The Accor-backed brand Mama Shelter plans to open a hotel in the medieval city of Rennes next year, located in northern France.
Mama Shelter Rennes will open in March 2023 and mark the brand’s ninth hotel in France and 17th worldwide.
The 119-room hotel occupies a listed former banking property where currency was once minted, located in a square a few steps from Place des Lines and a five-minute walk to the Sainte Anne metro station.
The hotel will feature the brand’s first ever Mama Skin Spa, offering treatments from French cosmetics brands Absolution and Ho Karan, as well as Rennes’ first rooftop bar, offering views of the city’s 19th century buildings, 16th century houses and towers.
The rooms vary in size and shape, with some located under the roofing, while others will feature old mouldings and a fireplace. Bathrooms, meanwhile, will include large black and white striped tiles and organic beauty products from the Mama Skin range.
Architect Benjamin El Doghaïli, who is also head of the Mama Shelter design studio, plans to incorporate local influences into the design of the property.
The lobby will feature a large rounded counter with a mosaic frieze of buckwheat pancakes, a delicacy of the area, while one of the ground floor pink-decorated lounges is embellished with mussels, seaweed and oysters as a nod to the local seafood platters.
The hotel will feature a large brasserie restaurant, with upholstered benches emblazoned with a custom-made fabric evoking the saying “vouloir le beurre et l’argent du beurre” (translating to “to have one’s cake and eat it too”).
Further features will include a swimming pool, a hammam and sauna, as well as several colourful karaoke rooms in the basement, available for private hire.
Serge Trigano, co-founder and president, says:
“At Mama Shelter in Rennes, our teams have successfully met two challenges: to establish a contemporary hotel in a renovated historic complex, many parts of which come under the Bâtiments de France jurisdiction.
“We also wanted to soak up traditions in this region of Brittany, with its strong personality and highly sophisticated culture. Having completed the work, we are now looking forward to sharing Mama’s festive spirit with the people of Rennes and all those who love Brittany. To invite them to experience and feel the city, in its restaurants and bars, which subtly tell its story. We’re also looking forward to welcoming fans of Mama’s in the heart and soul of Rennes.”
The Mama Shelter brand was founded in 2008 by the Trigano family and designer Philippe Starck.
Accor purchased a 35 per cent stake in Mama Shelter in 2014 and now owns a 70 per cent stake. It also falls under the Ennismore lifestyle division, with which Accor formed a joint venture in 2021.
