CLUB CELEB
L’HOTEL COSTES
There is no doubt that Hotel Costes began the trend of designer hotels in Paris, and it remains the preferred address for movie stars, fashion designers, rock bands and anyone keen to rub shoulders with international celebrities and wealthy enough to afford the room rates.
It is
difficult to pinpoint what is the exact secret of Costes. Interior designer
Jacques Garcia made it the flagship of his flamboyant baroque style, which has
now been copied all over the world. The Costes music CDs are played – and
pirated – in discos and lounge bars on every continent. This is a hotel with
attitude, where even the bellboy looks like a budding actor, so don’t expect
the friendliest of service. The brooding, dark bar is perfect for avoiding the
paparazzi, and a reservation is de rigueur for the restaurant, although the
cuisine doesn’t quite live up to the prices: shrimps roasted over Thai herbs
for €34 (US$44), accompanied
by a classic lettuce salad for a mere €14 (US$18).
The rooms are all decorated in a slightly different style, and Garcia succeeds in creating a décor that is rich and elegant but still cosy and comfortable. And then, there is the subterranean pool and spa, definitely the best place for a swim in Paris.
CONTACT: 239 Rue Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris, France, tel 33 1 4244 5000, www.hotelcostes.com
FUNKY CLASSIC
L’HOTEL DE SERS
Hotelier Thibault
Vidalenc is barely 30, but with the opening of his sleek Hotel de Sers, he has
become one of the “movers and shakers” of the Paris hotel scene. Using his even
younger brother, Thomas, as the architect and stylist of the eye-catching
furniture, along with fashion designer Cedric Martineau, Vidalenc has created
a discrete, understated hotel that
fits in perfectly with the exclusive haute-couture mentality of the
Champs-Élysées.
Built in the 1880s as a private mansion
for the Marquis de Sers,
the hotel looks almost nondescript from the outside. Once inside the long
entrance hall, guests are enveloped in a luxurious but cosy ambience, where
classic Louis XV chairs sit alongside funky psychedelic sofas. The top floor
suites have splendid views over Paris, and the bar and elegant restaurant are
popular meeting places for both smart-suited businessmen and fashionistas.
CONTACT: 41 Avenue Pierre 1 de Serbie, 75008 Paris, France, tel 33 1 5323 7575, www.hoteldesers.com
URBAN STARCK
MAMA SHELTER
The absolute latest hot address to open up, Mama Shelter risks causing a series of revolutions in the Paris hotel industry. First of all, the concept here is cheap chic, with some rooms being sold for as little as €79 (US$102) a night. But this is not any old chic, as the hotel is designed by Philippe Starck, so guests can enjoy all his hallmark quirky objects, plus each room comes furnished with an iMac and free Wi-Fi.
The hotel building used to be a multi-storey car park, and its location looks like a disaster, the gritty 20th arrondissement, but then this could soon be transformed into the next Notting Hill or East Village of Paris. And the man behind the whole scheme is none other than Serge Trigano, ex-president of Club Med, who already has plans for seven more of these “urban residences” around Europe.
When booking, be aware there is a big price difference between a basic, pretty small Mama Room and a Mama Luxe or Deluxe.
CONTACT: 109 Rue de Bagnolet, 75020 Paris, France, tel 33 1 4348 4848, www.mamashelter.com
HIP CENTRAL
HOTEL SEZZ
Situated just by the Eiffel Tower in the elegant 16th arrondissement, this is an ultra-modern boutique property hidden behind a classic facade. The designer this time is not Philippe Starck for once, but one of his talented protégés, Christophe Pillet. Pillet’s furniture is very different from the shock designs of Starck, so expect bright colours for the décor contrasted with textured stone walls and black lacquered wooden floors. There is no real lobby or even a check in here, as each guest is assigned a “personal butler”. The hotel doesn’t have its own restaurant, but rather an exclusive Veuve Clicquot champagne bar. And after a hard day’s shopping or sightseeing, there is a tempting wellness centre, jacuzzi, steam bath and massage room.
CONTACT: 6 Avenue Freimet, 75016 Paris, France, tel 33 1 5675 2626, www.hotelsezz.com
BELLE EPOQUE
PARK HYATT PARIS-VENDÔME
The international hotel group, Hyatt, gave more or less a free hand for the first European project of famed American architect and interior designer Ed Tuttle. The aim has been to create the first “designer palace hotel”, to compete directly with the likes of the Meurice and Plaza Athénée.
Renowned for his creation of the unique Aman hotels in Phuket and Bali, Tuttle has taken a somewhat different approach for the Paris-Vendôme. Whereas his hotels in Asia have always taken the visitor aback on first sight, the Hyatt here has an almost gentle feeling as you enter a minimalist reception, marked only by a large bronzelike sculpture by French artist Roseline Granet. Her distinctive creations could have been inspired by Giacometti, and Tuttle uses her work as the leitmotif for the whole hotel, with every room featuring at least one of her artworks.
Although it doesn’t seem apparent from the outside, the hotel has actually been formed from five different Belle Epoque 19th-century buildings, and has nearly 200 rooms. There is a beautiful marble fireplace in the lobby – a favourite spot for a romantic rendezvous – a small bar, a busy, casual coffee-shop style restaurant, and a delightful gourmet restaurant where diners can eat inside in winter around an open grill, and outside in a glass-covered gazebo complete with olive trees during the summer. Be warned that the chef-patissier creates an utterly irresistible desserts trolley.
