Glass hotel-hops in Paris and Normandy with MGallery

GLASS has been exploring the MGallery family of hotels in central Paris. Each hotel in the MGallery portfolio has a unique story, a history that is treasured and teased out to create a distinctive and memorable ambiance in keeping with the character of the building. 

Hôtel L’Echiquier Opéra Paris
Hôtel L’Echiquier Opéra Paris celebrates the ease and comfort of the Belle Epoch era and is ideally situated for easy access to les grands magasins and the glass roofed arcades of the central shopping district.

Hotel L'Echiquier Opera Paris barThe bar at Hôtel L’Echiquier Opéra Paris

Hôtel L’Echiquier’s signature scent, formulated to reflect the character and history of the hotel, contains a tonka bean note modulated so perfectly that one’s mood and energy levels are lifted the moment one steps into the lobby. A tiny, traditional, birdcage lift subtly encourages you not to overdo it on the delicious breakfasts and afternoon teas served in the glass roofed bar and breakfast room. But we defy anyone not to overdo it (slightly) on Hôtel L’Echiquier’s delicious cocktails. Hôtel L’Echiquier Opéra Paris has a small but well-appointed gym, so if you have the discipline, you can work off any over-indulgence.

 

birdcage lift at Hotel L'Echiquier Opera ParisThe birdcage lift at Hôtel L’Echiquier Opéra Paris

Worried that you might not fit all your shopping bags into that little lift? Fear not, there is also a large and modern lift that will take all that Galleries Lafayette and Printemps see fit to throw at you. No dinner service, but, in such a location, one is likely to be visiting  either the hottest new Parisian restaurants, or revisiting favourite haunts, non? And an appetising room service menu is available for those nights when you might prefer to snuggle in your room. Rooms and suites are well-appointed, each with the charming touch of a curtain to pull across the door, in traditional Parisian style: a subtlety that immediately creates a cozy, cocooned ambiance. We are very fond of the hotel’s mascot, a stuffed peacock who presides over the dining room and whose iridescent blue feathers inform the warm and dramatic colour palette of this jewel of an hotel.

peacock at Hotel L'EchiquierA restaurant at the Hôtel L’Echiquier Opéra Paris

Hôtel Paris Bastille Boutet
Moving eastwards we find the sexy and chic Hôtel Paris Bastille Boutet. A jaw-droppingly imposing staircase sits at the heart of this square building (formerly the Boutet joinery and specialist in exotic woods).

MGallery Paris Bastille BoutetHôtel Paris Bastille Boutet

The staircase is glass-rooofed, and this allows natural light to permeate throughout the hotel, as the staircase is visible through windows set in the corridors panelled in wood and mirrored glass that encircle it. Hôtel Paris Bastille Boutet has a glamour guaranteed to bring out one’s inner Helmut Newton model, and the rooms, many with private terraces, lend themselves to spending a considerable amount of time in bed. All the more so if you book either of the two suites designed by final year architecture students of the renowned Ecole Boulle, which are beyond seductive.

Teak Suite at MGallery Paris Bastille BoutetThe Teak Suite at Hôtel Paris Bastille Boutet

In the Ebony suite dark wood, marble floors and bathroom, and silk velvet textiles combine to create a slightly masculine ambiance sugestive of that little flat in town that you never found quite the right sugar daddy to set you up in. The Teak Suite is a boldly designed and intriguingly constructed L-shaped space featuring a seven metre hall, chevron parquet flooring, and a bathtub that looks out onto the private terrace. Hôtel Paris Bastille Boutet is full of surprises, not least the gym, pool, and spa area: drenched in natural light and including a steam room, sauna and luminotherapy showers.  A hotel so photogenic it could persuade even the most diehard social media refusenik to create an instagram account.

pool at MGallery Paris Bastille BoutetThe indoor pool at Hôtel Paris Bastille Boutet

Hôtel Molitor
Hôtel Molitor in the 16th arondissement of Paris is the sportif place to stay built around the legendary Piscine Molitor. The outdoor pool is heated to 28 degrees, making an al-fresco swim possible in all but the most inclement conditions, but if you really can’t face the elements, the smaller indoor pool is always enticing.

