How much do you think it would cost to spend the morning at the market on an instructional shopping trip with a 2-Star Michelin chef, followed by an intimate hands on cooking class in his restaurant kitchen, accompanied by charcuterie and champagne, concluding with the lunch that you just cooked? At the Four Seasons George V in Paris, the price for this priceless experience is zero. Nothing. Nada.

I previously featured the George V in my recurring “Hotels I Love” column here at Forbes.com, so you can read all about its many charms there. I won’t say anything else about it except these two endorsements: it’s the hotel I chose to spend my 20th wedding anniversary at, and when I conducted my annual travel poll for Cigar Aficionado magazine, in which our panelists include the top luxury travel agents in the country, leading travel journalists and assorted hotel industry insiders, the George V was ranked – by true experts – the best hotel in the world.

The property has long been known for its historic Parisian feel, and over the years, the George V has been home away from home for an endless list of celebrities, royalty, heads of state and top tier movers and shakers – as well as romantics, leisure travelers and lovers of all things Paris.

Now the property is celebrating its status as the most Parisian of city’s luxury hotels with the addition of five personalized new experiences, all of them free to hotel guests. To be fair, this is one of the most expensive hotels in the world, but you pay the same rate whether or not you partake, and any of these experiences are things many lesser hotels would gladly charge hundreds of dollars for (and the George V offers free wifi, something that too many uber-pricey European hotels haven’t caught onto yet!).

Most of these are offered once a month (one is weekly), mainly in peak season from April to November. Chef Eric Briffard of the hotel’s renowned 2-Star restaurant Le Cinq, always offers his market to table mornings, called “Market With the Chef,” on a Saturday – market day in Paris. The others are on different days and are typically limited to small groups (5-14) depending on the experience, and they can be reserved in advance: outings have proven so popular that people are booking stays from the US just to participate, with three travelers scheduled to visit the hotel to attend celebrity florist Jeff Leatham’s next flower arranging class.

Leatham has been here since the George V reopened as a Four Seasons in 1999, and has single-handedly made the hotel globally synonymous with stunning flowers (he uses more than 9,000 each week for the opulent and ever changing displays in lobby, public areas and guest rooms). He also has two books on flower arranging and has done weddings for many stars, from Eva Longoria to Tina Turner to Chelsea Clinton. His floral class includes a demonstration of simple tricks and technique to use at home, then he leads guests in making their own bouquet, which is placed in a vase and displayed in their room for the duration of their stay. They also come away with a copy of one of his books.

Once a month, the head concierge leads a group of shoppers in a van to Paris’ famous antique market, beginning with a breakfast stop at classic bistro he knows in the heart of the market. Then he leads his personalized shopping tour: looking for a vintage Hermes bag? He knows which vendors are good and which to avoid. Antique silverware? This way. The market is as famous for its trash as treasures, and for buyers, this expert advice is invaluable yet free. The concierge staff also leads guests monthly on a Thursday tour of four covered passageways or arcades lined with shops and built in the Belle Epoque period, a lasting testament to the city’s glory. This retail and historical exploration ends at the gorgeous Galerie Vivienne near the Palais Royal with a stop in a favorite café.

Finally, for the more active visitor, “Run My City” has quickly proven very popular with guests and is offered weekly, each Tuesday morning. When the hotel realized that two of its employees, the head of security and an accounting manager, where dedicated joggers and out running anyway, it channeled their energy into this group session where they lead a historic and sightseeing tour, usually 3-4 miles long, that might pass the Eiffel Tower one week or explore the Marais the next. The run, of course, ends at favorite café. Running is a great away to explore a city when visiting, but most luxury hotels simply hand out maps.

These are fantastic ways to experience a city you might already love in a new, fresh, and inventive way, and in cases where transport is required, like the flea market tour, it is provided free of charge in hotel vans. There were already many reasons to choose the George V for your next trip to Paris – now there are five more.

Source: www.forbes.com

Researcher: Felix sun