Paris is known for its grand, stately hotels. And luckily, staying at a classic property doesn’t have to mean dealing with ancient amenities, as some of the most famous hotels in the capital of France have gone through renovations.
Following the fanfared redesign of the Ritz Paris (a longtime favorite of Fashion Week attendees) in June 2016, the latest big relaunch is the Hôtel de Crillon.
This hotel in a 17th-century building on the Place de la Concorde is about as central as it gets. Famous guests have included everyone from Winston Churchill to Kate Moss.
One suite is named after Marie Antoinette, who took music lessons there before the property was converted into a hotel in the early 1900s. Another was named for composer Leonard Bernstein, a habitué of the Crillon.
While modern amenities such as Wi-Fi are in place, the hotel hasn’t lost any of its Parisian glamor. Two hotel suites, the “apartements,” were designed by Karl Lagerfeld, whose day job is running French couture house Chanel. The $229 million renovation (200 million euros) was paid for by Rosewood, the hospitality group that now owns the Hôtel de Crillon.
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Beyond the glamorous rooms, there are also the markers of a typical upscale hotel such as a spa, pool and fitness center, plus a few elegant extras: a men’s grooming salon where guys can get an old-fashioned shave and a “shoe care salon” where guests stop in to get footwear fixed up, shined and re-soled.
Non-guests are still welcome in public spaces, including the intimate 60-seat Les Ambassadeurs bar, which is known for its encyclopedic Champagne collection.
Très élégant, non?
