Paris lights up for the end of the year

November will be remembered here because of Fidelio and the US elections.

The Fidelio conversion was completed successfully, and the morning after the change all systems were up and running. Despite all the training, one only learns "on the job". It took days to get the first daily reports. This is just one of many changes: as of 1 January all prices are being displayed in euros, and April is the official month for the euro changeover.

The US ambassador and the Herald Tribune held a breakfast in the Salon Imperial on the morning after the elections. My ex-boss and mentor Graham Jeffrey was in Paris, and the two of us joined the party at 7am. No one seemed interested in watching the TVs all around the room. At 9am speeches and announcements were made, and after that I went up to my office for a while. When I returned to say my goodbyes, I could not believe everybody now standing in front of the TVs.

December is much slower here than in London. The French don't organise big company Christmas parties, nor do they all stay in hotels. We will do 67% occupancy this month, but will be sold out on New Year's Eve.

Decorations in the hotel went up in early December and are all over Paris, illuminating the grand boulevards. The city is even more beautiful than usual. Our client Christmas party, with more than 600 guests, was on 5 December. We hosted the event together with the Grand Hotel Inter-Continental, since we share the same sales office. As part of the evening we raised funds for our Green Cause charity in conjunction with Unicef.

And, before I forget, we recently inaugurated the new concierge desk.

The project was finished in time and turned out to be a great success.

The team are much happier in their new location and it has made a huge difference to the reception and telephone staff.

The health club, however, has posed problems. The first month of work created a lot of noise, and we had to calm many unhappy guests and staff. Still, it has to be done, and the work should be over soon, with 1 April the latest opening date - and that's not a joke.

No further news from this side of the Channel this year - bonne année to you all.

Dagmar Woodward is general manager of the Hotel Inter-Continental Paris

Next diary from Dagmar Woodward: 8 February