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Paris’s Plaza Athénée hotel is offering what it claims is the chicest spot in town to enjoy a cigarette or cigar, following France’s introduction of the smoking ban. The hotel has reserved the Terrasse Montaigne for its smoking clientele throughout the day until 2am when the bar closes. Located just under the hotel’s front awnings, guests and diners will be able to puff away, sheltered from the rain and surrounded by greenery. The new suite 888 on the 8th floor has its own private terrace, for guests with deeper pockets and/or addictions, as does suite 750 – actually a splitlevel apartment – which affords a 360-degree view of Paris. Guests will also have a private gym and sauna. Anyone who does not fancy slumming it in a €5,600-a-night suite may be interested to know that the hotel is making available a townhouse, 21 Avenue Montaigne, to rent from this summer. The price has not yet been set – and you still can’t smoke inside.

British budget chain Travelodge is building what it says is the first recyclable hotel, constructed from pre-built, container-like crates imported from China, stacked and bolted together. The company says the steel modules could be dismantled if necessary at the end of the 120-room hotel’s life and moved elsewhere – and that the model could be used to build temporary hotels for sporting events or festivals. This will be a core part of Travelodge’s strategy to become the largest hotel operator in London by the 2012 Olympics. The recyclable hotel, being built in west London, is due to open in June. Rooms will cost from just €25 a night. Travelodge hopes to open a similarly constructed hotel near Heathrow airport by the year-end.

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is stepping up its moves into the Middle East. The world’s biggest hotel company (by number of rooms), has sealed a tie-up with Aldar Properties, a leading Gulf developer, to build several hotels in Abu Dhabi. The first development will comprise a 430- room Crowne Plaza hotel and a 165-suite Staybridge Suites extended stay property. They will open next year on Aldar’s Yas Island development. IHG will also operate a 300- room waterfront hotel at Al-Raha beach, due to open in 2011. IHG, which will partner Aldar on future projects, already has 73 hotels and 18,000 rooms in the Middle East and Africa.

Hong Kong’s Shangri-La hotels and resorts has acquired Prince Roland Bonaparte’s palace and plans to convert it to the Shangri- La hotel, Palais d’Iena, Paris early next year, marking the group’s European debut. The Bonaparte family mansion in will be the capital’s first luxury hotel fully owned and operated by an Asian group. The building offers some of the city’s finest views of the Seine and Eiffel Tower. The 110-year-old mansion was designed and owned by the grand nephew of Napoleon. The historic and architectural integrity of the exterior will be maintained and Shangri-La will work with top designers, such as Richard Martinet and Pierre Yves Rochon, to enhance the inner spaces.

Brussels-based hotel management company Rezidor Hotel Group has announced contracts for five new Radisson hotels to open in Yalta in Ukraine; Paris; Portimao in Portugal; and Brno in the Czech Republic. A Park Inn hotel will open in St Helens, UK. The new hotels will add 1,048 rooms to the group’s portfolio. Between 2007 and 2009, Rezidor will open 20,000 new rooms. The Radisson Resort, Bolshaya Yalta, will offer 450 guestrooms, with the first 250 to be completed in 2009, and a private beach. An existing boutique hotel in the 16th district of Paris will be rebranded as the Radisson, Paris this autumn. The group currently manages four Radissons and one Park Inn in Paris.