The €500M Remodel: Designing The Finest Luxury Hotel In Paris | Hôtel de Crillon | Abode

You going to book me? I might get a muggy. It's that gorgeous one, eh? And I believe I can run cheap amounts. Download Veely now. The Hotel de Criant in Paris is the stuff of legend. In 2013, the establishment closed its doors for three years for a complete refit to ensure it retains its place as one of the finest luxury hotels in the world. The story we're going to tell is one of a staggeringly huge project. To make the Criant a showcase for French expertise, the country's finest artisans have been selected, including embroiderers, cabinetmakers and feather experts. Artists in skilled trades that have been developed over centuries have been called in by the Criant, and even celebrated designer Karl Lagerfeld made a contribution. That clock's nice. It's lovely. It's chic. It's better than the other one, right? For sure. The other one was too golden. No, it's great. The view is magical, isn't it? We'll see how everything was decided down to the tiniest detail and smallest object. The sculptures are done by hand. All the details are done by hand. A piece like this would take around four hours. For months, we've been following chambermaids and chefs, florists and decorators. And through them, we've discovered the hidden workings of one of the most beautiful luxury hotels in the world. Together, we'll enjoy exclusive access to a secret project and witness the renaissance of the Hotel de Criant. Here, we are walking up this magnificent ancient staircase to the salon. To three salons, in fact. The Salon des Aigles, the Salon Marie-Antoinette, and the Salon des Batailles that are on the second floor. Aline Asma Daman is the project's artistic director. Aged 38, this architect of Lebanese origin is like a military leader running the revamp. She's driving the refit mainly in the salons that are listed historical monuments and the prestigious bedroom of Marie-Antoinette. Like a fierce guardian of good taste, she hunts down the slightest deviation from her battle plan. What really bothers me is that despite the fact I know the project by heart, I don't like it when I'm in a room that hasn't been arranged in the way we planned. This bench shouldn't be here. It goes in front of the bed and the fabric goes behind. I want to push the bed back, put the bench in the right place, and please remove the protection from the legs of the bench because I'd like to see a real work in progress and not a scenario that is not the scenario for the bedroom. I really don't like that. And here, there's a little mistake in terms of the fabric reference because we didn't ask for a peach color, we wanted a grey. And we're going to make this grey. There are two panels, right? All grey, that's right. I want to forget this peach right now. I can't bear to look at it. Can we turn this, rotate this please? Rotate it because actually it goes just beneath the bed. I can breathe again. I couldn't stand it. You can't have a bed in the middle of a room. That's not a room. Now let's concentrate on the drapes. I'm sorry but I'm hot. I can't wear my hat. And when there's a problem, Aline is never short of ideas. I use my portable tech equipment. My necklace. Your princess necklace. My princess necklace. I don't know. It wouldn't be a metal chain, would it? It's very 21st century. 21st century, that's right. That changes everything. I love it. So chic. That's right in the style we want. So sophisticated and elegant to break it up with that chain. It's never been done before but that's what we like. That's what the Hotel du Criant deserves. With a made-to-measure dressing room, in pieces of art, contemporary prints and sumptuous fabrics, Aline has designed this room down to the last detail. And she's created a modern 200-meter squared suite that respects the history of the place. In the salon, she's combined a listed tapestry with modern furniture and artworks, all created by women. But Aline Asmaa Daman is not done with the drapes yet. In the Salon des Aigles, the upholsters are awaiting the verdict. Welcome. Thank you. How are you? I'm fine. Actually, I'd really like to be up there. Go ahead. I will then. To truly appreciate the work how it should be appreciated, she really has to go out of her way. Oh, these boots are terribly slippery. If I had my heels on, I wouldn't slip. Wow. It's a dream come true. It makes you feel a little dizzy. The vertigo happens there, but not there. It's incredible to see it so close up. Ceilings six meters high, sculpted interiors, ancient chandeliers. This listed room, the Salon des Aigles, is one of the most prestigious in the hotel. It has amazing views of the Place de la Concorde and some of the most famous monuments in Paris. These drapes are embroidered with precious metals, symbolizing the ink from the Treaty of the League of Nations, which was signed in the Salon in 1919. And here, right from the start, we wanted to respect this heritage and make sure that this heritage in its