KIMPTON ST HONORÉ PARIS

What is it with hotels and department stores in Paris? Within months of the Cheval Blanc appearing next door to the famous La Samaritaine last year, Kimpton’s first French property opened in what was once

the department store’s luxury outpost on the storied boulevard des Capucines. Designed by La Samaritaine architect Frantz Jourdain in

1914, its Belle Epoque façade is still a showstopper, with its wroughtiron balconies and arched bay windows that once housed elaborate

product displays. Inside, many of the original features remain: the imposing spiral staircase, balconies and monumental period lifts that

have been restored but aren’t in use. The scheme by local design darling Charles Zana is sympathetic to the history, and feels like a Parisian pied-à-terre meeting the Art Deco style of Thirties luxury hotels. There’s a creamy elegance to the 149 bedrooms and suites, all parquet floors, Carrara marble and Chanel-inspired black-and-white curtains. If the design feels quintessentially French, from the Pierre

Mesguich mosaics to archive-inspired Pierre Frey fabrics, there is also an American notion of convenience that’s true to the Kimpton

brand: yoga mats and portable phone chargers. But the most un-Parisian place of all is the 190-seat Montecito restaurant that channels insouciant Palm Springs, with its green-walled terrace, seaside colour scheme and Cali-Mex menu created by Paris-based food writer Carrie Solomon. With a modest but inviting pool and a spa from French cosmetics company Codage, there’s a sense that

this American brand has done right by a Parisian icon. LT Doubles from about AED 1,660; kimptonsthonoreparis.com