Hospes Hotel Lancaster, Paris, France

The Hospes Lancaster Hotel is one of the most charming and elegantly restored luxury hotels in Paris.

The facilities

The Lancaster is a jewel, with a small chinese garden for outdoor dining, and exquisite meeting room and a small drawing room. Its position is just metres from the Champs Elysees. If you are someone who does not need extensive facilities or spacious public rooms in their luxury hotel - this hideaway from the Champs Elysees hubbub has much to recommend it.

The rooms

Facing either Rue de Berri or the interior courtyard garden, the 49 rooms and 11 suites of the Hospes Lancaster Hotel cover 8 floors of the building. Fabrics in the luxury hotel’s rooms are well chosen and in muted colours - greys, pale yellows, creams and dusty pinks - with a smattering of chinoiserie, fine prints and pictures, antique faded mirrors, and good antique or repro furniture. Some have fireplaces, many have high ceilings. Intimate or very spacious, they all tie to a certain art of living à la Française, through their rare antique furniture, luxurious items, paintings, sofas, desks, and porcelain.

Six years after extensive restoration, the Hospes Lancaster Hotel is still the chicest address in Paris.

The 1889 townhouse stands on Rue de Berri, off the north side of the Champs-Elysées, a stone’s throw from the exclusive shops of the Rue du Faubourg. This was the building that inspired legendary hotelier Emile Wolf to open a luxury hotel in the ancienne regime style house in 1930.

When the Hospes Lancaster Hotel first threw open its doors, it became a by-word for discreet elegance. Wolf had personally overseen every detail of the luxury hotel’s decor, filling it with art and antiques. Marlene Dietrich made it her home while in Paris and artist Boris Pastoukhoff gave the luxury hotel over 80 works of art as payment for his many stays in the 1930s (they are still displayed in the Lancaster). Noel Coward, Greta Garbo, Grace Kelly and Sir Alec Guinness are some of the other names associated with the luxury hotel.

The rooms

All the rooms are individually fabulous but the suites are the ones to go for. The Marlene Dietrich suite is a symphony of lilac, the actress’s favourite colour, while the huge cinnamon and gold Emile Wolf suite next door features a grand piano. The gorgeous Suite 75 is bathed in light and overlooks the tranquil Zen garden in the inner courtyard.