yet so top-end hotels are still vast five-star affairs, awash with Italian marble and thronged with black Mercedes. The Radisson Royal – a multibillion-ruble renovation of a landmark Stalinist skyscraper – is the newest, biggest and easiest to spot. There are six meeting rooms, a business centre lined with great Russian novels, and hotel-owned river boats for hire, complete with ice-breakers so they can operate all year round. Rooms are fairly standard, but they are within the reach of non-oligarchs, and there are two floors of executive suites with their own reception for those who require extra security. radisson-www.hotels.ru/royal-moscow

22 Dolder Grand
Zurich

Any hotel that has extensive business and seminar facilities and a 4,000m² spa has got be worth a look; this deserves a far more thorough examination. With new wings by Foster + Partners hugging the restored 110-year-old original structure, the Dolder Grand will delight consumers of style porn as much as the austerity- dodging financiers who are likely to confer here. With a gourmet restaurant, six meeting rooms (two libraries, three garden salons and a ballroom), and 173 superb rooms and suites, it was always going to be a pricey option. But then you are paying for a premium experience and a sense of theatricality – in Switzerland, no less. www.thedoldergrand.com

21 Dominican
Brussels

This central hotel, built behind a 19th-century façade, made our list last year and the good feedback has continued over recent months as the demand for good value has. This well-priced, well-run hotel built around a central atrium is everything you need for a business bolthole. Rooms are well designed and modern, bathrooms striking and there is also a sauna and gym. www.dominican.be

20 Radisson Blu Hotel
Milan

The 250-room Radisson Blu Hotel (formerly The Virtus) is where Italian sophistication meets Asian style. While it hasn’t the sumptiousness or heritage of the city’s Hotel Principe Di Savoia or the Four Seasons, it does offer large, well-equipped rooms, a good spa as well as seven meeting rooms, a 250-person capacity conference room and a separate delegate entrance at a fraction of the price. www.radissonblu.com/hotel-milan

19 Andaz
London

The first in Hyatt’s boutique-leaning chain, close to Liverpool Street Station, is a favourite of this title: walk-through check- ins with handheld PCs; rooms with Eames chairs and ergonomic desks; and rates inclusive of local landline calls, mini-bar soft drinks and snacks, and lounge snacks. For business, there are 14 private dining and event rooms and there are also five restaurants (and five bars), which include a traditional Japanese, a marbled seafood bar and the 1901 restaurant. There is a buzz around the two recently opened New York hotels; Amsterdam is next, in 2012. www.london.liverpoolstreet.andaz.com

18 ME Barcelona
Barcelona

Part of Sol Melia Group’s contemporary design brand, ME Barcelona continues to draw plaudits. At the heart of the city’s architectural and cultural must-sees, near the Barcelona International Convention Centre, this stylish, well-priced 259-room hotel has a fantastic roof terrace, pool and spa, well-equipped bedrooms, and lavish bathrooms. But it’s not all about relaxing – it’s serious about business too. Conference facilities include seven studios, three ballrooms, a library and an ‘evolution’ room, as well as a 24-hour business centre www.me-barcelona.com

17 The George
Hamburg

With public areas like a Lower East Side designer’s take on a London gentleman’s club, and its 125 rooms and suites sleek, modern and well appointed, this is a reasonably priced gem. For those short of time, a complimentary croissant breakfast is served in the bar or there is the all-you-can-carry buffet for €15. The library can be hired to host meetings of up to six people, there is terrace featuring a sauna (offering great views of the city) and two private club rooms. Adding to the international conviviality is an Italian restaurant, DaCaio. www.thegeorge-hotel.de

16 Park Hyatt
Istanbul

Located in the fashionable Nisantasi residential and shopping district, and a five-minute walk from Istanbul Convention & Exhibition Centre, we featured this hotel in last year’s list and the accolades have been growing since. Modern, well-designed rooms with work areas and high-spec tech kit; spa and outside pool; and full-service business centre – what more do you need? www.istanbul.park.hyatt.com

15 Hôtel Scribe
Paris

Reopened by Sofitel in 2007, this elegant and luxurious Parisian hotel, nestled between the Opéra Garnier and the Place Vendôme, continues to please. Despite a high-quality, modernising refit and an even bigger spa, the 200-room and 13-suite establishment has not lost any of its charm, which is only enhanced further by the fact that it also appears to be the only Sofitel in Europe to offer free Wi-fiin its guestrooms. www.sofitel.com