Molitor Paris pool by dayThe Piscine Molitor at Hôtel Molitor

Prefer to watch the swimmers, rather than emulate them? The outdoor pool is the centre-piece of the hotel and all rooms overlook it. Hotel Molitor is close to the Bois de Boulogne and the Stade Jean Boulin, home of the Stade Français rugby team, and with Le Parc des Princes only a ten minute walk from the hotel, this the perfect base for sports enthusiasts.

poolside breakfast at Hotel MolitorThe poolside breakfast at Hôtel Molitor

We think this location helps to make the Hôtel Molitor the hotel of choice for anyone taking a vacation with notoriously hard to please teenagers. And whilst teens might not be able to avail themselves of the pleasures of the Hôtel Molitor bar, we think they’ll love the cool factor of Molitor’s commitment to street art. The hotel hosts resident artists in the space that was formerly the entrance to the public pools, and the blue-doored changing cabins that ring the indoor pool have been lovingly spray-painted by individual artists to create a unique and unforgettable gallery.

Molitor pool by nightThe Hotel Molitor at night viewed from rooftop terrace

 

Les Cures Marines Trouville Thalassa & Spa, Trouville, Normandy
The Parisian MGallery hotels have a beautiful country cousin in Les Cures Marines at Trouville, Normandy. Trouville is the Parisian’s beach resort: Coco Chanel put Deauville on the map for the whole world to enjoy, but thankfully neighbouring Trouville is quieter and Les Cures-Marines is ideally situated to enjoy the sands and explore the town.

bar at Les Cures Marines, TrouvilleThe bar at Les Cures Marines

Built into the right wing of Trouville’s monumental casino building, rooms in Les Cures Marines overlook either the beach or the harbour. The neo-classical facade has been restored to a bright white with pearl grey highlights, and the roof, made of traditional slate tiles, glitters silver in the sunlight like a fish. The hotel is decorated in whites, greys and blues to create an airy, elegant and restful environment.

suite at Cures Marines Trouville Hotel Thalasso SpaLes Cures Marines de Trouville

Les Cures Marines has an excellent restaurant Le 1912, which takes full advantage of the fresh produce that Normandy is famed for, and the treatments available at the hotel’s acclaimed thalassotherapy spa Les Cures-Marines Institute should ensure that you stay in perfect shape throughout your stay. The thalasso and spa areas cover two floors and feature two indoor swimming pools, alongside treatment rooms and booths and offer personalised holistic procedures with an emphasis on anti-ageing using the therapeutic qualities of seawater and innovative wellness and cosmetic techniques.

Les Cures Marines de Trouville poolThe pool at Les Cures Marines, Hôtel, Thalasso Sea & Spa

 

All hotels in the MGallery portfolio, while being highly distinctive in character and idiosyncratic in charm, appeal, and unique features, benefit from a level of thoughtful attention to detail that ensures that the simple comforts that you find in one hotel are there in the next. We noticed that in every room we stayed in, the beds were superbly comfortable, the sound-proofing and heating perfect, the bathrooms well lit (perfect for putting on make-up and taking selfies), and best of all, dressing gowns and slippers were provided on our scale. As a woman of average height, one becomes used to slopping around hotel rooms in oversized slippers and swathed in acres of man-sized towelling, but MGallery have the comfort of female travellers very much in mind.

suite with terrace at MGallery Paris Bastille BoutetA bedroom and terrace at Hôtel Paris Bastille Boutet

Each hotel had Clarins or Nuxe products in the bathroom and, had you lost your makeup bag or decided to travel light, each hotel makes available a curated collection of beauty products to purchase that should ensure no last minute dashes to Sephora are needed. Although, of course, those can be fun …

Oh, and if you fall in love with any one of the carefully crafted and distinctive fragrances that were created to perfume the lobby and corridors of each hotel, you can buy scented candles to recapture the mood at home. MGallery have shown confidence and sensitivity to the unique story of each hotel in their restorations of buildings with such rich heritage; creating a distinctive ambience in each with no sentimentality or pastiche, and no compromises in comfort and convenience.

by Rachel McCormack

To make a booking, go here

Hôtel L’échiquier Opéra Paris, 38 Rue De L’échiquier, 75010 Paris T:(+33)1/42469275 

Hotel Paris Bastille Boutet, 22, 24 Rue Faidherbe, 75011 Paris T:(+33)1/40246565

Molitor, 13 rue Nungesser et Coli, 75016 Paris T:(+33)1/56070850

Les Cures Marines, Hôtel, Thalasso Sea & Spa, Bvd de la Cahotte, 14360 Trouville-sur-Mer T:(+33)2/31142600

 

 

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