Photos courtesy Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau
Designer hotels: everything started in Paris a few years ago with the trend toward boutique hotels.
The term is used for small capacity hotels with three or four stars, which offer clients a personalized and attentive welcome and a particularly refined and cozy decor.
Following the success of this type of hotel, certain hotels decided to take the concept further by entrusting their decor to interior designers and architects and providing their guests with a contemporary atmosphere: designer furniture, use of new materials, the latest technologies and contemporary works of art.
Some hotel groups have made this design orientation their speciality. This is the case for the Murano Hotels and Resorts, which owns the Murano Urban Resort Hotel and the Kube
Rooms and Bars Hotel in Paris. The first, located between République and Bastille on the edge of the Marais, drew attention with its immaculate white design aesthetic, its bar lounge with colored seats, its lobby with a huge contemporary fireplace and its guest rooms which mix high-tech and state-of-the-art design. The second, located in the north of the capital, applies the same formula to the design of its guestrooms and offers an out-of-the-ordinary experience with its bar completely made of ice.
The Astotel group also offers 15 Parisian hotels where the designer touch captivates guests in search of a contemporary atmosphere. This is the case at Le 1223 Elysees, a hotel where beautiful materials (Swarovski crystal, marble, etc.) provide a contemporary feel, or at the Hotel Joyce, which combines the latest technology gadgets (iPod stations) with products answering to the needs of today’s travelers (a range of organic products), all in a contemporary decor that play on the codes of traditional hotel charm and character (outlines of bed heads and features of interior decor drawn on the bedroom walls).
The Relais de Paris group reinvents the classic Relais style with a contemporary, designer version. The BLC Design Hotel offers an immaculate white setting in the Charonne district. The 29 guest rooms all have a monochrome look, combining refined furniture with black and white photographs.
At the Standard Design Hotel, not far from the lively Bastille District, black and white begins in the reception areas. The young designers invited to decorate the hotel have created a contemporary, trendy place. The Color Design Hotel, between Bastille and the Gare de Lyon, lives up to its name and offers guests lively colors with special touches in the guest rooms and bathrooms. The vaulted breakfast room follows the same concept with a contrast provided by exposed stonework. Located in the picturesque Montmartre district, the Chat Noir Design Hotel plays the designer card while respecting the traditional Parisian style of this area. The decoration amusingly evokes the shadow plays that gave the Théâtre du Chat Noir its reputation, while offering refined white furniture complemented by warm orange and brick tones.
The wave of designer hotels can be found in all districts of Paris, each revealing a leading concept and specific style of decoration. Another example in the Latin Quarter is the Five Hotel. This hotel’s concept is the awakening of the five senses: smell with fragrances created just for the Five, touch with the use of sensual materials in the guestrooms and particularly the ultra-contemporary reinterpretation of Chinese lacquer, taste with a breakfast of the best Viennese pastries from the Monge bakery, sight with the fibre-optic lighting effects and luminous atmosphere of the bedrooms, and hearing appeased by the hotel’s silence.
In the same neighborhood, the Hotel Design de la Sorbonne has had a makeover and offers an upscale and elegant designer stay. Dark wallpaper, luxury fabrics and a contemporary photography exhibition on every level set the tone of the establishment.
The Hotel Le A, in the heart of the fashion district between the Champs-Élysées and the rue Saint Honore, mixes an ultra-designer look of the interior decor with a cozy feel in the reception areas designed to look like those of a private apartment, with a contemporary-style fireplace, comfortable couches, lounge with a library filled with art books, a bar under a 19th century glass roof and 25 sumptuous guestrooms where a refined sober style contrasts with bold contemporary drawings decorating the walls.
In a more understated style, design is also honored at the Hotel Arvor Saint-Georges, in the peaceful 9th arrondissement. The 30 guestrooms offer the tranquility of a contemporary and convivial private residence. In the 14th arrondissement, LeFabe Hotel stands out from the rest with its 17 guestrooms, each offering an original atmosphere. The names of the rooms (Mona Lisa, Orchidées, Together, etc.) are an indication of the designer decoration offered to guests. In the 16th arrondissement, Mon Hotel, a small establishment of 37 guestrooms a few steps from the Champs-Élysées, boasts luxury designer decor with the use of materials like leather, Alcantara fabric, and wood.
LE 123 ÉLYSÉES
123 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, Paris 8th
Tel +33( 0)1 53 89 01 23
www.astotel.com/hotel-le-123-elysees-paris.php
HOTEL LE A
4 rue d’Artois, Paris 8th
Tel +33 (0)1 42 56 99 99
www.paris-hotel-a.com
HOTEL ARVOR SAINT-GEORGES
8 rue Laferrière, Paris 9th
Tel +33 (0)1 48 78 60 92
www.arvor-hotel-paris.com
BLC DESIGN HOTEL
4 rue Richard-Lenoir, Paris 11th
Tel +33 (0)1 40 09 60 16
www.blcdesign-hotel-paris.com
CHAT NOIR DESIGN HOTEL
68 bd de Clichy, Paris 18th
Tel +33 (0)1 42 64 15 26
www.hotel-chatnoir-paris.com
COLOR DESIGN HOTEL
35 rue de Citeaux, Paris 12th
Tel +33 (0)1 43 07 77 28
www.colordesign-hotel-paris.com
HOTEL DESIGN DE LA SORBONNE
6 rue Victor-Cousin, Paris 5th
Tel +33 (0)1 43 54 58 08
www.hotelsorbonne.com
LE FABE HOTEL
113 bis rue de l’Ouest, Paris 14th
Tel +33 (0)1 40 44 09 63
www.lefabehotel.fr
FIVE HOTEL
3 rue Flatters, Paris 5th
Tel +33 (0)1 43 31 74 21
www.thefivehotel.com
HOTEL JOYCE
29 rue la Bruyère, Paris 9th
Tel +33 (0)1 55 07 00 01
www.astotel.com/hotel-joyce-paris.php
KUBE ROOMS AND BARS
1-5 passage Ruelle, Paris 18th
Tel +33 (0)1 42 05 20 00
www.muranoresort.com
MON HÔTEL
1 rue d’Argentine, Paris 16th
Tel +33 (0)1 45 02 76 76
www.monhotel.fr
MURANO URBAN RESORT
13 bd du Temple, Paris 3rd
Tel +33 (0)1 42 71 20 00
www.muranoresort.com
STANDARD DESIGN HOTEL
9 rue des Taillandiers, Paris 11th
Tel +33 (0)1 48 05 30 97
www.standard-hotel.com
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