showcase would contrast with and speak to anything we might bring in terms of contemporary creativity. Everything you see is extremely linear, simple and minimal, with the fall of the drapes in a fabric that is almost a solid color, with just the expression of the embroidery to bring out this artisanal craft and this excellence. And I think you got it spot on with the fall and the folds. It's not about taking a decorative standpoint. It's about the legitimacy of the history. We are contrasting the contemporary with the ancient, and we know it's got to last. Today, they might be hanging the drapes, but this project actually started in 2012. Bringing the legend of the Criant back to life has taken four years of work on a colossal scale. This was a huge renovation project. The hotel was in a terrible state. This project was off the scale. 17,000 cubic meters of earth excavated. 6,000 cubic meters of poured concrete. It was a technical feat in the centre of the French capital and one of its busiest junctions. The stakes were colossal, and the opening was postponed several times. 600 different materials were acquired, including 40 types of marble. They had to redesign all 124 rooms, including 43 suites, two restaurants and the bar, not forgetting the spa and pool. Essential for any hotel in the luxury category. In total, the work covered more than 16,000 metres squared, spread over seven floors. We had to empty every floor, every level of the hotel. Everything was redone. There are just 120 days until the hotel will open, and a lot of work is still to be done. In the world of luxury hotels, the gastronomic offer is extremely important. The kitchens of Les Criants. It's magnificent. Now this is great. This is one of my favourites. We have half induction and half gas. Chef Christopher Ashe runs the kitchens. Two restaurants, one bar, the room service and banqueting are all under his responsibility. He has a team of 70 people working for him. For months, all Christopher Ashe has thought about is organisation, recipes, cookware and tableware. He'd love to pick up at least one star for Les Criants, the hotel's gastronomic restaurant. And this involves choosing each product very carefully. Ceramics, crystal, blown glass, silverware, flatware. Every object is thought out and created to order. That's what luxury is about, all these details that are so important. 120 days left until the opening, and the hotel is still a work site. Two men play a key role. They coordinate the arrival of furniture and materials. Nobody has the keys. Lionel has been behind 20 hotel openings, and he's been working on this one for the past four years. He knows the hotel like the back of his hand. Only 40 centimetres, it's not enough. From the safes to the point of sale terminals, from the height of the paintings to the delivery of the comforters, his mission is to supply a hotel in full working order with all the necessary equipment. Is the fifth done? He's responsible for everything used by the employees and the customers. Listen, it needs to be truly coherent in the lobby at some point. François is responsible for receiving the furniture created by the artisans. He organises delivery, unpacking and arranging. And then we'll meet back with Karl Lagerfeld. Lights, tables and carpets, everything has to be delivered in perfect condition at the right time. Open the crates and see what's inside. Leave some space to get the table through. No, I don't have time for that right now. What am I supposed to do with that? Aurélie, don't touch the stucco. Both men are constantly juggling with hundreds of artisans, delivery times, missed dates and dozens of trucks to unload every day in the middle of one of the busiest road junctions in Paris. They were under constant pressure and have only one desire, to finish in time. We'll do the painting after, not now. These things have to be delivered to the hotel. You can't be doing this. We'll sort it out some other way. Obviously, we still have a lot of work to do here. The hotel is set to open in 60 days' time and in Place de la Concorde, work goes on. If there's to be any hope of opening on time, Lionel, who's coordinating the work, must wear several different hats. He has to manage building, deliveries, decoration and finishing touches. Three things are happening simultaneously. You have to manage people. You can't say no to anyone because the people here have expectations. There are often companies who have driven four hours to be here. You can't make them wait for ages. The people here are motivated. You have to keep things moving. We need to get that photo with the lamps, the heritage staircase, the bench here, so we need to get a move on and put it in place with the two little tables. Aline Azmar Daman is also under pressure. She only has a few days left to finish. Tristan Auer is one of the decorators who's working with her. It's so beautiful. That's why Tristan is such a genius. He designed a large part of the public spaces, mainly the barber's salon