8 Rue Navarin (9e), Paris, France.
Celebrity graffiti artist and nightclub owner Monsieur André has teamed up with Thierry Costes of the mercurial Costes brothers to reinvent the boutique hotel near the red-light district of Pigalle. As with everything Costes-made, this place is seriously hip – too hip to have a website that works; too hip to take reservations by email; too hip to provide a television, hairdryer, table, chairs, mini-bar or telephone in the rooms; and too hip to accept children. As the hotel says of itself, it is “a more appropriate place to make babies than to bring them”. What you get is a queen-sized bed, iPod base and a bathroom with a good shower stocked with Kiehl’s toiletries. Glossy black corridors are lit by bare lightbulbs, while rooms are decorated by celebrated artists and designers, including Sophie Calle, Pierre Le Tan, Alexandre de Betak and Australia’s own Marc Newson. Expect disco balls and glow-in-the-dark wallpaper. On the ground floor, a buzzy, laid-back bistro and bar doubles as hotel reception. In summer, though, everyone will be out the back on the beautiful leafy terrace. If you can’t live without 24-hour room service and hot-and-cold-running maids, you’re in the wrong place. But if you just want to chill, stay right where you are.
See full article: Parisian hotels: Chic magnetSource: Qantas The Australian Way November 2008