top-of-the-range hotels

With a new design by Didier Gomez, a trendy restaurant and cocktail bar - Balagan - run by the Expérimental Group and Israeli chef Assaf Granit, rooms that can be opened with a smartphone, and a workshop dedicated to meetings, events and coworking, the Renaissance Paris Vendôme has had a fresh new look for a few weeks now, without...

Leading Hotels of the World is celebrating its 90th anniversary today. How do you explain this longevity? 90 years ago, several prestigious Swiss hotels joined forces to open a representative office in New York to reach out to American customers. The result was a Gentlemen's Club that brought together the best of the Swiss...

And another strategic partnership for AccorHotels. Following on from Mantis recently in Africa, 25 Hours and Mama Shelter in Europe, Rixos in Turkey and the Middle East and Banyan Tree in Asia-Pacific, the French group has now acquired a stake - worth 50 % of the shares - in a group positioned in the...

Is France a growth market for IHG? Yes, particularly for our luxury division. After Paris, Marseille and Bordeaux, we expect to open an InterContinental in Lyon in 2019, a magnificent project in the former Hôtel-Dieu. As for Kimpton, the luxury lifestyle and design brand that we acquired...

Of course, the big news in the Paris hotel industry this autumn will be the unveiling in September of the first Fauchon hotel on Place de la Madeleine. But Esprit de France, the partner of the famous delicatessen brand for the operation of this hotel, will be opening another, more confidential establishment at almost the same time: Maison Armance....

The Hôtel Lutetia reopened its doors on 12 July after four years of renovation by Jean-Michel Wilmotte. Accompanied by a number of artists, craftsmen and architects from Bâtiments de France, the architect took care to preserve the spirit of the premises, while bringing in light. This has been achieved by creating a patio and...

Civilised. That's probably the best adjective to describe these cosy hotels, some of which offer 'old-fashioned' hospitality with chandeliers and wood panelling, while others are arty and refreshing. In stark contrast to ordinary business establishments, however excellent, these hotels with their singular cachet quietly live their lives away from the big groups. "It's a...

It had been announced ever since Le Figaro revealed on 25 April that AccorHotels intended to acquire Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts. Now it's official: AccorHotels is to buy the Swiss hotel operator. The French group has reached agreement with its owner, Saudi investor Kingdom Holding, on a price of 560 million Swiss francs, or 482 million euros. Completion of this transaction...

Preferred Hotels is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. What explains this longevity? Lindsey Ueberroth - We focus on the independent luxury hotel scene, unlike the big chains. So we've become experts at identifying what a truly exceptional hotel is, with service that's often family-run and very...

Your group is growing from strength to strength. How far do you intend to go? Pierre-Frédéric Roulot - We are the world's fifth-largest hotel group, and our ambition is to be number three within two years. In 2017, we opened nearly 1,000 establishments around the world, two-thirds of them in China, where our group...

The 7th edition of the Global Meeting Exchange (GME) was held in Montreal at the beginning of March. More than 250 guests converged on the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth, whose $140 million (€113.5 million) renovation well deserved the spotlight. The...

Two brand launches, positive momentum in terms of both results and growth in the offering, and a new strategic vision to continue the upmarket efforts undertaken over the last three years: Best Western had an "extremely positive" year in 2017, according to Quentin Vandevyver, President of Best Western France. Firstly, because with a...

Carlson Rezidor is changing its identity to Radisson Hotel Group. As a result, the hotel group will now rely on the global recognition of its Radisson flagship brand. The reference to Carlson was effectively obsolete since 2016 and the sale of the hotel division of parent company Carlson Wagonlit to Chinese group...

Already boasting seven hotels in Brussels, NH Hotel will soon be adding two more early next year. Property investor Pandox has entrusted the Spanish group with the management of two of its properties, the BLOOM! and Berlaymont hotels. NH Hotel will officially take over the operation of these two hotels in February 2018, and will thus be able to count on...

At the beginning of November, the Swiss Mövenpick group opened a hotel in Chiang Mai, before others expected in Thailand with two establishments in Hua Hin and Khao Yai in 2018 and another in Phuket in 2019. Vietnam is also a key territory for the Swiss hotelier, with five establishments due to open over the next two years.

Following on from the Old War Office, which is to be transformed into a Raffles hotel, it has been announced that another British royal landmark is to be converted into a hospitality centre. And not the least, since it is the famous Admiralty Arch in London, designed by Sir Aston Webb, who also designed the façade of its neighbour, the...

In the 1950s and 1960s, it was one of the best hotels in the whole of the Soviet Union, where the first cocktails were served in the country. Hotel Riga, the Latvian capital's meeting place for the intelligentsia, was rebuilt in the 1950s after being totally demolished during the Second World War, and has now entered a new era...

Lobby open to the city, quality restaurants with local flavours, trendy bar, food trucks, tandems available to guests and, on the technology side, an interactive wall showing places to visit, running routes and cultural events, or even a smartphone as a room key: Golden Tulip has...

What are the future developments for LUX* Hotels? Paul Jones - We are planning two LUX* hotel openings in China, LUX* Organic Escapes in Chengdu in 2018 and LUX* Dianshan Lake planned for 2020, and another in Vietnam, LUX* Phu Quoc, due to open in 2019. Our project in Ajman,...

To say that London rhymes with prestige is almost a pleonasm. The British capital's hotel offer is constantly being enriched by new establishments housed in locations steeped in history. In recent months, for example, Four Seasons has set up shop at Ten at Trinity Square, behind the monumental neo-classical façade of the former headquarters of the Port Authority, or...