with shoe polisher and cigar area, the only one of its kind in a Paris hotel. This is special cracked fabric. It can be cracked in all directions. It's magnificent. The patina and the cocoon and all this modernity is so fabulous. It's superb. And these little hollow moldings that suggest classical moldings in a much more modern manner. Can you show me the feather alcove with Eric? Right here. Where is Eric? Oh my God, I don't believe it. Where are your feathers? They're here. How are you? I'm fine. How are you? It's so good to see you. How long has it been? I don't know. Eric has made a feathered alcove in the hairdressing salon. It's the first ever example of feathered architecture. Let's go see it in Tristan's salon. If you look up in an alcove in the hairdressing salon, there's a ceiling of feathers. This unique creation is the work of an artisan or rather an artist, Eric Charles Donatien. Eric practices a trade that's now almost disappeared. He's a plumassier, or feather specialist. With his feathers, he creates dresses, hats, shoes, jewellery, and handbags. Eric is one of the last artisans to work this way and share his expertise. Feathers are forever associated with beauty, gentleness, lightness, everything to do with birds, and they're even a symbol of freedom. They're my way of paying homage to nature. This commission is a first for interior design. Eric created a suspended crown and each feather was selected, trimmed, and worked to create the movement. Gradually, as you go deeper, there are bigger feathers. Some have their ends painted gold and they start to appear gradually. Then they become longer and look like they're lengthening. With natural feathers and metal ones hammered by hand, Eric has spent weeks and weeks perched on his ladder. Everything was designed four years ago in the workshop, but the work is only created in situ, feather by feather. Each feather is a challenge because you might want it to go to the left, but it goes to the right. Or you think that there it's going to curl, but in fact it doesn't. But I really like working with that aspect where you're not totally in control of the material with which you're working. How many feathers in total? I honestly think that at a certain point we just stopped counting because we realized that the amount we estimated wouldn't be enough. We just stopped counting. We added more and we added even more and needed more. We prepared more In truth, the number is astronomical. There are thousands of feathers that now decorate the hairdressing salon. Meanwhile, in the kitchens, they're finishing off the house kuglof. No, it has to be perfect. The kuglofs aren't that big. Seems there's a problem with the packaging. That's funny. Estelle Lamotte is head of catering. From room service to the gastronomic restaurant, she manages everything right down to the choice of plates created for the hotel's restaurant. In total, it took six months of work to attain this result, which is magnificent. The Maison Abilon has been producing luxury porcelain in Limoges since 1842. It's used on the finest tables on the planet. These artisans have preserved, handed down and brought to life this trade that combines tradition with modernity. No fewer than 11 stages are required to create these porcelain pieces. Their movements are precise. First, the porcelain undergoes trial by fire, a temperature of 1400 degrees. Then they are enameled to give them a gloss and a translucent look. We have a young enameler who's not here today, but he's been doing it for 10 years, so he doesn't yet know how to do everything, as each technique is unique to each product. Expertise is something very important to us, and our people have a lot of expertise for creating and making these products. That's the real secret. It's in people's hands. Francis de Rousseau is the manager of the decoration workshop. Here are the decals. After a final firing lasting 24 hours, the magicians working in gold and pigment add the finishing touches. The yellow glaze is a varnish that holds the colors on the paper and allows them to be placed on the plate. The dark parts on the decal is the gold leaf, which will be shiny after firing. When it comes out of the kiln, you can see that the gold is a little clogged. We rub it gently so as not to scratch the gold, removing all the deposits, and the gold gradually shines through. Each piece is hand-finished. In total, 2,400 plates have been produced for the hotel. Hello, everyone. In Place de la Concorde, the workers are on the home straight. Today, Karl Lagerfeld has come to put the finishing touches to the prestigious suite he designed. I've always had a weakness for the idea of the crayon. I remember when I was at school, I was walking in Paris, and I sat down in the Tuileries Gardens and looked at the crayon. And because I love the architecture from this era, I thought to myself how much I'd like to live there. And indirectly, that's where I've ended up. It took a few decades, but I'm here now. And it didn't cost me a