Pristine powder blue walls, a vintage-look green plush banquette and red pop café furniture. You’d be forgiven for thinking you’d stumbled into a Wes Anderson-themed restaurant. Instead, you’re in the lobby of Paris’s Hotel Beauregard.
Set deep in the residential 15th arrondissement (with Eiffel Tower views at the end of the street) the newly refurbished hotel is the latest outpost for the Touriste group.
Helmed by founder and CEO Adrien Gloaguen, the Parisien mini-chain has attracted attention for its budget-friendly (in Paris terms) yet style conscious rooms, decorated by Instagram’s hottest interiors icons.
The latest offering follows the Hotel Les Deux Gares, a maximalist collaboration with Luke Edward Hall – you’ve probably seen the photos. Sorry, Emily in Paris, why spend money on a social media manager when you can get your guests to do the job for you, courtesy of numerous ‘grammable corners and statement furniture?
There is an undeniable thread running through the design of each of the Touriste hotels – perhaps above all a testament to Gloaguen’s own personal taste – but each has its own distinctive stamp too.
“The most exciting part of these collaborations is changing designers on each new project,” he says. “It’s like a new blank canvas each time: a new location, a new designer, a new DNA, a new atmosphere.
“We choose a mixture of known and less-known designers but the main goal is to achieve a very different look with each property and to let each designers’ imagination run free.
“Ultimately, I really like working with designers who have not done work on hotels before (or at least not very much) because it provides a real fresh and new perspective on hotels.”
At new opening Hotel Beauregard, ineffably cool French designer Chloé Nègre – an India Mahdavi alum and one of this year’s AD 100 – has created a “joyful mix of classical French decoration and pop vintage icons from the 70s and 80s”.
“I wanted to create the hotel where I would like to stay if I was a tourist in Paris,” says Nègre. “We sourced a lot of eclectic vintage pieces: from a mirrored mid-century sideboard to a Nineties Mario Botta Armchair and a classic wall tapestry.”
It’s a fun, colourful look very much in vogue in London homes at the moment – “no rules, just follow your instinct” – with a pastel-coloured base on walls and ceilings layered with a diverse collection of vintage finds. Nègre recommends stopping by the Marché Paul Bert flea market when in Paris.
The 38 rooms retain the traditional, slightly awkward layout of a small Paris hotel. They have been given a contemporary refresh with creamy lemon yellow or powder blue paintjobs across walls, ceilings and woodwork.
This is offset with rich burnt orange or olive green taffeta, the headboards and furniture all retro curved edges, while the room shapes are accommodated with gloss framed hanging rails and lightweight desks. Depth is added by tapestries hung above the beds, specially commissioned and based on an early 18th century design.
Bathrooms have vintage-look striped tiles and Diptyque products. It’s like a dream of the quintessential hotel of your childhood, given an upgrade for 2023.
By taking over existing hotels and giving them a full interiors revamp but leaving them structurally similar, the group is able to work more quickly and cheaply than if they were starting from scratch, something Gloauguen says is difficult in Paris (although Nègre admits the biggest challenge she faced was the one-year schedule).
“I consider it easier to offer something very beautiful and very expensive, whereas creating something very beautiful and not very expensive is a more engaging and rewarding challenge,” says Gloaguen.
The Hotel Beauregard has been open for just over one month but Touriste has several more in the pipeline. Projects currently underway include a hotel on Rue de la Boétie in the 8th arrondissement with London-based Swedish designer Beata Heuman; and another hotel in the 10th arrondissement, on rue du Château D’eau, with the duo Necchi architecture.
