A king’s ransom for a night’s sleep

ONE of the most interesting recent developments in travel is the antitrust action that the French government brought against six luxury Paris hotels for price fixing. The hotels, which have some of the highest prices in the world, were charging, on average, more than $800 per night.

Fines were levied last month against the Hotel Ritz, Hotel de Crillon, the Four Seasons Hotel George V, the Hotel Plaza Athenee, the Hotel Meurice and Hotel Le Bristol.

The government action, which accused the French palaces of exchanging information to keep prices artificially high, illustrates the absurdity of paying the kind of rates these world-famous properties charge.

One would think that such renowned hotels would have no need to cooperate on pricing. They are elegant beyond compare, so endowed with creature comforts, priceless oil paintings, exquisite carpets and graceful lighting fixtures that you would expect affluent people to pay almost any sum to bask in their glory. One of the hotels -- the Crillon -- was built for King Louis XV in 1758.

And yet, according to the French government, these six entered into an agreement to charge a minimum of $580 and an average of $820 per night for a standard room. Apparently, even world-famous hotels meet price resistance from rich travelers unhappy about paying that much. And were it not for such collaboration, they would be compelled to lower their prices.

But sky-high hotel rates aren’t written in the stars; they aren’t always the result of supply and demand.

Plenty of extremely comfortable hotels poised on the brink of deluxe status seem to do just fine charging far less than the king’s ransom charged by the Ritz and the George V.

What do you receive when you pay the stratospheric charges of luxury hotels around the world? First, you are met by a doorman who greets the arrival of your taxi, hands your luggage to a bellman and exacts a tip for the gesture.

Inside, you find a lobby with shops, a beauty salon and barber shop and a major restaurant. When you reach your room, you learn that room service is available throughout the night.

And for enjoying these amenities, you will pay several hundred dollars a night more than you would have spent at a comfortable first-class hotel in the same city.

I’ve said it before: When you slide beneath the covers at night and turn off the light, you don’t know you’re in a deluxe hotel. All that matters is the firmness of the mattress, which can be perfectly fine in hotels endowed with only three or four stars.

I, like you, have enjoyed many a good night’s sleep in a lower-category hotel, despite its lack of doormen, shops and elaborate candelabra.