Hotel Plaza Athenee

Rates from EUR 650

Address Hotel Plaza Athenee, 25 Avenue Montaigne, 75008 Paris, France
Telephone Bookings : UK Reservations 0845 227 0141
Rooms: 188 rooms, including 44 suites.

 

Why stay at Hotel Plaza Athenee?

Come for:
Location on fashion-soaked 'golden triangle'
Eiffel Tower views from suites
Outrageously spoiling, imaginative service

Not suitable for:
Minimalists in budget or design

Eating in:
The Bar du Plaza Athénée combines a long, glowing crystal bar, like a shard of ice, with a clubby area of leather chairs. It's very popular and the cocktails are deliciously overwrought. Service is pleasantly fussy. Alain Ducasse's Michelin-starred, refined French cuisine is served in the restaurant; he also oversees the the brasserie, Relais Plaza. This second venue has a decor inspired by the historic ocean liner Normandie. The Galerie des Gobelins is a favorite spot for tea, and the courtyard is preferred for light meals in summer.

Press quotes

"The real draws are the celebrated Alain Ducasse restaurant (three Michelin stars) and the sleek V.I.P.-drenched bar." New York Times 06

The Hotel Writes

This truly Parisian luxury property filled with elegance and charm, is ideally located between the Avenue des Champs Elysees and the Eiffel Tower, at the crossroads of fashion, entertainment and business. With fine decor "à la parisienne", the Hotel Plaza Athenee features 188 guest rooms including 43 suites, offering views to the chic avenue Montaigne, the Westside of the Eiffel Tower or the charming courtyard.

Since its inauguration in 1911, the Plaza radiates an incomparable charm which has seduced an elegant Parisian and international clientele. The recent redecoration of the lobby recaptures the warm colour codes used by the hotel: “Plaza reds”, terracotta wares, gold and bronzes.To enchant every guest, the hotel mingles glamour and tradition with the most updated technology.

At the Hotel Plaza Athenee, the pleasure of luxury is celebrated, cultivated and expressed in four different venues supervised by the world-renowned Chef Alain Ducasse; each combining the art of living with delicious cuisine in a unique way.

The intuitive warmth of the 520 staff members also anticipates your every need with passion.

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Daniel Scott's Review of Hotel Plaza Athenee

Hotel Plaza Athenée is the playful sister-luxury hotel to the Hotel Meurice, located among the couture shops on the chestnut-tree lined Avenue Montaigne. Athenée is flamboyant in feel, as befits a luxury hotel where you can fall out of bed and into stores like “La Croix.”

The facilities

The ultra-modern bar area in this luxury hotel is full of sculpted sandblasted glass, tall metal stools and mood lighting in several shades of mauve, encased by the room’s original wood panelling.

The rooms

Recently renovated and scented with the unique fragrance of amber, the Hotel Plaza Athenée’s 145 spacious rooms and 43 suites are a showcase of French taste at its very best. Windows open onto either the Avenue Montaigne, the peaceful Cour Jardin, the rooftops of Montmartre or even a side view of the Eiffel Tower. All the rooms and suites at this luxury hotel have king, queen or twin beds and most rooms offer a connecting room.

Matt Morley's Review of Hotel Plaza Athenee

If Le Meurice represents classic French style in Paris, le Plaza Athenée stands for all that is quintessentially Parisian to the French. A subtle distinction perhaps, but as design hotels are having to work ever harder to gain a reputation for service as well as style, these two gems have taken on renewed significance for our jaded post-Schrager sensibilities.

Not only has the luxury hotel been around since 1911, but it has recently laid down the gauntlet for other grand dames in terms of revitalising itself for the century ahead. While retaining its strong heritage drivers, it has crucially managed to institutionalise the concepts of innovation and creativity amongst its team.

The living embodiment of this is the current GM himself, Monsieur Francois Delahaye, one of those rare breeds who somehow manages to give the impression of having spent a good part of the morning dressing and preening himself, when in fact it took all of five minutes.

No co-incidence then that both man and grand dame are so hot on their image. The Plaza currently has one of the sharpest visual identities around, based on that vibrant, gutsy, sophisticated red that is now almost synonymous with 25 avenue Montaigne.

The facilities

The luxury hotel does all it can to forge relationships with those living and working nearby. All five restaurant and bar areas are open to non-guests throughout the week and there is a carefully crafted easiness about the main lobby area, ensuring one does not feel forced to explain one’s business to the front desk immediately upon entering.

The legendary Alain Ducasse has been running the operation for several years and his namesake restaurant on the ground floor offers contemporary haute cuisine in a directional, futuristic space. For a more sedate dining experience, the Relais Plaza has got power dining in the company of politicos, actors and half of the Dior management team down to a fine art.

A constant hum of hushed whisperings surrounds the Galerie des Gobelins café area. In most luxury hotels, this space would have been nothing more than a hinterland between lobby and bar. At the Plaza, it has its own 2005 Pastry World Cup winning chef and a row of excessively deep sofas, ideal for disappearing into with an improper date, should the need arise.

Order an herbal infusion and enjoy prime people watching potential, with the Galerie sitting at the centre of the most celeb-friendly hotel in all of Paris. Any time after six pm, and most of them will be making a beeline for Le Bar au Plaza at the end of the corridor, the destination hotel bar par excellence.

Hosted by the masterful Thierry Hernandez, this is about as close as Paris gets to a private members club, especially later on. Hernandez has made his name introducing the art of aesthetics into cocktail making, but his bar is a tightly run ship all round and it is best to arrive early to assure entry.

Sticking with flavours familiar to most French palettes, he plays with texture and visuals by re-constructing cocktails in ways that push the concept of a ‘drink’ to its very limits. Liquids are frozen, solidified into jellies or served next to portions of fruit for customers to prepare themselves.

The rooms

The 188 recently refurbished rooms and suites come in either classic or art deco style, although it is surely the former that show the luxury hotel at its most regal best, with their warm terracotta, gold and bronze colour scheme, delicately interspersed with rich red fabrics and Louis XVI furniture.

Some of the rooms are a little pokey, the bathrooms are not what they could be and there is no spa to talk of yet. Perhaps the luxury hotel’s strongest card though is that, in an age of ever-expanding mega-brands like Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons, this place has finesse, flair and fizz in abundance. And that’s something no amount of brand building can bring you.