Is the City of Light a sleeping beauty? It remains to be seen... Hotel inaugurations follow one another and the dance card resembles a Prévert inventory where you can find a little bit of everything, just like in the Samaritaine. Even a trendy youth hostel - the Generator - on the banks of the Canal St Martin! Everything, then, except the Samaritaine, since the conversion of the famous shop into a palace under the aegis of LVMH is still on hold. But who cares? In the meantime, daring is the order of the day. After rehabilitating the Molitor swimming pool last year, interior architect Jean-Philippe Nuel has revisited a former telecommunications exchange from the 1930s in the spirit of an artist's studio. With its high ceilings, large bay windows, designer furniture and contemporary artworks, Le Cinq Codet has breathed new life into the discreet but very select 7th arrondissement. On the other side of the Seine, another chic and confidential address, La Réserve, opened in January on avenue Gabriel. This hotel of 26 suites and 14 rooms, with its gourmet restaurant and spa, has the air of a private club. Its decor, which recalls the refined atmosphere of 19th-century bourgeois homes, is by Jacques Garcia, who also designed the Maison Souquet. Opened in March, this intimate venue with its oriental touches evokes the cocoon of Belle Epoque courtesans, Liane de Pougy and La Païva. Behind its discreet façade, enhanced by two red lanterns, the hotel is one of the new SoPi, or "South of Pigalle", hangouts. Paris is getting into the swing of things and revisiting its underworld nights in trendy fashion. It's here that the Expérimental team will open the Grand Pigalle Hôtel, with 37 rooms and, above all, a trendy bar - the real expertise of this group, which runs the highly successful Experimental Cocktail Club and Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels. Meanwhile, not far away, the Idol Hôtel has been playing it groovy since February. Its soul-funk themed rooms in pop tones are draped in sequined wallpaper.
The renaissance of the Baths
But above all, the resurrection this March of Les Bains, the famous club of the 80s, as a hybrid house-hotel-club open 24 hours a day means that Paris has not finished surprising. Director Jean-Pierre Marois, whose family has owned the premises since the late 60s, has brought this legend of Parisian nightlife back to life after four years' work, in the company of Vincent Bastie for the architecture and Tristan Auer and Denis Montel for the interior design. A member of Design Hotels, the establishment has 39 rooms. "Our sole aim was to build a nest for creative people, so that they could invent and present the latest trends in a safe and serene place. The Hôtel des Bains pays tribute to the heritage of this Parisian icon while projecting it into the future. It is a hotel like no other, and more", as Jean-Pierre Marois describes it on the hotel chain's website. The mythical black and white dance floor designed by Philippe Stark has been preserved almost in its original state, providing a link between this trendy past and this arty future.
Chain reactions
International chains are also part of the Parisian dynamic. Recent developments include an end-of-the-line station hotel - the former Concorde St Lazare - which has been given a facelift under the impetus of Hilton, a Citadines Suites luxury hotel and apartment complex within the walls of the former Hôtel Costes, and the reopening, after renovation, of the Sofitel Paris Le Faubourg. Revamped by Didier Gomez using the vocabulary of the private mansion with mouldings and stylish armchairs, the hotel also recounts the nostalgia of the 50s and 60s with occasional fashion photos. The Paris of foreigners' dreams, sophisticated and haute couture.
