1. The lavish US$300 million makeover
in 2012, two years after a Saudi royal bought the property and Rosewood Hotels & Resorts took over its management, a no-expenses-spared refurbishment was announced to be overseen by architect Richard Martinet alongside artistic director Aline Asmar d’Amman. Interior designers Chahan Minassian, Cyril Vergniol and Tristan Auer were brought onboard, as well as historian Brice Payen.
Martinet and his team employed 250 master craftsmen and 147 artisans to inject new life into the landmark, painstakingly balancing conservation and transformation. The result is an exercise in contemporary grandeur, but with the original soul of the Crillon very much at the centre of it.
“We wanted to give our guests the feeling that they are taking part in French history,” says Marc Raffray, the hotel’s managing director, “and experiencing the true art de vivre à la Française.”