Review:
This post is part of the same Parisian story that saw my partner and I leaving Hotel Costes rather earlier than expected after a run in with some particulary obnoxious staff.
Having either been bumped from our room, or just downright lied to by that hotel, our lifestyle manager, who was distraught that we’d been screwed about, got us booked into a suite at the truly 5* Hotel Lancaster just off the Champs Elyseés instead.
As soon as we entered the serene lobby and the receptionist smiled winningly at us, I fell in love with Hotel Lancaster.
When I stepped into Suite 75, I knew I was home. It was the most perfect, elegant Belle Epoque apartment for a romantic stay in Paris. It was everything Hotel Costes wanted to be, but would never, ever achieve.
It’s full of carefully chosen antiques and artwork, has all the modern facilities you could want, from iPod docks to wifi, and is the ultimate in quiet sophistication.
The bedroom of suite 75 opened up onto a lovely long balcony overlooking Paris and the Zen garden below.
We had a lounge where we would be served an enormous breakfast every day, and was so cosy and sumptuous in the middle of winter I hardly wanted to leave it.
And the suite had one of my all time favourite bathrooms. Just look at that art-deco dressing table. Absolutely gorgeous, and so much light. I was also introduced to a wonderful range of Greek beauty products – Korres – their citrus body milk is my particular favourite.
The service at Hotel Lancaster is as good as it gets. They are on the Mandarin Oriental level of excellence in my books. The concierge introduced us to a really good modern Sichuan restaurant, and helped us find out about particular shops etc. The housekeeping and room service staff were efficient, friendly and discreet – what more do you need?
The hotel has lots of facilities and a 2* Michelin restaurant, but we really didn’t take advantage of all that because we were so cosy and wrapped up in our suite. Having spent weeks on the move traveling around Europe, being able just to lounge around in this gorgeous set of rooms and having Paris outside the windows was blissful. I have to admit I got rather too used to it.
Location: 7 rue de Berri, Champs Elyseés, 75008, Paris. Tel: +33 1 40 76 40 76. Pretty close to the George V Metro, close to the Place d’Etoile end of the Champs Elyseés.
Boys – if you ever want to take a loved one to Paris, I promise you that if you book into either the Dietrich, 75 or 76 suites at the Lancaster they will be yours forever. It is captivating, exhilarating, elegant and utterly sophisticated – and some of that is bound to rub off on you…
Presumably since I have to ask then I can’t afford it?
And do you have to dress pretentiously to be allowed through the door, or will chinos and a polo get you in (since I don’t really do dressing up)?
And how much do these “lifestyle managers” cost? Is that like the Quintessentially service or something? (They had a serious pitch at me in the T5 Concorde Room a while back, but I really couldn’t see the value for one or two trips a year)
Hey there.
They have rates on the website: Deluxe suites like 75 have a standard rate of Euro1200 odd inc tax, but we were there in winter and our concierge has a relationship with them so we got a better price. There are only 46 rooms in total, so even if you go for the rooms over the suites, it is still a fantastic hotel. Polo and chinos are fine. We were in jeans most of the time. They are just a really lovely hotel. No hint of the Parisian aloofness you can find frequently elsewhere in that city.
We get our concierge at the moment through Coutt’s Worldcard (used to be Vertu). I use them for everything from finding me a cheap place to get my curtains lined, to giving me the cantonese phrases I need to go to the market (and then calling them up to speak to the vendors when I fail to make myself understood!) I see that you are HK based, the company who delivers that service is called Ten, and they have an office here. You can get it as part of a value add with many financial services companies out of the UK, with Vertu mobile phones etc, or you can pay a direct membership. I used to use Q here, and clawed my membership fees back within 6 months. They screwed me about with 7s tickets, and it was the final straw following some other disappointments.
Oh my goodness, just look at that bathroom! The whole place looks just heavenly. Thanks so much for sharing. 😀
+Jessie
Tis spesh!