CONTACT: 5 Rue de la Paix, 75002 Paris, France, tel 33 1 5871 1234, www.paris.vendome.hyatt.com
ART HOUSE
HOTEL LE A
Along a quiet sidestreet off the Champs-Élysées, the A only has 26
rooms – and has become a huge hit with wheelers and dealers of the global art world from the day
it opened.
The highly distinctive design of this hotel is a result of a collaboration between architect Frederic Mechiche and artist Fabrice Hybert, who succeed in both complementing and contrasting each other. You get the impression that if the architect has worked alone, the A would be a shrine to minimalist black and white. The salon reading room has black sofas and white walls, while the breakfast salon and evening lounge bar offer white furniture against matt black tables.
But the joker that upsets this colour coordination is the vivid graffitti-like artist Hybert, whose vast canvases and frescoes break up the background in every part of the hotel. Each room has a different painting, a different theme, and the result is very similar to the Art’Otels in Budapest and Berlin, which showcase the works of a single artist. This being Paris, though, the A has also made its name as a fashionable rendezvous for the media and fashion crowd, who fill up its bar from the early evening onwards.
CONTACT: 4 Rue d’Artois, 75008 Paris, France, tel 33 1 4256 9999, www.paris-hotel-a.com
COSY ROMANTIC
L’HOTEL
This intimate address, hidden down a Left Bank backstreet just by the School of Fine Arts, is one of Paris’ oldest hotels, and has attracted
celebrities since it opened. From Oscar Wilde, who actually died here, to Jean Cocteau, whose drawings decorate the lobby, to raucous popstars like Jim Morrison and Mick Jagger, who always insisted on staying at “The Hotel”.
But the property became seriously rundown, more notorious than famous, until an opulent renovation two years ago, and today it has been reborn as a romantic 20-room designer hotel, whose sumptuous suites bear evocative names like “bijou” and “mignon”. The basement has been transformed into a chic spa and splash pool, while the restaurant’s chef Philippe Betissent has already won a Michelin star.
CONTACT: 13 Rue des Beaux-Arts, 75006 Paris, France, tel 33 1 4441 9900, www.l-hotel.com
COOL VIBE
KUBE
The Kube was the first boutique hotel in Paris to offer trendy accommodation in a desperately untrendy neighbourhood, albeit not that far away from the Eurostar terminal at Gare du Nord.
The 18th arrondissement may
be famous for the Sacré-Coeur church and street artists of Montmartre, but the
Kube is located in the gritty La Chapelle quarter, where you’re best arriving
by taxi than wandering the streets. This hasn’t stopped it being a huge success
though, and the owners have already continued the trend with the equally hip
Murano, just
by Republique.
This is the hotel where it is hip to be square, and the Kube cleverly mixes retro chic and futuristic design with cube-shaped rooms, lobby and lifts. The rooms are a fun, colourful alternative to much of the sleek grey metallic interiors, and there are no keys here as the receptionist takes a print of your finger when checking in and you press on a small pad to open your room. And Paris’ first “ice bar”, obviously called the Ice Kube, has become a cool meeting place for late-night Parisian revellers.
CONTACT: 1-5 Passage Ruelle, 75018 Paris, France, tel 33 1 4205 2000, www.kubehotel.com
DOLLHOUSE DELUXE
HOTEL BOURG TIBOURG
This tiny hotel in the heart of the Marais resembles a designer doll’s house, and it is a real find in terms of value for money.
Owned by another member of the Costes family, though independent from the Faubourg Saint-Honoré hotel, the interior design again bears the imprint of Jacques Garcia. Here, he has created an exotic, oriental world, with perfumed candles and incense, Moorish furniture with delicate inlaid mother-of-pearl, Murano glass chandeliers, and reclining sofas that look as if they came from a sultan’s harem. The mood is irresistibly romantic, especially for those who splash out on one of the small suites that have their own Byzantine salon.
As space is strictly limited here, don’t
expect the rooms to be extra spacious – though some do have small balconies –
and there is neither a restaurant nor bar.
But then the Marais is brimming with eating and drinking possibilities.
Breakfast is served either in an ancient vaulted cellar, or in a tiny enclosed
garden if the weather permits.
CONTACT: 19 Rue du Bourg-Tibourg, 75004 Paris, France, tel 33 1 4278 4739, www.bourgtibourg.com
SINGULAR SENSATION
ONE BY THE FIVE
The latest creation by the group who used fashion stylist Christian Lacroix for the critically acclaimed Hotel Le Bellechasse, One by the Five takes design hotels to the extreme.
This is a single, exclusive concept of
just one single suite, comprised of six fantasy rooms, created by interior
designer Philippe Vaurs. The pièce de résistance has to be the bedroom, where
the lighting creates almost an optical illusion of the bed floating in space.
One by the Five is actually adjacent to a bigger boutique hotel, The Five, so
if splashing out on a whole hotel just for yourself sounds a bit excessive,
there are also
more reasonably priced rooms available here.
CONTACT: 3 Rue Flatters, 75005 Paris, France, tel 33 1 4331 5231, www.onebythefive.com
John Brunton
