HotelChatter

Since most of the properties also belong to the Mr & Mrs Smith Hotel Collection, they recently had the pleasure of sitting down with the king of cuisine to get his thoughts on maintaining high standards and staying true to the locality. Among other juicy bits, Smith discovered Alain's favorite property to be his very own La Bastide de Moustiers, a 12-room country inn with pottery studio and connections with the local fresh markets.

On top of his love with motorcycling through the countryside and hunting for antiques, Alain also admits to being 200% involved with the design, management and restaurants of his little getaways. On being called a "contemporary innkeeper," Alain explains:

When it comes to picking a hotel, people are today looking for a great variety of experiences: to be a contemporary innkeeper means acknowledging and addressing this variety of expectations. This is my aim with the country inns I run...as well as with Châteaux et Hôtels Collection, the voluntary association of independent hotels I chair.

The good news is that staying at one of Alain's hand-tailored inns usually costs between 200-400 Euro a night, which is quite affordable considering the higher prices of similar first class properties in New York and Paris. And visiting one of his Provence properties will no doubt take you through Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport, which Alain considers his most romantic place because there he met the woman who would become his wife. Oh lord, we could just melt in the Frenchy romance of it all: good food, travel, lush countryside and an inspiring place to lay our heads.

[La Bastide de Moustiers image via alain-ducasse.com and Alain Ducasse image via Times Online ]

Tags: France Hotels / Provence Hotels / Mr and Mrs Smith / Hotel Restaurants

by JetSetCD