Palace, grand hotel, five stars

A palace hotel is a luxury hotel of exceptional standing, often set in a historic building. In France, “Palace” has been an official distinction since 2010, awarded by the state to a small number of five-star hotels that meet criteria of location, history, architecture, service and staffing.

Outside France the word is used by custom rather than by law: the great hotels of the Belle Époque, the royal palaces turned hotels in India, or the state-built palaces of the Gulf.

A five-star hotel is the highest grade of a national hotel classification. Criteria vary by country and cover room size, facilities, languages spoken and service hours; they do not measure history, architecture or reputation.

Many of the hotels in this guide are five-star, but the guide selects on renown, heritage and standard of service rather than on a classification.

A grand hotel is a large luxury hotel of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, built for the first age of international travel, with a monumental façade, public rooms on a civic scale and a ballroom.

The type spread from Paris and the Riviera to railway termini, spa towns and colonial capitals.

A railway hotel is a grand hotel built by a railway company at a station or at a destination it served, to accommodate its passengers. The Canadian railway châteaux and the hotels of London’s great termini are the best known.

Most are now run by hotel groups, but their silhouettes still mark their cities.

A castle hotel is a hotel set in a historic castle, fortress or stately home, usually with its estate: parkland, gardens, a lake or a river, and sporting pursuits such as riding, fishing or falconry.

The building and the grounds are the attraction; the number of rooms is often small.

A heritage hotel occupies a building protected by law for its historic or architectural value: a listed building in the United Kingdom, a monument historique in France, a National Historic Landmark in the United States.

Protection limits what can be altered, which is why the public rooms of these hotels keep their original decoration.

The Belle Époque is the period from about 1880 to the First World War, when the grand hotel reached its peak in Europe: glass roofs, winter gardens, electric light and lifts, and the first luxury bathrooms.

Art Nouveau, with its curves, mosaics and wrought iron, is the style of its last fifteen years.

A ballroom is the largest reception room of a grand hotel, built for balls and banquets, usually with a high ceiling, chandeliers and a sprung floor. Today it hosts weddings, galas and conferences.

Capacity is counted in guests seated at round tables, or standing for a reception, two figures that differ widely.