dime. That clock's nice. It's lovely. It's chic. It's better than the other one, right? For sure. The other one was too golden. No, it's great. And the view is magical, isn't it? This perfectionist has an eye on everything, right down to the tiniest detail. He doesn't miss a thing. The telephone in the entrance there? Horrible. That black plastic. It's horrible. I've asked them 10 times to get rid of it. I finally managed to get rid of that brown sign. After the telephone, it's time to pick the colour for the minibar cupboard. I think the lighter colours, Aline. The lighter colours. And in operational terms, it's perfect for everything we're going to serve. You're okay? I'm very well. How about you? I'm fine. A little swamped, perhaps. I'm sure. In terms of his designs, Karl Lagerfeld took inspiration from the antique, 18th century classism and modernity, without forgetting to pay homage to the magnificent Château de Versailles. Did I tell you how, when you sent us that drawing for the production and we contacted this living heritage company called Séger, they only used an enlargement of this drawing to make it. They had a real masterpiece in their hands. They made the prototype and drawing was so accurate in terms of the proportions that they called me up to tell me how moved they were because they knew that nothing would need to be changed. And when you saw the scale model, nothing was changed. It's perfect. The ceilings in these suites are three meters high with a total area of more than 300 meters squared. This bathroom in white marble is one of the most spectacular places in the hotel. For the view, of course, but also for the incredible bathtub. It weighs over 1400 kilograms and is carved out of a single block of marble. There are hidden surprises everywhere. Behind the stainless steel doors of the bookcase in the living room is a secret walk-in closet designed like a changing room in a fashion house. The hand basins in the bathroom are antique fountains from Versailles. Karl Lagerfeld even designed a bedroom dedicated to his cat, the choupette room with a rug covered with scratches. You can see that it was expensive, but in a good way. It's not bling. It's extremely sophisticated and sophistication costs more than bling. For me, it's not a rebirth. It's a birth. As with the rest of the Hotel de Criant, Karl Lagerfeld called on some exceptional artisans. In Ludiac in Brittany, the Maison Allot, a living heritage company, was tasked with creating some of the furniture for the suite he designed. For two centuries, eight generations of artisans have handed down their unique expertise here. Today, the company is run by Ronan Allot. He's 35 years old. These days, working in the traditional way feels kind of incoherent from an economic perspective. But it's also about continuing a tradition and preserving trades that are quite simply disappearing now. It allows us to produce some exceptional furniture. This is the sculpture workshop. Marcel has been with the company for 25 years. He knew me when I was a small boy. Today, he's like an elder for us. He worked on the living room table for the Criant. We always start with a drawing. For sculpted pieces, we always start with a drawing. I make a model, a framework, then the sculpture is done by hand. The details are done by hand. A piece like this would take around four hours. We're in a trade where humility is very important. A piece takes the time it takes. Patience is what brings experience. There are many things about which we must be humble every day. Of course, this kind of project makes us very proud. The whole team works on the order for the hotel. The eight months dedicated to the furniture for the Karl Lagerfeld dining room finishes with the patina being added. Jean-Charles, who's been at the company for 28 years, is responsible for this finishing. He spent entire days brush in hand, applying dozens of different patinas, each one applied individually. When a piece of furniture leaves the shop, I feel a little tightness in my heart because it's something we spent a lot of time creating, something we loved making. And we're proud that it's going to one of the finest hotels in Paris and that lots of people will see it. It makes me very happy. Jean-Charles will look after his table right to the very end. He delivers it in person. François and Lionel send it up to the top floor. All these pieces of furniture tell a story of the hands that crafted them of excellence, of the very best artistic trades and the best artisans in France and across Europe. That is the tradition of a luxury hotel, a luxury hotel enjoying an old-style rebirth. This creation now has pride of place in Karl Lagerfeld's suite. The opening is in 31 days, but the work must be finished tomorrow to test how the hotel functions with the employees. Cyrille Verniol, in charge of the decoration of the 124 bedrooms, is here with his business partner to inspect the latest apartments to have been finished. His challenge was to design original