Four Seasons Hotel George V

At 31 avenue George V, in the eighth arrondissement of Paris, a few hundred metres from the Champs-Élysées, Four Seasons Hotel George V opened in 1928 and has been managed by Four Seasons since 1999. Three things account for its standing as a luxury hotel: an Art Deco building arranged around a marble courtyard, three restaurants that together hold five Michelin stars, and floral displays that have become the signature of the house.

History

The hotel was built for Joël Hillman, an American investor who wanted a modern palace for the transatlantic clientele of the late 1920s. It opened in 1928 on an avenue named after the British king George V, in the district Parisians call the Golden Triangle, and advertised comforts that were still rare in Paris at the time: a bathroom in every room, a telephone and a radio.

The hotel changed hands several times before Kingdom Holding, the company of Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, bought it in 1996. It closed for two years of work and reopened in December 1999 under Four Seasons management. In 2011 it received the Palace distinction, a label created by the French state the previous year for its most exceptional hotels, in the first group of houses to be awarded it.

Architecture and design

The building is an Art Deco work by the architect Georges Wybo, with a stone facade and a run of tall windows on the avenue. Behind it, the ground floor is organised around a marble courtyard where tables are set under parasols in the warmer months. The interiors were redone in the late 1990s by the designer Pierre-Yves Rochon in an eighteenth-century French manner, with tapestries, parquet and gilt mirrors, rather than in the Art Deco style of the shell.

The flowers are the detail every visitor remembers. Since the reopening the American floral designer Jeff Leatham has composed the arrangements in the lobby and the public rooms, replaced on a weekly cycle. Tall vases set at an angle and massed blooms of a single variety are his recognisable style.

Rooms and suites

The hotel has 244 rooms and suites, 59 of them suites, a modest count for a building of this size, which gives the upper floors a residential calm. A number of rooms have private terraces; those on the top floors look towards the Eiffel Tower, a short distance to the south-west. Rooms follow the Louis XVI register of the public spaces, with high ceilings and marble bathrooms.

Dining

Three restaurants hold Michelin stars. Le Cinq, the main dining room, has held three stars since 2016 under chef Christian Le Squer. Le George, opening on to the courtyard, serves Mediterranean cooking and holds one star, as does L'Orangerie, a small glass-walled dining room beside the courtyard. In the 2017 Michelin guide the George V became the first hotel in Europe with three starred restaurants under one roof. Le Bar serves cocktails and a short menu, and La Galerie serves breakfast and afternoon tea beside the courtyard.

Wellness

The spa opened in 2017 below the courtyard with a swimming pool, treatment rooms, a hammam and a fitness room. It was the last major element of the Four Seasons renovation programme to be completed, almost two decades after the hotel reopened.

Weddings and events

The George V hosts weddings, receptions and corporate meetings in a series of salons on the ground floor, which can be combined with the marble courtyard for a cocktail reception. The salons suit seated dinners and board meetings; the courtyard suits a standing reception or a summer ceremony. Capacities depend on the configuration chosen.

Location

The hotel stands between avenue Montaigne and the Champs-Élysées, in the Golden Triangle of fashion houses and galleries. George V station on metro line 1 is two minutes on foot; the Arc de Triomphe is ten minutes away. Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport takes about 45 minutes by car outside peak hours.