Apostrophe

Class: First

Style: Opulent

Rooms: 16

These days design hotels are so widespread as to be almost commonplace, and art hotels are no longer the novelty they once were. So what’s next? One attempt at an answer comes in the form of the Apostrophe Hotel, which styles itself the world’s first “poem hotel” — an idea that’s so perfectly Parisian it’s difficult to imagine it existing anywhere else. Between the two of them, the architect Vincent Bastié and the interior designer Sandrine Alouf are responsible for such contemporary Parisian classics as the Murano, the Five, and the Five’s little sister, the One. Here, together with the painter Catherine Feff, they’ve created an experience that makes the typical boutique hotel look positively dowdy by comparison. Text and other graphic elements line the walls, rooms pursue themes and motifs to their logical ends, and even the basics, the fixtures and furnishings, step away from the minimalist design-boutique norm. In truth it’s simply a very stylish high-design boutique hotel, which sets itself apart by choosing exuberance where others would opt for restraint. Services, in traditional boutique style, are rather minimal, fitting for a sixteen-room hotel — the surrounding area of St.-Germain-des-Prés offers everything a guest could possibly need.