bedrooms. No two are alike. No, that's going to be constantly shifting anyway. There are five different color schemes, each one with a different style. The chairs are different, the furniture is different and the colors change so that everyone can find something they like. All the visitors to the hotel, all the hotel's residents will be able to discover something unique. Size, arrangement, decoration, plan, furniture. Nothing is standard. Nothing is mass-produced. When it comes to luxury, it's all about the details. For the trimmings of the drapes, Cyrille Verniol has called upon the expertise of a family business that's the only one of its kind in the world. Hello Aurélie. Hello Cyrille, how are you? Fine. We need to change this because we're not going to go with this color scheme and we're not going to have the smooth embroidery. And I need something geometric with this kind of feel. Maybe a little bit more circular with simple tones. Nothing too... These are mostly hem covers and braiding. I'm not sure that's what you want. It's more this kind of thing. Something like that I think you might like. Right. That but in a color that's more... Something more golden brown, black, beige. Here everything is made the old-fashioned way using machines that date back to the 19th century. Over time when I see clients who visit the workshop, they're all flabbergasted no matter how old they are because there's this power. We're the only company like this in Paris and machines like ours, they virtually totally disappear. In the bedrooms, as everywhere in the hotel, every object must be unique, comfortable, but also solid. That's a condition that's specific to the hotel industry. Unlike a couch for a private home, with its softness and comfort, for a hotel it has to puff right back up immediately. You can't sit down and then stand up and leave a dent behind. It has to be impeccable every time. So you need to find the right balance between comfort and shape so that when you stand up and then come back into the room, the couch looks perfect and not like someone has already sat on it. The guiding thread for the bedrooms is giving guests the feeling that they're entering a Paris interior. When we won the project, the idea was that the Hotel Le Criant still belonged to the Criant family and that each generation had kept the very best of the previous one. And that each main period in French decorative art had brought its own touch and they'd kept the best each one offered. And in France, we are amazingly lucky to have been leading the way for a very long time in terms of interior design and decoration. And in general, the whole world envies us. In 30 days' time, the hotel will open its doors to a very demanding French and international clientele that's expecting irreproachable service. The butler starts here and goes out there and there are different scenarios. Obviously, sometimes they go straight to the room. Alexis Argores is the manager of the future butlers. To stand out from the competition, the hotel is the only one in Paris to offer its clients a personalized butler service, whatever the price of the room or duration of the stay. Please. To ensure the service is impeccable, Alexis practices scenarios with the new recruits. Understanding the client to better serve them is the primary quality of a good butler. Alexis has prepared an exercise to test the involvement of his new apprentices. I'm going to ask the teams to come in threes, not to say anything and just make observations about the room. On the bed, I'm expecting the butlers to notice that the gentleman prefers to sleep on the left side of the bed. Our beds have three different types of pillows and to me, this client hasn't slept on all three. He just tossed away the two other pillows so we can arrange it according to his preference and we won't need to put back all three. He started reading so we can provide him with a little bookmark. And something we often see, there's a bath towel on the floor. Lots of people think it's just been tossed there, but in fact, people use them as prayer mats. So I expect the chambermaids or butlers to bring a tray with a prayer mat, the Koran, and even though this gentleman has put it in the right direction, also a compass. Clutching their notebooks, the butlers have to note down every clue. Who is the client? What are his tastes and habits? How can they make him happy? The exercise is timed. The butlers are under pressure and for good reason. You're under time pressure here. You'll normally have 15, 16 or even 17 rooms, so you can't spend that much time. What did you spot? I would say luxury products. He likes fine cigars. He likes the coffee we gave him. Also the books. We can see he's very interested in Paris so we could bring more books on the subject or suggest activities outside the hotel. All that is correct. Now I want to know, the chambermaids are going to come back in and put the room back to how it was. How do you think we could personalize that setup now? Put a bookmark in