14 Ciragan Palace Kempinski
Istanbul

In a city of palatial hotels, this one, near the business centre and historical sites on the European side, stands out because of its skillful blend of Turkish atmosphere and modern business approach. Immaculate and sumptuous guestrooms and leisure facilities (including indoor and outdoor pools and an 800m² spa) sit alongside 20 state-of-the-art meeting and conference rooms and a 24-hour business centre. The staffis so professional and attentive you will feel like a visiting head of state anyway but if you want to go the whole hog ask for the helicopter airport transfer. www.kempinski.com/en/istanbul

13 Grand Hôtel
Stockholm

While Stockholm is currently awash with tiny, design-obsessed boutiques, the Grand is a genuine grand hotel, geared up for business as well as leisure. Although the 25 meeting and conference rooms – including SeaLounge, a vessel on which 44 colleagues can PowerPoint and then enjoy a deck-top jacuzzi – suggest a stampede of laminated badges, the public rooms are chilled and cool, an experience enhanced by designer Ilse Crawford (of Soho House fame). The 368 rooms, including 37 suites, are understated opulence and blond wood and the new indoor pool and spa is a welcome addition. www.grandhotel.se

12 Soho House
Berlin

Berlin has more than its share of top-end hotels but it has taken the opening of this 40-bedroom outpost of the London-born Soho House club empire to show just how much it needed a cool, modern, relaxed luxury hotel without a harpist or a lounge singer, that serves brunches all day and has bars you never want to leave instead of ones from where you merely plan your next adventure. The Cowshed spa and fitness facilities are exquisite, the meeting rooms dramatic and the guestrooms range from adequately sized to larger than Tegel airport, all artfully boho but with sleek, modern bathrooms. The biggest talking point is, of course, the rooftop pool and sundeck, but don’t miss the hidden Library bar and possibly the nicest cinema ever. www.sohohouseberlin.com

11 Boundary
London

Everything you would expect from a top- class hotel except, perhaps, the size and the location. This converted warehouse in Shoreditch has three terrific restaurants including a rooftop one, and 12 rooms and five suites, large by London standards, all designed with owner Terence Conran’s panache. The blend of homely comforts (great bedding, fresh milk with the in-room beverages, whizzy dry cleaning) and high- tech toys (Japanese TOTO combined bidet- lavatory, anyone?) for a reasonable price (for London) makes it a welcome addition to the capital’s hospitality scene and a boon for those needing to be close to the City. www.theboundary.co.uk

10 Fairmont Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten
Hamburg

In a prime position on the edge of Inner Alster Lake, this hotel has an impressive spa, good business facilities and great restaurants, including the Michelin-starred Haerlin, the fun Doc Cheng and a café specialising in apple strudel. All 156 rooms and suites have recently been refurbished to a high standard and have good desks and sound-proofed windows and doors. www.fairmont.com/hamburg

9 Steigenberger Hotel Herrenhof
Vienna

Not the grandest in this wedding cake of a city but the imposing Steigenberger Hotel Herrenhof is a great hotel – well priced, in a terrific position (a three-minute walk from the Opera House and adjacent to an underground station) and with superb service. Epitomising Viennese practicality, on one hand you’ve got a spa and wellness centre; on the other, a designated smoking area. As well as cheerful staffand smooth business services there is an on-site ATM. www.steigenberger.com

8 The Berkeley
London

It may be pricey, but this gem, with views over Knightsbridge and Hyde Park, continues to impress with its location, its knowledgeable staff, its rooftop pool (and gym and spa), the funky Blue Bar, and the well-furnished but understated rooms with proper work desks. This hotel, while offering a good array of business services, is on the leisure side of the scale but with so many upscale London hotels now offering bland comfort at extortionate rates, The Berkeley manages to inject personality into a stay without straying into eye-watering territory – which gives guests a little more to spend, perhaps, at the famous Pétrus restaurant, now known as Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley. www.the-berkeley.co.uk

