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Paris, The City, Is Working Hard for Our Money
Oh look, something’s trying to tell us to go to Paris. Yesterday we had the Hotel Bel Ami and the Edouard 7 offering us money off and fixed dollar rates to come on over; today it’s the turn of the recently renovated, nifty-looking Hotel Jules.
Stay one or two nights from now until December 29, and they’ll not only knock 20% off the price – making rooms start from €160 ($237/£145) weekends and €172 ($254/£156) on weekdays - but throw in a buffet breakfast for free. Want to stay an extra night? They’ll give it you for €130 ($192/£118) on a weekend, or €144 ($213/£130) on a weekday. Just look for the SMART rate on the list of special offers on the website.
VAT is included, but a city tax of a measly €1 per person is not. You know what that is? It’s a call on behalf of your loved ones to do your Christmas shopping en France. Allons-y!
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French Hotels Claim They'll Cure Your 'Winter Blahs'
Hotel Bel-Ami in Paris.
A "cure for the winter blahs" - now that’s some claim for a hotel group to be making. Bessé Signature Hotels, which owns a ménage a trois of hotels in France, is promising to wipe away yours with special rates.
Stay at the Domaine de la Bretesche in Brittany, and you’ll save 35% with the Winter Promotion rate – rooms start at €190 ($282/£172) per night instead of the normal €295, until March 22, 2010. Not bad – although, having been to Brittany in the winter, we can vouch for there not being a whole lot of stuff to do. But the hotel looks pretty lovely – like a modern(ish) castle (it’s based on a 15th-century chateau) with whitewashed beams and striped fabrics in the rooms, and there’s a spa, too, so by March, it should be a pretty good bet.
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Even Bomb Threats Are Chic At French Riviera Hotels
Thanks to a bomb scare which turned out to be a false alarm, the French Riviera became everything we've imagined and more yesterday. When the posh seaside Hotel Negresco alerted its 158 guests and staff to a bomb threat, they fled the building in all states at the break of dawn.
Among them was French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaulthier, who fled the hotel clad only in a white dressing gown and joined other alarmed guests by the beach. Apparently the bomb threat was called in by a woman who said that it would detonate at 6:00 AM, and when it hadn't by 7:00 AM, the scene dispersed and the hotel returned to normal.
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Courchevel's Newest Refurb Adds a Snow Cave and Sexy Hot Tubs
Date for your diaries: December. Les Airelles in Courchevel has just been given five star status by FAGIHT, the Federation Autonome Generale de l’industrie Hoteliere Touristique (which, for those of us who don’t speak French, is an association of seasonal-opening hotels).
Les Airelles is one of six Courchevel gaffes on the FAGIHT’s books (there are 11 across the country) to be awarded five stars. And it’s not that surprising; it’s coming to the end of a three year, €35 million revamp, which will be unveiled when it opens for the season in December.
Rooms and suites have been refurbished, there’s a Valentino boutique, a 7000 square foot "spa and snow cave" (for between saunas), and a huge playroom for children. Best of all, though, is the 5900 square foot apartment on the top floor: it will have four bedrooms, a private movie theatre and spa, and a jacuzzi that fits eight on its 1600 square foot terrace. Sod the snow cave, we’ll be in the hot tub.
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Do As the French Do and Don’t Get Fat at La Réserve Ramatuelle
We already knew that French women don’t get fat. What we didn’t know was why they don’t (and we're not gonna buy that book); but the mega-lux La Réserve Ramatuelle outside St. Tropez says it does (know why they don’t get fat, that is). And it only takes six days to find out, apparently.
The Six Day Spa Program includes a consultation with the official-sounding "spa doctor" who "specializes in longevity." He’ll give you a "complete physical examination" (er, we might want to pass on that one, actually) and then tailor a nutrition plan to your needs.
That sounds a bit too much like hard work, especially seeing as this is the place that doesn’t believe in botox. But on the up side, you’ll also get at least four spa treatments a day – and seeing as the spa uses Crème de la Mer as its products, that should almost make up for the "physical examination." As will the views, which look properly stunning.
The package is available until November (when the hotel closes for the winter) and the price is available “on request”. We requested a price, but they haven’t gotten back to us yet – but seeing as room rates start at €550 ($725), we’re guessing it will be a pretty hefty fee. You’ll have to call +33 4 94 44 94 44 to find out exactly how hefty.
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The Boscolo Exedra Nice Dared Remodel Their Riviera Beauty
When it comes to French Riviera hotels, you generally don't mess with a winner, especially when it's a historical building in the Belle Epoque style. Nonetheless, all hotels need updating once in a while, and so the Boscolo Exedra in Nice chose only the best to renovate their right half.
Choosing Massino Iosa Ghini to re-conceptualize the common areas like the conference room and breakfast room, the Exedra Nice wanted to evoke Italian style in a warmer way and "create a contemporary version of the Belle Epoque lines of the lavish historic envelope."
The result is now open in Nice, and we recommend swinging by the sculptural white bar, with its freaky tree features and light-up ceiling. We suppose this is to re-orient the folk who have spent all day in the sun on the beach? In any case, we're happy they didn't touch the elaborate facade of the classic hotel, but instead updated the interior enough to keep the first-class guests interested.
{Photo: Design Milk]
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Use Your Brain, Get A Cheapo Suite at Le Mas Candille This Summer
We like ridiculous hotel giveaways a lot, but sometimes we can’t help feeling like bagging a cheapo room during these gimmicky sales is a little too much like a fastest-finger game. How about testing our intellect — if only a weeny bit — before they let us loose on their underpriced rooms?
