PARIS, FRANCE — Le Bristol Paris’ exemplary service and unrivalled elegance make it the hotel of choice in the French capital. The hotel is located on the prestigious rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré at the heart of Paris’ fashion and arts district, where it has been welcoming its esteemed guests since 1925. Its 188 rooms and suites have undergone extensive refurbishment, and are spacious and bright, decorated in classic eighteenth-century style.
The hotel opened in April 1925, when the Roaring Twenties were in full swing: it was the heyday of Josephine Baker, Sydney Bechet and the Charleston. During that carefree and prosperous era, Paris attracted all the big names from the worlds of culture and fashion: Rochas, Balenciaga, Chanel, Schiaparelli, Picasso, Mondrian and Dali.
From June 1940, Le Bristol Paris became the home of the American embassy and American nationals living in Paris. Hippolyte Jammet succeeded in ensuring that Le Bristol was the only Parisian hotel of its type to avoid requisition. Throughout the war, Hippolyte Jammet continued as usual to work on maintaining the hotel’s prestige. With the architect M. Lerman he carried out numerous new building and renovation projects.
From 1974 onwards the restaurant began to break new ground with its ‘Wednesdays at Le Bristol’. On 8 April 1975, Josephine Baker celebrated fifty years in show business at Le Bristol with Mick Jagger, Sofia Loren, Alain Delon and Princess Grace of Monaco.
In 1978, Rudolf Oetker, founder of the German industrial group Oetker and already the owner of Brenners Park-Hotel and Spa (Baden-Baden) and the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc (Cap d’Antibes), acquired Le Bristol Paris. Extension work began in the During the 1980s, the hotel was enlarged further with the building of sixty rooms and suites on the site of the former Sisters of Good Hope convent, and the creation of the garden which has since become a symbol of the hotel. Professor Pinnau, the architect who created yachts for Niarchos and Onassis, designed the hotel swimming pool. Located on the sixth floor, with magnificent views over the rooftops of Paris, it resembles the front of a large sailing boat.
In 2010, Didier Le Calvez was appointed Managing Director of Le Bristol Paris. A very experienced hotelier, he has overseen major renovations throughout the hotel.
In 2011, Le Bristol Paris was fitted with two Signature suites: the Honeymoon Suite on the eighth and top floor overlooking the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, with a panoramic view of the capital’s most beautiful monuments; and the Imperial Suite, the largest suite in the hotel at 320m². The hotel also unveiled its new spa: Spa Le Bristol by La Prairie, which now stretches over three floors and is equipped with eight treatment rooms, including two twin rooms, and a Russian Room, a gym, a hair salon and the children’s play area, ‘Les Amis d’Hippolyte’. (www.lebristolparis.com)