his book so he doesn't lose his place. Take away the pillows he didn't use? And in the bathroom? He watched TV so we could find the last channel he watched and leave that on. Perfect, why not? And what's that? I thought he was doing sports, yoga. It wouldn't hurt to give him a yoga mat or a tray with a Koran and a prayer mat and you're done. Because if you don't note down the preferences, the chambermaids will just put it back to the standard setup. Anticipating the client's every need is what service means in a luxury hotel. And it's up to the butler to make the difference. In terms of the reopening, the establishment's reputation is also on the line in terms of gastronomy. Christopher Ashe is finalizing the menu and the organization of his team in the gastronomic restaurant. There will be almost 200 dishes to prepare each evening. They must be trained constantly to prepare them without a single error. Two amuse-bouche, two mushrooms, four squid, Nico. Two foie gras, two flounders, two crayfish. I'm coming, I'm coming. How long for that tart? Five minutes. You said five minutes, five minutes ago. Yes, chef. We have to be perfect every day and that's why you have to constantly be questioning everything. It's like I said, it's important. This chef's cooking is all about the produce. That's his philosophy. I've always had a very open approach and of course that involves extremely high quality produce with a focus on French produce. Market gardeners from the Paris region, fish from La Trinité, foie gras from the southwest. He chose to construct his signature dish around a very simple product, the button mushroom. It looks simple but the recipe is extremely complex. The shapes, colors, the design of the plate, everything evokes the mushroom. It involved a lot of testing. We made the recipe 20 or 30 times until we got just the right balance. Dressing the plate is a very precise operation. Christopher wants painstaking attention paid to the execution of each dish. This rigor with regard to the taste buds of his future customers is all about his aim of soon winning a first star for the restaurant. Winning stars is one of the challenges. It's a magnificent reward. It rewards years of experiments, the daily work, quality products, consistency. It recognizes the fruit of combined effort. That's how I see it. The Hotel de Criant is now having a dry run when the testing happens. And it's the employees themselves who will check if everything is running smoothly. The management offers them a stay of one or more nights, a meal in the restaurant, a treatment in the spa. Everything needs to be tested and dozens of employees are getting on with the job. Even the director of the hotel, Jacques Oudinot. But there's a problem. There's no one here to meet him. This little error is soon rectified. Mr. Oudinot. Hello. Thank you very much. Allow me to take your luggage. Thank you. With him, as with all the other pretend clients at the reception desk, they don't know the script for his stay. They just know there's a booking for today. How are you? I'm very well. It's great to see you. It's been a while since I was at the hotel. Jacques analyzes and asks questions. You've reserved a premier suite. Is that the best suite you have? There's one category above, which is the grand premier suite. Here you are. Thank you. Welcome to your apartment. Thank you. Are there no lights at the Hotel de Criant? I'm sorry. There you are. If I might just take two minutes of your time to show you around. Thank you. Could I get you something to drink? That would be lovely. But let me look around first, because I'm not sure. I don't know. Let's keep looking around, because it's not exactly what I thought. I thought it was going to be a little bigger than this. That's not straight. How big is the bed? It's a king bed. One meter eighty centimeters. I'm used to sleeping in two meter beds. Two meters by two meters. So the bed might be a problem. Can you see what else is available? I'd like to see a bigger one, then I think I might be able to make my final decision. Of course. I'll find out what's available, and we'll sort this out. I'll wait right here. Very good. I'll be right back, Mr. Oudinot. Thank you. I'm in this suite, and it's absolutely perfect. I just wanted to see how long it would take, and what other options they will suggest. Because I let them know I thought the bed was too small, and that I'd prefer a two meter bed instead of a one eighty. And that I thought it seemed rather small. In a hotel, there are always difficult clients. And there are always delighted ones too. There's even a bench in the shower. Pascal has just completed his training to become a maintenance technician at the Hotel de Criant. He's also going to be enjoying the delights of staying in a luxury hotel. I love this hotel. Life is good, right? Ah, wonderful. Fantastic. Amazing. The view onto the courtyard. Absolute calm. During the training, we kept thinking it wasn't possible, that it was too good to be true. And yet here