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When you enter a hotel room for the first time, what do you do? If you peel back the curtain to check out the view, then Renaissance, Marriott’s “global lifestyle” brand, has repositioned itself just for you. From shedding the elaborate curls on their “R” logo to investing $2 billion into worldwide renovations, Renaissance says it’s after “discoverers” — not the typical Marriott guest who likes the comfort of uniformity; but the traveler who wants a chic hotel with cultural ties to the destination.
In the US, where many Renaissance properties still feel, well, conventionally Marriott, the new Hotel 57 in New York may best represent the sexier “boutique inspired” direction that Renaissance is aiming for. But throughout Europe, the brand is already there. Paris is a prime example: each of its four hotels is distinct. And with the first transatlantic A380 coming on line next month, Air France can whisk you from JFK to Charles de Gaulle in ultra wide-bodied style.
Just open this year, the Renaissance Paris Arc de Triomphe is a contemporary anomaly amid centuries-old buildings on Avenue de Wagram. In fact, we hear that Pritzker Prize-winning architect Christian de Portzamparc never actually believed the city’s bureaucrats would approve his rippled glass façade. (They did.) In the bedrooms, an otherwise muted palette pops with pink accents, and bathroom mirrors playfully turn half an Eiffel Tower — abstractly painted on the adjacent wall — into a whole one. But you’d rather see the real thing from your balcony (pictured): the Wagram suites take in postcard views that include the pinnacle of the Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and the Sacre-Coeur.
If you stay at Renaissance Le Parc Trocadero, on the other hand, you’re a five-minute stroll from the best Eiffel view Paris has to offer. The hotel also boasts some of the largest guestrooms in the city (seriously, you can do cartwheels in some), and a casual restaurant by Alain Ducasse. (If you can tear yourself from your milk-fed lamb, check out the lovely ceiling swathed in an historic map of Paris.) On good weather days, there’s a leafy terrace (pictured) that’s a secret haven from the hubbub.
Renaissance is also focused on helping guests explore their destination beyond the guidebook highlights: each property has designated “navigators.” At Renaissance La Defense in Paris’ business district (near Europe’s largest mall), concierge Marie Paul Picasse is your ultimate inside pass — she whipped up great dinner reservations for me, from affordable foodie temple Le Comptoir to the revelatory Hier et Aujourd’hui, an under-the-radar bistro worth hunting for in the 17th arrondissement.
The Renaissance Vendome has its own culinary destination in Pinxo, the laidback eatery by two-star Michelin chef Alain Dutournier. Serving small plates meant for sharing, Pinxo feels less like a hotel restaurant and more like a neighborhood gathering place thanks to the streetside entrance that has encouraged locals to make Pinxo their own.
With only 97 rooms and a small discreet spa (with one of Paris’ only hotel swimming pools), Vendome feels truly boutique (before Marriott it was an independent). And because of its location in the heart of Paris’ fashion scene, it offers amenities its sister properties do not — think: Bulgari bath products and turndown chocolates by master chocolatier Jean-Paul Hevin. If this is what destination discovery is all about, then we like this kind of renaissance.
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