Les Tendances
CONCEPTS
Five Hôtel, LITTLE BIG PALACE
ON THE FRINGES OF QUASI-PALACES AND STANDARD LUXURY BOUTIQUE-HOTELS, SMALLER EDIFICES ARE BLOSSOMING TO OFFER CLIENTS THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
In a time where boutique-style hotels are sprouting up like mushrooms and where palaces become laboratories of experimental hotel services, smaller edifices of personalized style offer the tailor-made at more affordable prices.
A hotel keeper for the past 20 years, Philippe Vaurs takes on his four Parisian hotels with spontaneity. ‘I come from Aveyron [southern France]’, he simply says, a young forty-year-old with the eyes of a child. ‘It was when I saw what the Costes brothers accomplished in Paris that I realized you could go beyond strict classic hotel standards. The problem is in taking risks – you have to admit it, bankers are not great fans of this type of venture.’ Nevertheless, he threw himself in with abandon. He decided to invent something other than an ordinary, standardized three-star. ‘I wanted to let myself go and get my new premises out of mothballs without falling into the ‘palace’ or ‘designer hotel’ at €500-a-night stereotypes.’ Philippe Vaurs wanted to come up with a third option. And so he settled himself in Paris’s 5th district and invested in a 24-room hotel. Whilst keeping the skeleton with its small bedrooms, he decided to rethink the space from scratch. He teamed up with architect Vincent Bastie, who worked on the design of the Petit Moulin Hotel, the Marais (Christian Lacroix) and the Murano Resort, near République, and an artist specializing in lacquer work, Isabelle Emmerique. ‘I had a child’s dreams, of stories of Aladdin, of starlit skies and flying carpets; the spirit of these dreams is alive in each part of my hotel today.’ Despite the relatively small size of the bedrooms (approximately 12 to 15 meters squared, except for the suite), the ‘set’ created by Philippe Vaurs, Vincent Bastie and Isabelle Emmerique lends the place a cocoon-like, unique atmosphere. Each bedroom becomes a universe unto itself, resplendent whilst still keeping true to the themes that the young entrepreneur wanted to bestow the hotel with a soul. ‘I didn’t want any more of the never-ending lithography hung above the bed like all other hotels in France; I wanted something other than traditional wooden headboards. I pictured a soft, velvety atmospheric lighting.’ For each room, Isabelle Emmerique (winner of the first prize for lacquer artwork in Japan and Master of Art in France) has created a piece to suit the color and theme of the surrounding room. With a color-code that is both sober and invigorating, no room looks like any other (turquoise, black, white, orange, mauve, chestnut, pistachio, gold and red); the harmonies are built around two colors and a bed with a thick, immaculate quilt garnished with four large cushions.
‘Since one of the primary constraints was space, I got rid of the mini-bar, and the classic desk was replaced with a glass table illuminated by fiber optics.’ Constraints gave rise to innovative design ideas: ‘From the beginning of the project, the designing architect explained that we had to conceal the narrow dimensions of the rooms by providing something to distract the eye and keep it busy. That’s why each detail occupied such a place of importance. Everything needed to be playful and, importantly, not too white.’ In the bathroom, for example, the architect used the lighting to great effect by illuminating the shower cubicle with fiber optics encrusted between the tiles that look like blue-tinted stars. Next to the toilet, reading lamps were fitted so that insomniacs who want to read are not assaulted by the usual wan neon lighting. The rooms’ classic wooden doors have also been dressed in hammered-steel plating. In the corridor, the walls adorned with imitation leather lend the space a generous dose of ‘chic’. ‘With prices ranging from €180 to €320 a night, younger clients can afford to spend a night or two in this mini designer hotel. Even businessmen have started to come.’ Some tell him that, for the same price, they end up in rather depressing hotels devoid of personality. If today the rates of occupation only approach the 75 % mark, Philippe Vaurs has every intention of making his client base loyal and quickly reaching full complement within the next few months.
If each detail plays its own role in this idiosyncratic universe, a cross between fashionable hotels and edifices of charm, the most innovative is perhaps the choice of room fragrance. ‘When making their reservation, clients choose a fragrance according to the criteria of their senses (Sensual, Delicious, Relaxing, Zest, and Natural). The morning of their arrival, a few drops of essential oils are deposited on a Nature et Decouverte diffuser lamp, permeating the room with a subtle and personalized fragrance,’ explains Philippe Vaurs. He has a host of ideas like these: in fact, he is working on several other projects which will hopefully see the light of day in 2007. For breakfast time, Philippe Vaurs has created a doll-house vision in the basement, filled with colors and dressed in pastel crockery by Gargantua. ‘Instead of the usual giant buffets you get in hotels, where quality is not always the primary consideration, I opted for a selection of very high-quality products, like Mariage Frères teas, real coffees, fresh and dried fruit, farmhouse yogurts, etc. It is important that clients remember it. It is a crucial moment in the life of a hotel,’ concludes Philippe.