'I loved everything about it': inside Grand Powers, the superb new Paris hotel without pretension
Halfway between the Four Seasons George V and the Plaza-Athénée stands the newest luxury hotel in Paris, the Grand Powers. It stands on rue Fran?ois Premie, home to boutiques from Balmain, Céline, Dior et al and the beating heart of Paris’s fashion district.
A hotel has stood on this site since 1920 (“Powers” has long been part of its name, though the “grand” qualifier is new). But what used to be an unassuming four-star has been entirely remodelled, refitted and transformed by its owner, Alexandra Marang, and the Parisian architects Arnaud Behzadi and Cathy Crinon of Artefak. (Remember those names.)
From the moment one passes through the heavy velvet drapes that keep the cold from its lobby, one is struck by its warmth: both literally and and figuratively. Unlike its neighbours, the Powers has no ambitions to be rated a palace, as the very smartest French hotels are designated, and the atmosphere is friendly, buzzy and refreshingly free of the snooty hauteur affected by some of the city’s grandes dames.
Rather this is a five-star boutique with 50 rooms, almost a third of which have views of the Eiffel Tower. Each is different, but all owe a nod aesthetically to the great Italian modernism of Gio Ponti and Carlo Scarpa. Still, they somehow remain quintessentially Parisian.
Some have Louis XV-style marble fireplaces; others are decorated with gilded antique clocks; many have balconies with ornamented ironwork, as well as tables and chairs to sit out on.
And all have boiserie (wood-panelling) to dado height, herringbone oak floors, plush modern rugs and are handsomely furnished with bespoke pieces designed to be at once contemporary yet accord with the art deco bones of the building.
Original art features too, not least a series of cloudscapes by the American painter Emma Scarvey.
My Junior Suite Prestige [507], which one enters by way of a dark red-lacquered lobby, has walls painted a very pale pink. During my stay they were complemented by an arrangement of anemones and tulips on the oval marble-topped coffee table that could not fail to flatter the most sun-starved complexion. I loved everything about it.
Next time, though, I shall ask to stay up under the eaves in 602, a smaller but also infinitely more romantic corner Deluxe Executive (from €575/￡500), which has a celadon-green colour scheme, three tall windows (as well as one in the spacious bathroom) and a view of Cartier.
Down in the basement there’s a gym and a Decleor spa, with a Jacuzzi, steam room and sauna. And adjoining the lobby there’s a small bar and an informal restaurant, Café 52, open to non-residents, that serves light meals all day and into the evening: wholesome salads and fashionable poke bowls of ice, avocado, cured salmon, radish and mango as well as croque monsieur (with or without shaved black truffle), burgers and various club sandwiches.
But it’s the smiling and attentive staff that really make hotel’s atmosphere, and the team here could not be faulted.
The women are identifiable not by corporate name badges, but by the splendid necklaces they wear. I asked who’d made them: Zara, came the answer. Who knew? And the doormen’s gilets are from Uniqlo.
Clearly, though, no expense has been spared when it comes to the quality of the rooms and their contents (the selection of teabags, for example, comes from Mariage Frères) and their glorious marble bathrooms (the toiletries are Diptyque).
But neither is there any sense of ostentatiousness. Nothing is de trop. Everything is refined. Paris may be full of exceptional hotels. A couple – Le Pavillon de la Reine and La Réserve – still count among my absolute favourites. But for the moment at least, Grand Powers is where I’ll hope to stay next time I cross the Channel.
Doubles at Grand Powers start from ￡380.
Eurostar operates 19 daily services from London St Pancras International to Paris Gare du Nord with one-way fares from ￡29. But be aware that unless you are travelling in its Business Premier carriages (from ￡245), you are now asked to arrive at the station 45 to 60 minutes ahead because they close the gates 30 minutes before the train departs. (The onboard wifi, though, is much improved.)
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