The Hotel Plaza Athénée is a Brunei-owned historic luxury hotel in Paris, France. It is located at 25 Avenue Montaigne in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, near the Champs-Élysées and the Palais de Tokyo. The hotel is part of the Dorchester Collection group of international luxury hotels. The hotel has five restaurants and a bar, and it has room rates ranging from US$1,254 to US$20,000 per night for the hotel’s premier suite.
The Hotel Plaza Athénée opened on Avenue Montaigne on 20 April 1913. The hotel’s first manager Emile Armbruster named it. Composers and artists regularly dined at Plaza Athénée after performances. At the time, Jacques-Léon Colombier, winner of the London Gourmet Prize, was the head chef of the hotel’s restaurant. The Hotel Plaza Athénée remained open during World War I.
In the 1920s, Jules Lefebvre expanded the hotel’s size with the addition of apartment hotels, the restaurant La Cour Jardin and two salons. The Le Relais restaurant became a cafeteria for American soldiers during the Liberation of Paris. In 1947, Christian Dior established his couture house next to the hotel. Georges Marin became the new hotel director in 1963. In 1968, the Forte Group purchased the Hotel Plaza Athénée.
In 2001, the Dorchester Collection acquired the Hotel Plaza Athénée on behalf of the Brunei Investment Agency. The Brunei Investment Agency purchased the hotel buildings in 2003. That year, Laurence Bloch was appointed hotel manager. Bloch commissioned the interior decorators Bettina Mortemard and Marie-José Pommereau to update 194 rooms and suites.
In 2008, the Dior Institut was opened at the hotel and is run by Dior staff. In 2012, the Hotel Plaza Athénée was awarded the “Palace” distinction, the highest achievement for luxury hotels in France.
In August 2014, it re-opened after a 200 million euro expansion and renovation. The renovation integrated additional buildings, created six new guest rooms, eight suites, a ballroom and two event spaces.
The majority of the hotel is classically French, except for the seventh and eighth floor that are done in Art Deco. The Hotel Plaza Athénée flies red canvas awning over every window and displays window boxes with geraniums.
There are several restaurants in the building. In 2000, Alain Ducasse chose the Athénée for his haute cuisine restaurant. It serves dinner on weeknights and lunch on Thursdays and Fridays. Other eateries include the Relais Plaza (classical French cuisine), La Cour Jardin (Riviera-style cooking), La Galerie des Gobelins (breakfast, light lunch, tea and pastries) and Le Bar du Plaza, a popular night spot. Famous chefs to have worked there before Ducasse include Jacques Pépin.
