A war has been waging in the hotel design industry of late between the once unstoppable forces of minimalism and the resurrected ones of maximalism. For years, it seemed various hotel brands worldwide were colluding to ensure new hotel experiences were ones devoid of color and clutter. Now, personality and flair are back on the menu.
One of the faces of new maximalism is Martin Brudnizki, a Swedish architect and designer whose work at the London social club Annabel’s in the late 2010s will likely be marked as the turning point. Now every new hotel project he works on draws attention. A year and a half ago, that was La Fantasie in Paris, about which I wrote the most scathing hotel review I’ve ever written. (It no longer exists, the website I wrote it for is defunct.) La Fantaisie was part of a slew of new Paris hotels that were leaning fully into the nascent desire for patterns, color, or adventurousness. They all—including a favorite of mine, Hôtel des Grands Voyageurs—got a write-up in The New York Times announcing the new era. The one in that piece that stood out to me, though, was L’Eldorado, which looked like an exciting update on the classic eccentric French boutique hotel.
A view into the bathroom
I was back in Paris a couple of weeks ago and was staying with friends when I got a surprise email. One Key, the Expedia Group rewards program I’ve been brutal about, sent me a gift card for Hotels.com. I once used Hotels.com religiously as it had the best rewards program in the travel industry. But my usage has plummeted since it morphed into the laughably stingy One Key. The gift card, I’m guessing, was an attempt to get me back.
I opened up Hotels.com and as fate would have it, the first option was L’Eldorado, and at a price ($263.27) covered by the gift card. I traipsed from my friend’s place in Pigalle up and over to Batignolles where L’Eldorado is located. From the second I walked in I fell in love.
It may come as a surprise to some readers, but the French aren’t always stylish. In fact, as any of you who have stayed in a number of Paris’s small boutique hotels when on a budget, the French trying to be quirky or playful in design can yield particularly atrocious results. But at the Eldorado, it works.
A sitting area in the lobby
Walking through the hotel is a delight for those who appreciate non-stop visual stimulation. It’s decorated with a Victorian eye for textures and colors—walls are covered in House of Hackney velvet and linen prints—but a modern sensibility for space and sharpness. The 26 rooms are filled with furniture found in antique markets or custom-made and the bathrooms are a mix of marble and various shades of breathtaking glossy ceramics from Terres Cuites de Raujolles.
The public spaces include a sumptuous restaurant with hand-painted De Gournay murals, an intimate library entombed in velvet, and a large back garden with palm trees.
A view of the back gardens
The hotel used to be a backpacker spot, but nothing except the laid-back demeanor of the staff remains from that era. In fact, I spent as much time marveling at how well they pulled off the Victorian aesthetic without being kitschy as I did on how much of a bargain it was given how, well, nice everything was.