Clubs or private apartments, luxury hotel residences, miniature hotels: the great metropolis is the meeting point of all the luxury concepts. Pieds à terre are multiplying, offering the best of hotels and prime apartment offers, constituting an alternative to buying or renting. In Hong Kong, Andrée Putman has just opened a property in her own name for long stays. Its 28 rooms and suites are soberly decorated and have a cooking area, a washing machine or room service. The Putman is located in the hectic heart of Central. The address is a determining factor for these luxury apartments. In Paris, Frasers has two excellent locations for its very upscale hotel-residences: on the Champs Elysées in the former Claridge hotel, and in the business neighborhood at La Défense. The rooms offer hotel service, but the variety of services allows those who spend a great deal of time in boarding rooms at airports or meeting rooms to meet for a few nights in a temporary Home Sweet Home. Also in Paris, at 10 Place du Trocadéro, La Réserve, the younger brother of the luxurious hotel in Geneva, has an incomparable view of the Eiffel Tower. With a minimum rack rate of 6,500 euros for 3 nights and 13,000 euros a week for a 150 square-meter apartment, it openly competes with suites at palaces. The same is true for Villazzo where the least expensive of the 4 apartments in Paris costs 900 euros a night for 3 rooms two steps away from St Germain des Prés. These properties that are midway between hotels and rentals may be used for both short and long stays, for businessmen or Middle Eastern, American or Russian tourists. Another advantage of these solutions is that they can accommodate families and groups of friends in a more convivial manner...