Paris now has 13 five-star hotels, the city's tourism office said. For many, including Sofitel, the fifth star is simply the culmination of longer renovation programmes aimed at shifting upmarket.
Hotels applying for top status need to satisfy hundreds of criteria, from bedroom size to phones in bathrooms.
"Why a fifth star? While there only used to be a 'luxury' fourth star, today it's about putting French establishments on the same level as international competition," said the press office of Concorde Hotels & Resorts, which owns Le Palais de la Mediterranee based near the Cote d'Azur overlooking the sea.
The government hopes a five-star bracket will help France better weather the financial crisis: the French hotel sector has held up better than neighbouring countries, but suffered from a drop in British and American tourists, Deloitte said in its winter 2009 research report.
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