RobinLynn's Full Review: Francisca Matteoli - Paris Hotel Stories
Paris hotels are known the world over for their elegance, style, and service. They are often the gold standard for comparisons with other hotels throughout the world, with many trying to emulate the luxury that exists in the finest Paris hotels.
The beautiful coffee table book, Paris Hotel Stories, takes a peek at several of these luxury Parisian hotels, with sumptuous photographs capturing the unique style and flavor of each hotel. The book highlights public areas, rooms, views and the hotel restaurants, if they are exceptional, as well as the surrounding neighborhoods.
The author, Francisca Matteoli, describes each hotel with vivid histories of how each acclaimed hotel became so, with insightful and often humorous stories that help the reader to understand the nature of each property. The descriptions often sound like poetry, as he describes “The Park Hyatt has the winged grace of the debutant”.
These quotes capture the mood of each hotel brilliantly.
The Featured Hotels
The hotels featured in Paris Hotel Stories are all the best of the best. Unfortunately, they are also the most expensive. These are hotels that only the wealthy can frequent. But that is to be expected. In all of my trips to Paris, I certainly have not stayed in any of them. I have often peeked into the lobby of several and tried to get a drink at the famous bar at the Ritz, where I was asked my room number and therefore had to leave!
I have admired the exterior architecture up close of several , but that it as close as I have gotten. This book helps to satisfy my curiosity of the treasures that lie behind these wonderful buildings. It appears from this book that they all seem to live up to their reputations and expectations.
The list of hotels in Paris Hotel Stories, include:
Park Hyatt Paris Vendome
Costes
Ritz (where Princess Diana was staying on her ill-fated last night in Paris)
Meurice
Normandy
Regina
Westminster
Pavillon de la Reine (in my favorite neighborhood in Paris, the Marais)
Pershing Hall
Plaza Athenee
Bristol
George V (featured in the Meg Ryan film, French Kiss)
Crillon
Lancaster
La Tremoille
Concorde Saint-Lazare
Raphael
Saint-James Paris
Square
L’Hotel
Bel-Ami
Villa Saint-Germain
Lutetia
Montalembert
Villa Royale
These hotels all run the gamut from over- the- top luxury , like The Ritz or the Crillon, to a more sedate, traditional luxury, like the Bristol. Several, including the Lancaster and La Tremoille, are smaller, more boutique style hotels. The Plaza Athenee has always stood out in my mind as the epitome of sophistication.
The Photography
Photographer Daniel Aron gets up close and personal in many of his photos. His photographs of some of the bathrooms, with the robes hanging perfectly on the hooks, a housekeeper perfectly making up a bed, or, one of my favorites, a close-up of a nightstand at the Ritz, with its bedside call buttons for the valet, room housekeeper, or waiter, next to the perfectly coordinated ashtray, matches and stationary perfectly captures the level of service. It is a glimpse that portrays the luxury of the hotels with a very personal note.
The photographs of the views from many of the balconies of these fabulous properties take my breath away. Many include a view in the distance of the Eiffel Tower. But of course!
A Deux Pas
A nice feature in the book is A Deux Pas, a page at the end of each featured hotel that tells about places to eat near each hotel, the nearby streets, and of course, where to go shopping. I guess if someone can afford to stay in one of these hotels, he or she can afford the fabulously expensive nearby boutiques!
Great Quotes About France
Another great feature of Paris Hotel Stories are the wonderful and insightful quotes by people who love or have loved France. One of my favorites is from Jules Renard from his ‘Journal” written in the beginning of the 20th century:
“Add two letters to Paris and its paradise” (actually, I count three letters!)
An additional quote from the book that for me sums up Paris is by Honore de Balzac in 1838:
"Oh! To wander Paris! Such a lovely delectable experience! Strolling is a science, gastronomy for the eye. To walk is to merely exist, strolling is living.”
The Author
Francisca Matheoli is a travel writer for Le Figaro and is the author of several books including 52 Weekends in Europe and Provence of Alain Ducasse. He also works as a food critic, where he gets to sample Paris’ finest restaurants.
The Photographer
Daniel Aron has worked for Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar Madame Figaro, and Elle Deco. He has won awards in New York, Paris, and his photographs have been exhibited in Arles, Houston, and Tokyo.
Paris Hotel Stories is the perfect book for any Francophile who loves to get lost in the beauty , grace and charm that makes Paris what it is. I am sure my fantasies and memories of Paris are idealized, but that’s OK. There is no harm in dreaming and Paris Hotel Stories makes it that much easier to do so.
239 Pages
Published in 2003 by Assouline Publishing
601 West 26th Street
New York, New York
$35.10 at Amazon.com
This review is part of Ifif1938's French and English write-off to be found here
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