Parisian hoteliers are springing into action

Springtime in Paris! That's when business really gets going. And this year everybody in the trade is watching the performance of the reopened George V and awaiting the reopening of the Hotel Meurice.

Since making money is a GM's main objective, we need to be on the ball all the time. So let me tell you a bit about the Paris marketplace.

So far, Paris hosts four "palaces": the Bristol; Crillon; Plaza Athénée; and the Ritz. All are achieving rates of Ffr3,500 (£317) and above with about 160-190 rooms, fabulous reputations and great locations.

Then on to the Ffr2,000-Ffr2,400 (£181-£217) mark, which includes hotels such as the Marriott. There's the Prince de Galles (Sheraton); the Hyatt Madeleine; and the Royal Monceau. All have about 200 rooms, apart from us, with 445, and the Hyatt with 80.

The Hyatt has just started building a new hotel on the Rue de la Paix, planned to open next year.

Next are the hotels in the middle-price bracket, such as the Grand IHC, the Hilton, the Scribe and the Lutetia, which achieve about Ffr1,000-Ffr1,500 (£90-£136).

Last, there's the really large hotels such as the Méridien Montparnasse, the Méridien Etoile and the Concorde Lafayette, all with about 1,000 rooms with rates about that number as well.

Naturally, Paris has many smaller boutique-style hotels. Some are very trendy, such as the Costes, Le Montalembert and the Lancaster, and there are many charming smaller establishments.

Then we come to the George V, managed by Four Seasons. The hotel reopened at the beginning of this year after a mammoth renovation and is now truly spectacular.

The Hotel Meurice, now owned by BIA and managed by the Dorchester Group, is due to open its splendid doors in a couple of months' time and is aiming right for the top.

So what will all this mean for the rest of us? Certainly, there will be stiff competition at the top of the end of the market. But will anybody drop their rates? Not likely, now that Paris is on the upswing.

We have prepared ourselves. With nearly 1,000 rooms in the city, as well as 350 at the Holiday Inn Place de la République, we are trying to manage our inventory, not as singular entities, but as a combined force in the market.

We have just appointed a regional revenue manager, Klaus Kohlmayr, whose job will be to ensure that we are maximising our yield.

Kohlmayr has until now been our front office manager, and this will not only be a new job for him, but a challenge for all of us.

DAGMARWOODWARD is general manager of the Hotel Inter-Continental Paris

Next diary from Dagmar Woodward: 1 June