Room Mate arrives in Paris
Room Mate Hotels, the international chain founded by the Spanish revolutionary entrepreneur Kike Sarasola, has continued its expansion plans with the opening of its first hotel in France, Room Mate Alain.
Located between La Défense, Porte Maillot, the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Élysées, the property has been created by interior designer Lorenzo Castillo and plans to be one of the chain’s reference hotels in Europe.
“I am especially happy with our arrival in Paris,” says Sarasola. “Room Mate Alain is the first of many hotels we’ll have in France, which is a key market for us and a country I love. Alain is proof of our international expansion plan with which we will be doubling the size of the company in the next months.”
Inspired by the story of Coco Chanel, who spent the last years of her life living in a hotel in Paris, Castillo has created an elegant ambience that focuses on the existing details of the building – whose façade has been preserved entirely. Taking guests back to the Golden Age of luxury hotels, to the Paris of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald reproduced in Woody Allen’s ‘Midnight in Paris’, Castillo also adorned the property with rich textures, velvets and silks, as well as soft warm lighting.
The use of antiques was essential to the hotel’s decoration too, with a 17th century Dutch lamp welcoming guests at the reception; Louis XV wall lamps lighting the corridors, print collections of French kings decorating the walls; and rich Napoleon III and Louis XV chairs, upholstered in silver embroidered velvet, injecting a somewhat residential feel.
On collaborating with Room Mate, Castillo explains: “It’s always a pleasure to work for Kike Sarasola. He trusts me and allows me to design freely and this is the only possible way to create art. The only thing he asked me to do was to give this hotel the allure of the great Parisian hotels in the 1920s.”
On the ground floor, cocktail bar Le Bar d’Alain is adorned with Chinese panels and features a colour scheme inspired by Chanel’s characteristic pink, black and gold. On the menu are a wide range of the most exclusive wines and champagnes, as well as dishes like caviar and blinis or poultry risotto. Elsewhere, a fitness centre and fully-equipped spa feature a hammer and treatment menu available upon request.
Room Mate Hotels will expand its 25-strong portfolio with 11 new projects over the next 18 months, doubling its size from 1,800 to 3,600 rooms.
