Le Meurice, Paris

The hotel reopened in July 2000, after an extensive two-year renovation. This Parisian property’s continued stature as one of Europe’s most architecturally significant hotels, was assured by two of France’s most distinguished architects, Jean Louis Roubert and Nicolas Papamiltiades. By maintaining the hotel’s elaborate mosaic floors, friezes, paintings, hand-carved moldings, cornices, columns, pediments, and pilasters, they faithfully preserved the Meurice’s original architectural details and spirit as a splendid French palace.

Rooms: 120 rooms, 40 suites: Junior, Castiglione, Deluxe, Vue sur le Jardin des Tuileries, Prestige, Presidentielle. Royal suite, La Belle Etoile: on the 7th floor, a 275 m2 Penthouse, and a 300 m2 Terrace, with a fabulous 360° view of Paris.

Restaurants & Bars: “Le Meurice” Restaurant, Restaurant “Le Dali”, “Bar 228”.

Receptions & Meetings: Pompadour Salon: 140 m2, Cocktail: 200 pers.

In 2007, the Hotel Le Meurice came to a new embellishment phase with Philippe Starck and his daughter Ara. As guests enter through the main double-doors that face the rue de Rivoli and the Tuileries Garden, they enter a gilded world. Filtered natural light permeates the public areas, illuminating the ornate decorative elements that make this landmark hotel a one of-a-kind, gleaming jewel. Master craftsmen from the Scuola Mosaicisti restored the lobby’s marbled floor with green and white marble. In keeping with the grand facade, the hotel is filled with a collection of exquisite antiques and art from Sotheby’s and Christie’s, which is continually replenished. The open reception area affords views of the hotel’s three main public spaces: the restaurant le Meurice, the restaurant Le Dali and the Bar 228.

There are 160 rooms in the hotel, each a perfectly conceived retreat, with fine furnishings and luxurious fabrics. The decoration of every room is unique and all furniture is upholstered in fabrics from famous, top of the line French and Italian companies such as Rubelli and Braquenie. All together 171 different fabrics have been chosen and each room boasts at least 100 yards of such fabrics, with some rooms using more than 200 yards.

The unique, triangular-shaped Marco Polo Suite on the sixth floor (Suite 628) is decorated as a tent from the Napoleonic period. Fabrics in very soft shades of blue drape from the ceiling to cover the walls, while a wood parquet design covers the floor. The bathroom is open and spacious, with an antique style bathtub and a magnificent floor of stone marquetry that combines Rose marble of Portugal and boxwood.