PARIS Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts announces that Shangri-La Hotel, Paris, will open December 17 as the group’s first property in Europe.
Built in 1896 as the private home of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte’s grand-nephew, Prince Roland Bonaparte, Shangri-La Paris achieves a balance between the group’s signature style of hospitality and French art de vivre.
The restored landmark retains its residential heritage and offers 81 guestrooms, including 27 suites, making it the most intimate of all Shangri-La Hotels worldwide. Internationally acclaimed interior designer Pierre-Yves Rochon crafted each guestroom individually to retain the residential ambience. Accommodation includes Suite Imperiale, which originally housed Prince Roland’s private rooms, and the penthouse Suite Panoramique, with more than 100 sq. m of outdoor deck. Unique in Paris, 40% of the rooms and 60% of the suites feature unobstructed views of the Eiffel Tower and the River Seine below. Nearly half of all rooms offer balconies and terraces that allow guests to take in the sights and sounds of the City of Lights.
Executive Chef Philippe Labbe is in charge of the hotel’s culinary division. La Bauhinia, the all-day dining restaurant and lounge in the centre of the building, features a newly uncovered and restored glass cupola modeled after the Eiffel Tower. The French gourmet restaurant, L’Abeille, and the city’s first authentic gourmet Cantonese restaurant, Shang Palace, will open in early 2011. Chef Labbe will also oversee the cuisine for Le Bar and the former residence’s banqueting rooms.
“Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts is honored to have been entrusted the preservation of this significant part of French heritage,” says General Manager Alain Borgers. “Whether for accommodation, dining, entertaining or celebrating special events, we are eager to welcome Parisians and visitors to reveal this Parisian treasure and offer our signature style of hospitality.”
Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts dedicated four years to meticulously restore Roland Bonaparte’s Palais Iena to its original splendor, the same amount of time it took to build the original home from 1892 to 1896. The building is listed with the French heritage institution, Monuments Historiques, to preserve this landmark in full. Perched on Chaillot Hill, amidst one of the highest concentrations of museums in Europe and a short walk from the famous Trocadero, the hotel offers guests an incomparable mix of culture, from Imperial to modern times.
The 16th arrondissement on the right bank of the River Seine is one of the city’s premier residential districts, yet within a short walking distance from the capital’s main attractions, shopping areas and parks.
Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts owns or manages 68 hotels under the Shangri-La and Traders brands, with a rooms inventory of more than 30,000. The group has upcoming projects in Austria, Canada, mainland China, France, India, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Mongolia, Russia, Qatar, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