we are in this amazing place. And it's real. It's just exceptional. And there are all these little scenarios, these little attentions that make it... that just make you want to work well and do a perfect job. And then getting to sleep in a room like this, with beds like this, and the silence. Outside my place, there are always people yelling. It's even scary how there isn't even any sound. For one night, Pascal leaves his social housing apartment. This bedroom would hold my apartment and my neighbor's one too. It's magnificent. Between a Ferrari and an Aston Martin, I'd take the Aston Martin because it's not flashy, but it's still absolute luxury. And here, that's what it is. Absolute luxury. On every floor, the butlers are trying to satisfy the every whim of their co-workers. Ah, yes, this is a different class. It's much more spacious, I'll give you that. And it's the kind of style I was looking for. Yes, the style and the feel suit me much better. Shall I have your bags brought up? Yes, that would be lovely. Thank you very much. Pascal is preparing to enjoy an unforgettable night. He makes himself at home and tries out every single gadget in the room. It's simply exceptional. Let's put on a little jazz, some Ella Fitzgerald. I just might spend the evening in the bathroom. You shouldn't come here on your own. There are two sizes, big and small. Yes, but that size is better. Yeah, you're right. Thanks. Take three. You can put down three for me. It's 4am. Giorgio Vada is going back and forth across Ralgis Market. He's in charge of the flower decorations at the Hotel de Criant. He's the person who'll bring the final touch to the decoration of the suites and salons. This could provide the base. The base at the bottom, you mean? From which we could work. Today is the big day. Tonight, there'll be a soirée to celebrate the reopening of the hotel. All the employees are hard at work preparing for the event. There'll be 600 guests. They'll include the hotel's commercial partners, celebrities, former regulars, and businessmen and women from around the world. There won't be any journalists in attendance. The only cameras will be ours. Giorgio and his team are busy in all the salons. This unusual florist began his career 10 years ago, selling flowers on the streets of Paris. It's exactly what I wanted. And visually, it will just be more and more fabulous. Since then, his passion and his work have made him one of the most sought-after florists in the luxury industry. New York, London, St. Bart. His reputation has traveled the world. It's a place steeped in history, and it simply has to exude Paris. So you have to create a link with all that French art de vive, such as gastronomy, everything handmade, everything beautiful in a general sense, in terms of architecture, everything artisanal. When you look at the quality of the renovations, the quality of the people who have awoken this luxury hotel from its slumber, I just hope I'll be up to the task as well. Behind the smiles and apparent relaxed nature of the management, the tension is palpable. Your attention, please. Is everybody here? We are expecting between 600 and 700 guests tonight. For them, the main entrance will be 10 Place de la Concorde. Back in the kitchen, things are buzzing. More than 10,000 canopies need to be ready by 7pm. Petits fours, stuffed eggs, vegetarian options, and all kinds of sophisticated snacks. Go on, go. Two one kilogram caviars and three bottles of vodka. OK, let's go, let's go. The opening night will be accompanied by 25 musicians. Rehearsals have been going on since this morning. Thomas Roussel has composed a special piece for this evening. We started out with a dream project, and now, tonight, everything is going to come to life. The chefs told me the rehearsals earlier on gave them a shiver, so I hope you can say the same for the guests tonight. Tonight, after years of work, the Hotel de Criant will be reborn. At last, everything is ready. This mansion at 10 Place de la Concorde, created in 1758 for the Duke of Criant, will finally reopen its doors. For the first time, the red carpet has been rolled out. Well done, guys. The guests are arriving in a succession of limousines. Throughout the evening, personalities from around the world will be discovering the new face of the hotel. This is the culmination of four years of work, and I'm so happy to see these smiles all around and to hear all the compliments we've had throughout the evening. It's a moment of great joy, friendship, and celebration of these five years of creativity. The reopening was a great success. Good day, sir. How are you, chef? Great. Delighted to see you. In February 2018, the Michelin Guide revealed the names of their new starred chefs, an event highly anticipated by Christopher Ashe. His efforts were rewarded, and he picked up a star. In September 2018, the decorators, architects, management, and staff saw all their efforts pay off when the Hotel de Criant was awarded the highly coveted luxury five-star hotel label.