Le Mas Candille, the swanky hotel in Mougins on the Cote d’Azur, clearly feels the same way. They wanted to throw a great prize our way to celebrate the opening of its six new suites in July. But to avoid it being a question of whose WiFi connection works the fastest, they’re making the process a little more taxing with a reverse auction, which opened this morning.
Here’s how it works: You decide the lowest price you would pay to stay in one of said suites (rack rate: €750, or $1065 a night). You then email your bid – in euros – along with your name, address and phone number, to auction[at]lemascandille.com. The person with the lowest unique bid – ie, the lowest price not to have been picked by anyone else – gets the prize, which is a night in one of the suites for the price they’ve named. Minimum bid is €1, although we’d suggest going a bit higher to hit a unique figure (at least, that’s what we did).
Them’s the rules, kids; now all you have to do is place your bid by Friday, July 1st. Oh, and if you don’t win, and you don’t have €750 to spare, you can get a standard room for €345, or $491.
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Waves, Vines and a Touch of Celebrity at the Chateau L’Hospitalet
Cradled in the hills between the town of Narbonne and the Mediterranean beaches in France’s Languedoc region, the Chateau L’Hospitalet is a hotel, restaurant, winery and visitor center all in one.
L’Hospitalet is the brainchild of former rugby star, Gerard Bertrand, who took over his family’s winemaking business. The hotel has 22 rooms with rates starting at 72 euros (no meals), though some of the suites can cost upwards of 300 euros. Rooms come with satellite flatscreen televisions, a little sitting area, desk, and full bathrooms. Everything is colorful, but understated and uncluttered. The bathrooms are large for Europe, and the showers have the best water pressure in France. The only drawback is that some of the first-floor rooms do not have windows.
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Robert Pattinson Shacks Up at Hotel du Cap Eden Roc
Remember when we saw a photo of Hotel du Cap Eden Roc in Antibes, France during the dead of winter where we were — a photo of a buff man cleaning the gorgeous pool, that is — and we couldn't help but utter a Liz Lemon-esque "we want to go to there" as soon as it came up on our screen?
Yes, well: we're certainly glad it didn't close (once upon a time, the place was in danger of being sold and made into a private spot and everyone was pretty worried for a while) because, if it had, we would have never gotten the chance to see Robert Pattinson staying there.
We're not Twilight freaks or anything, but really: if the way to sell cars to people is to put beautiful, bikini-clad models next to them, then the way to sell us on staying at a hotel is to put Robert Pattinson inside of it.
Okay, but really: Pattinson has been shacking up at the luxe hotel for the Cannes Film Festival, at which he's making the rounds to promote his two new movies, New Moon and Remember Me. And, um, over here, you can find a bunch of photos of him just standing near the water with wind blowing in his hair, if that's your thing.
Rates at the Hotel du Cap start at 640 Euros (about $880) and go up to around 5000 Euros ($6880) per night.
[Photo: Gossip Girls]
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Concorde Hotels Are Cuttin' the Fat (From Your Dinner)
Staying at nice hotels can wreak havoc good dieting intentions: 100 percent true fact (as we like to tell ourselves). All those sugared freebies in the rooms, the elaborate breakfast smorgasboards and the overblown dinner menus add up to something not-so-good for the waistline.
Luckily the trim French chain of Concorde hotels has decided to help out the weak of will by introducing a Zero Complex menu that comes in at under 800 calories for three whole courses — probably the same as the pot au chocolat we'd usually down at first sight.
Because they're good restaurants (like the Palme d’Or at the Martinez in Cannes, which is one of the top draws for A-listers at le festival), you can rest assured that this will be some good stuff: for instance, trout from Lake Geneva at the Hotel de la Paix in Geneva, or an apple and lychee sorbet at Le Palais de la Mediterranee in Nice. "Choosing a dish from the Zero Complex menu does not mean having to cut down on taste or an interesting assortment of flavours," says Concorde. Good.
You won't be paying a premium for your good choices either: the Nice menu starts at 29 euros ($38) for the three courses. And it's available at all European Concorde hotels except its Parisienne grande dame, the snooty Crillon. Well, you've got to keep that fatty French cuisine going somewhere, we suppose.
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No Botox Allowed At St. Trop's Latest Luxhole
Just supposing we were a hotel, we would be wary of alienating any of our potential clientele right now. Maybe we’re not risk takers, because swanky hotel group La Réserve doesn’t seem to worry about minor things like that.
On June 1, it's opening La Réserve Ramatuelle, a hotel just outside St. Tropez (it already has pads in Paris and Geneva). The hotel says it will be “an elegant, intimate getaway (there are just seven rooms and 16 suites) offering views of the Mediterranean as far as the eye can see.” But it might be a little more intimate and offer a few unexpected views, given that botox will be treatment non grata at the hotel. They say that at the spa:
Under the direction of a doctor who specializes in longevity, a multi-disciplined team of specialists and therapists has pooled their expertise in the fields of health, well-being and beauty care to develop a pioneering strategy...
But don't get too excited! It ain't the ol' B-tox:
There is a strong focus on anti-aging without invasive procedures – no botox or lasers in sight.
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A Bed and Breakfast in Bordeaux Sans Breaking The Bank
With some of the priciest wines in the world, famous restaurants and deluxe hotels, a trip to the wine-producing region of Bordeaux can be an expensive proposition. Now at least you can put more of your money towards tasting fine wines by staying at the colorful and cheap Auberge de la Commanderie in the picturesque hamlet of St. Emilion.
L’Auberge de la Commanderie is situated right in the heart of the village on the main road of Rue Guadet, and thankfully has its own private parking lot so you can avoid hunting for a space amidst the hoards of tourists that come to visit the UNESCO World Heritage certified town in summer.
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