History, art and design: Cheval Blanc’s first urban hotel is a romantic ode to French savoir faire

For the first time in my life, I got lost in a hotel room.

The 1,130-sq-ft Seine Suite in Cheval Blanc Paris was so capacious that I initially thought I had walked into a club lounge. I flitted in confusion between the living room, bedroom, walk-in wardrobe and bathroom several times before I finally found the shortest route from the front door to the bed. More importantly, I figured out how to get to the water closet without landing in the bathtub or walking into a mirror in the middle of the night.

One of the maisons under French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH Group, Cheval Blanc is known for its design-led beachfront and mountainside resorts. The rooms exude quiet palatial splendor, and every creature comfort is soft and plush, designed like a museum artefact (like my bedside lamp with a textured concrete stand) or labelled (like the Dior beauty products included my suite). Rain showers? Too basic. Every room in Cheval Blanc Paris has a hammam-shower that steams up the entire cubicle.

The 72-key property, including 46 suites, is the first urban hotel in the collection and occupies the Seine side of the historic La Samaritaine department store, which LVMH renovated for 15 years to the tune of €750 million (S$1.09 billion). Opening it in September 2021 felt like a brave move amid the lack of international travel. But then again, it may have been a strategy of LVMH’s chairman and chief executive officer Bernard Arnault to boost national pride.