Even though it is just down the street from the Arc de Triomphe and within walking distance of the Champs Elysées, Le Royal Monceau-Raffles Paris is a remarkably peaceful oasis among the five-star palace hotels in Paris.
The Philippe Starck-designed property is also an oasis for art lovers visiting the City of Light with a contemporary art gallery and private collection consisting of more than 300 works of art.
Guests will get a first glimpse of the hotel’s art offerings on the ground level, where there is a contemporary art gallery (with installations available for purchase; the hotel can arrange shipments home) as well as the lobby bookstore, La Librairie des Arts, carefully curated with luxury coffee table books—including those by Assouline—on a variety of subjects, including art, high fashion, travel, and sports.
Once inside, the interior décor is a feast for the eyes from dozens of ornate crystal chandeliers to life-sized wooden animal sculptures to individual framed love letters on bedside tables in the guest suites. The chandeliers on the main staircase, for example, are from the old Royal Monceau prior to the renovation.
“With the refurbishment, we sold all the old furniture in an auction sale, but Philippe Starck decided to keep these ones because they are Baccarat-crystal chandeliers,” says Julie Eugène, the art concierge at Le Royal Monceau-Raffles Paris. “They are all different—by size and design—and he decided to keep them here because in the past they were split between all the rooms and suites in the hotel.”
Each suite also has an acoustic guitar to encourage guests’ creativity as well as a reflection of the hotel’s history of welcoming a great number of famous musicians over the years—the most celebrated of which is American singer and songwriter Ray Charles, to whom the hotel dedicated one of its premium penthouse suites. The special suite also has exclusive, intimate photographs from the musician’s estate from both his career and personal life.
Though more than 94 years old, the hotel as it stands now was refurbished from 2008 to 2010. When he redesigned the hotel, Starck wanted to create the first luxury hotel dedicated entirely to contemporary art.
“With his designs, [Starck] tried to put in elements that would tell the story of the hotel and the art within the hotel,” Eugène says, underscoring that though the remodel was completed in 2010, the hotel’s roots go back to the 1920s, when Paris was the epicenter of the surrealist and art deco movements.
Eugène explains the specialized art concierge team, aside from a traditional concierge desk, was set up to help through their cultural journeys in Paris. Comprised of more than half a dozen credentialed experts, the art concierge team can arrange specialized itineraries for guests seeking to explore the city’s vast and unparalleled—and perhaps a tad overwhelming—number of museums and art galleries. The hotel also has a daily rotation of pre-planned art tour itineraries, from the House of Culture of Japan in Paris to the Grand Palais Éphémère exhibition hall to the Royal Opera at the Palace of Versailles.
Biking, for instance, is extremely popular in Paris, and you could easily grab your own for any length of time through the city’s Vélib’ bike rental stations around town. But the hotel can also arrange a personalized tour on the hotel’s own motorized bicycles (especially helpful for navigating hills) through the streets of Paris with stops at iconic landmarks and hidden gems, and through picturesque neighborhoods, all with an art concierge who can share expert and little-known details along the way.
The hotel can also set up private tours of some of Paris’s most famous (and most crowded) museums—even when the museums are closed. At the Fondation Louis Vuitton museum, for example, the concierge desk can arrange a private tour with both one of the hotel’s art concierge experts as well as a museum staff guide—all before the museum opens to the public in the morning, leaving the entire museum to yourselves. (Although interested guests should try to arrange a private tour at a museum with the hotel at least a month in advance to guarantee a preferred time and date. Art bike tours can be booked a day or two in advance.)
Beyond the art scene, Le Royal Monceau-Raffles Paris has long been a favorite among celebrities, royals, and world leaders for its low-key and calm ambiance. (Among some of the more notable guests over the years have included Madonna, Robert de Niro, and Walt Disney. Guests can take laps at the pool attached to the state-of-the-art fitness center, book soothing wellness treatments at the Clarins & myBlend Spa, or enjoy a coffee or an apéro (afternoon cocktail) on the central terrace in the afternoon, a remarkably quiet setting blocking out the urban noises of being in one of Paris’s most touristic areas.
The hotel also has a wealth of wine and culinary offerings, including Matsuhisa, the first Nobu restaurant in France. Within Matsuhisa, the ceiling is a mural by French artist Stephane Calais, titled Jardin à la française. Eugène notes when most people think of French gardens, they picture the Palace of Versailles or the Tuileries Gardens at the Louvre.
Calais’s interpretation is a more geometric interpretation of these gardens, sorting the colors from a cool blue palette at the entrance to warmer red and orange hues at the back of the restaurant above the omakase bar. (And the wall installation behind the bar is made from bright green sake bottles.)
Rates for Le Royal Monceau-Raffles Paris start at approximately 1,700 euros ($1,847) per night for the standard artist guest room.