Hotel du Romancier

The hotel gets its name from the road in which it is situated, in Rue Chateaubriand. The Champs Elysées and Arc de Triomphe are just a few minutes away. The district is full of theatres and shops, so you can make any purchases you want. The closest metro station is George V on line 1, which links you directly with the main attractions in the city. Within a few minutes, you can be at La Défense, Place de la Concorde, the Jardins des Tuileries and the Louvre Museum. You can also get to the airport in around an hour using public transport, or in just over half an hour if you are taking a taxi.

This hotel possesses a whole collection of very precious objects, and the care taken with the decor is reflected in the rather expensive rates. Use of the Wi-Fi internet connection is free of charge, and the hotel also has a private car park.

The Hôtel du Chateaubriand is a setting full of treasures, a real work of art displaying a great wealth of collector's items. Everything here exudes a sense of luxury and history, starting with the decoration of the awning above the entrance. Every tiny detail has been painstakingly selected from an antique shop with a specific idea in mind, comes with its own story and plays a unique role in the overall decoration of the place. The general manager of this ongoing project of upgrades and improvements is, in fact, the owner, a man of around thirty. He bought the hotel about four years ago and appears to be using the space to let his creative imagination run free, with scant regard for the cost. The result is one of opulent beauty. Just to give you an idea, in the lounge next to the entrance the wallpaper is made of embroidered silk; the French classics stacked on the bookshelf are all antiques dating back to the 19th Century, and the parquet flooring has been shipped directly across from an English castle. But wait, it actually gets better. In the vast, brightly lit hall, which has been well designed so that guests are able to read the international newspapers, there is a Venetian standard lamp and a round window that was originally on the Château of Versailles. The staircase leading down to the lower ground floor where the breakfast room is located is accompanied by an old banister from goodness knows where, which underwent 278 hours of modifications before it was able to be fitted in place. The carpet running down the steps is from the Elysée palace. When we visited in spring 2009, the patio was being renovated and the owner was talking about the visionary plans he had in mind for the future of this part of the hotel. A fun way to pass the time here is to look in the most unlikely little nooks and crannies for the picture of a butterfly painted in tempera on the parquet and hidden under the carpet, or the human figures painted where you're least expect.

The Hôtel du Chateaubriand's 28 guest rooms are divided into the De Luxe, Classic and Superior categories; they have different dimensions and offer different facilities, although the exquisitely styled decor that distinguishes this hotel is pretty much the same in all of the categories. Each of the rooms is different, but dotted throughout there are valuable objects and sophisticated items brought here from all over the world. Therefore, in the Deluxe room, don't be taken aback to find an Italian marble wash basin or the silver trim that has come straight off the Orient Express. Your room is equally likely to be decked out with a Chinese standard lamp, a fur-covered divan or a wall-hanging made of wool. The rooms are all pretty bright and decorated with care in subtle pastel shades like old pink and mauve. It goes without saying that the furniture and, in general, all of the materials used have gone through a selection process testing their quality and design.

The Hôtel du Chateaubriand does not have a restaurant, but room service is available 24 hours a day. The breakfast room is quite something to behold: the staircase leading down to it from the hall is adorned with an old banister and a red carpet from the stairs of the Elysée palace. Once down there, you find yourself in a large lounge opening onto an outdoor patio that was being renovated when we visited. The walls are covered in beautifully colourful striped wallpaper, and the lighting, some of which is artificial, has been well thought through. The room is brightened up by bouquets of fresh flowers set on the cabinets and tables. Nothing is left to chance here, either. The chairs, for example, come from Italian castles, other items started off life in Germany, and it seems that every day the hotel is filled with even more precious new details.