9–5 | PARIS
French Finesse Add a bit of flair to meetings with clients in Paris. BY KATIE MCELVEEN UP ON THE ROOF: View of the Eiffel Tower from The Peninsula Paris L’Oiseau Blanc rooftop dining room. PHOTO: © THE PENINSULA PARIS
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AWASH IN HAUTE-COUTURE FLAIR, world-famous restaurants, revelatory museums and iconic sites, Paris is widely regarded as one of the most magnificent cities in the world. But there’s more to Paris than beauty and culture: This hard-working French capital generates more than 30 percent of France’s gross domestic product through businesses representing a wide range of industry sectors that include pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, aeronautics and digital systems. Paris also hosts 27 Top 500 corporate headquarters — more than any other city in Europe — and boasts the fifth-largest urban economy in the world. For business travelers, this means everything you need to do your job — a strong transportation network, a choice of locations for business entertaining and meetings, loads of lodging options and a workforce comfortable with international business representatives — is at your fingertips.
globaltravelerusa.com
MARCH 2019
Start with transport. Two large international airports make Paris accessible from anywhere in the world; RER trains, an easy-to-navigate subway system — the Metro — and legions of taxis have you in town less than an hour after clearing immigration. Lodging proves equally accessible. Hotels abound within the city’s 20 arrondissements, or boroughs; choose one near the city center and you’ll be able to get anywhere quickly on the Metro. If your agenda includes breakfast meetings, consider a larger property where the first meal of the day is served in a quiet space where you won’t have to line up at a buffet or speak over clattering cups. One option: the Hôtel Ritz Paris, where L’Espadon serves a full breakfast under a domed skylight seven days a week. The hotel’s location on the Place Vendome makes it a convenient location from nearly anywhere as well. On the Left Bank, where boutique hotels are the norm, the full-service Hôtel Lutetia, an elegant outlier, reopened in early 2018 after a full renovation. The breakfast menu in chic L’Orangerie includes gluten-free and organic choices.