7 Room Mate
Madrid

OK, so there’s four Room Mates in Madrid (and another one coming soon), but this cheery chain, which covers Spain and has offerings in New York, Miami, Mexico City and Buenos Aires, is worth a mention simply for its fantastic prices and Business Friend scheme that reduces them further. The Madrid Mario — minimalist with colourful splashes with a buffet breakfast until noon – is best situated for the business district. There is a meeting room but a more fun option may be the splash pool and sundeck, with 360° views over the city. www.room-matehotels.com

6 First Hotel Skt Petri
Copenhagen

Part of First Hotel Group, which has properties across Sweden, Norway and Denmark, this stylish design hotel, right in the city centre, a five-minute walk from the main shopping street, is still the city’s best choice for business or pleasure. As you would expect in Copenhagen, the restaurant is informal but efficient and, even after seven years, the cocktail bar still retains much of its opening-night buzz. There are 268 rooms in an array of sizes as well as an event room seating up to 240 and six conference rooms. www.firsthotels.com

5 CitizenM Schipol
Amsterdam

Amsterdam’s pod-like CitizenM, a 300m walk from the airport terminal, has shown that innovative design, king-size beds, rain showers, free on-demand movies, reduced- rate international landline calls, touch- screen check-in and Frette linen needn’t cost the earth. The 24-hour CanteenM has sandwiches, salads, sushi, hot dishes and in the evening the bar offers spirits and cocktails as well as draught beer; the adjacent lounge is furnished with a curated collection of Eames and Panton seating. In a city where so many hotels are overpriced and underdesigned this is some feat. www.citizenmamsterdamairport.com

4 Ritz-Carlton
Moscow

Withevery luxury hotel brand in the world circling Moscow right now, Ritz-Carlton certainly cannot afford to sit on its laurels. However, as long as it occupies its enviable position nuzzling Red Square and maintains its high levels of service, it will not have too much to worry about. Moreover, Moscow is possibly the only city in the world where this hotel’s rack rates seem good value, considering the high level of stress the city churns up. Public rooms are soothing and actually less blingy than some other R-Cs, while the spa and restaurants are high quality. Rooms are large and well appointed but it is worth springing for the Club level, if you can: the lounge, inclusive snacks, dedicated concierge staffand one- hour complimentary meeting room usage can be very useful. www.ritzcarlton.com

3 The Hoxton Hotel
London

This perennial favourite’s slogan “Luxury where it matters, Budget where it counts” chimes now more than ever.You get what you need for a great stay: Frette sheets, duck-down duvets, flat-screen TVs, Aveda toiletries, man-size bars of soap, fresh milk and bottled water, and a laptop-sized safe; you also get extras like breakfast (yogurt with granola and fresh orange juice) brought to your door, and an hour of free phone calls a day ... even to the US. The meeting room, including self-service Larder, is good value too and the staffis friendly and helpful . www.hoxtonhotels.com

2 Roomers
Frankfurt

Minutes from the River Main in the banking district, this sleek design hotel – dark, discreet and with a hint of decadence – offers guests a choice of 106 rooms and 11 suites spread over five floors. But once you’ve seen the glass-domed roof, with it’s views over the city, you’ll never want to leave. Fortunately, the space is home to the hotel’s three fully equipped conference rooms but if you tire of business – or you want to conduct yours in a slightly more relaxed style – it also conveniently houses the spa. There is an elegant restaurant, a large patio area, and a cool after-hours bar, too. Just what every dull city needs. www.roomers.eu

1 Mama Shelter
Paris

We stuck our necks out with this one a year ago, putting it at number one, but since then it has vaulted into all sorts of top lists, from leisure to business. The philosophy hasn’t changed though: it’s still witty Philippe Starck – 170 compact rooms set over seven breeze-block baring floors – on a budget. Guests are provided with international newspapers on request, and have access to a communal business centre and an enormous bar with private terraces for post-work drinks. Large meeting rooms are available for hire and there is access to computer at reception as well as a complimentary copying, fax and printing service. Rooms range from the basic Mama (17m²) to Big Mama (35m² with living room and terrace); all with a 60cm iMac, TV, radio, Skype, CDs and DVDs. At night, the buzzy lounge-bar is great for unwinding, though if you’re feeling less sociable, each room also contains a microwave. Seriously. In Paris. The Mama group is now scouting locations in Lyon, Marseilles, Bordeaux, and New York. www.mamashelter.com