I’ve written in the past about the general issue with hotel star ratings. Hotels can ultimately identify themselves however they’d like — while there are organizations like AAA and Forbes that award stars, personally I don’t put too much weight into those ratings. While they’re fine for giving you a general sense of the quality of a hotel, I think they fail to consider service, sense of place, and the little things that make a stay exceptional.
If you ask me, a hotel can technically have five stars, but still not be a luxury hotel (in the sense that it’s actually a luxury factory with 300+ rooms and very little personalization). That’s why I thought it would be interesting to take a look at France “Palace” distinction for hotels, which is one of the few government-awarded hotel rating systems out there.
In this post:
What is France’s “Palace” hotel rating system?
France is known for luxury and amazing food, and by connection, some amazing hotels. This is where France’s “Palace” distinction for hotels kicks in.
Since 2010, Atout France (France’s official tourism development agency) has been awarding certain hotels “Palace” distinction. This is a much higher honor than being a five-star hotel, as there are currently only 31 hotels in France with this distinction.
Note that a French hotel having “Palace” distinction doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s in a former palace (though several properties are). Rather it’s intended to describe just how grand these properties are.
This concept is intended to encourage hotels to be their best, all while increasing the profile of these properties on the international scene. I know many Francophiles go out of their way to stay at “Palace” properties, and for good reason.
You’ll find that hotels with “Palace” distinction heavily promote that honor, and typically put it right next to their name online.
How do hotels in France get “Palace” distinction?
How does a hotel in France earn “Palace” distinction? While the exact criteria aren’t published, here’s what we know:
- “Palace” hotels must contribute to enhancing the image of France throughout the world, and must have qualities that embody French standards of excellence; they must have good locations, architectural heritage, great design, and bespoke service
- Hotels earn “palace” distinction in two phases — first there’s an initial investigation phase, based on objective criteria, including having certain facilities, and then there’s an evaluation phase, conducted by a panel, intended to judge things like the character of a property, the service levels, the quality of the restaurants, etc.
- When a hotel receives the “Palace” distinction, it’s valid for five years, and can then be renewed
New “Palace” distinctions were most recently awarded in late 2019, when six hotels were added, bringing the total to 31 hotels. Oddly, we haven’t seen any updated rankings since then, so it seems like we’re due for some updates in the not-too-distant future.
Which hotels in France have “Palace” status?
As mentioned above, currently 31 hotels in France have “Palace” distinction. I think it’s important to emphasize that if a hotel has “Palace” status, it’s probably pretty awesome. However, it’s possible for a hotel to be great without having “Palace” status.
It’s possible that a hotel is new and just hasn’t been judged yet, or it’s possible a hotel just didn’t meet one of the criteria, but is excellent nonetheless. For example, Cheval Blanc Paris and Ritz-Paris are both excellent hotels, but don’t have “Palace” distinction. I also have to imagine that Airelles Château de Versailles and Airelles Val d’Isère will likely be considered during the next phase of hotels being added.
With that out of the way, let’s take a look at the hotels in France with Palace status. As you’d expect, Paris is the biggest market for “Palace” hotels, as there are currently 12 properties with this distinction:
- Four Seasons George V Paris
- Hôtel Lutetia Paris
- Hôtel Plaza Athénée Paris, Dorchester Collection
- La Réserve Paris
- Le Bristol Paris, Oetker Collection
- Le Meurice Paris, Dorchester Collection
- Mandarin Oriental Paris
- Park Hyatt Paris
- Peninsula Paris
- Raffles Le Royal Monceau Paris
- Rosewood Hôtel de Crillon Paris
- Shangri-La Paris
The next biggest market for “Palace” hotels is the South of France, and in particular the Côte d’Azur, as there are currently 12 properties with this distinction, though they’re more spread out than in Paris:
- Airelles Gordes, La Bastide
- Airelles Saint-Tropez, Château de La Messardière
- Château Saint-Martin & Spa Vence, Oetker Collection
- Cheval Blanc Saint-Tropez
- Four Seasons Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat
- Hôtel Byblos Saint-Tropez
- Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Rock Antibes, Oetker Collection
- Hôtel du Palais Biarritz, Hyatt Unbound Collection
- La Réserve Ramatuelle
- Les Prés d’Eugénie Maison Guérard Eugénie-les-Bains, Relais & Chateaux
- Les Sources de Caudalie Bordeaux
- Villa La Coste Aix-en-Provence
The next biggest market for “Palace” hotels is in ski destinations, as there are currently six properties with this distinction, five of which are in Courchevel:
- Cheval Blanc Courchevel
- Hôtel Barrière Les Neiges Courchevel
- Hôtel Royal Evian Evian-les-Bains
- L’Apogée Courchevel, Oetker Collection
- Les Airelles Courchevel
- Le K2 Palace Courchevel
The last hotel with “Palace” distinction is the only one that isn’t in Metropolitan France:
As you’ll notice, there are two points hotels with “Palace” distinction, and both belong to Hyatt — they include the Park Hyatt Paris and Hôtel du Palais Biarritz. I’ve stayed at both, and it’s a treat to have them bookable with points.
Hôtel du Palais Biarritz is an incredibly impressive building and property, though I’d say the service and amenities aren’t quite up to the same level as those of other “Palace” properties. It’s still absolutely worth a visit, though, in my opinion.
Meanwhile I love the Park Hyatt Paris as a points property, but it’s not in the same league as many of Paris’ other top hotels, and I think it’s time the property undergo a refresh. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this hotel lose its “Palace” distinction during the next review phase.
I should also mention that Raffles Le Royal Monceau Paris does belong to Accor Live Limitless, but Accor doesn’t have a traditional loyalty program, as points can just be redeemed for vouchers toward hotel stays. So I don’t consider that useful in the same way.
Bottom line
France is one of the only countries to have an official distinction for the country’s top hotels, in the form of “Palace” status. There are currently 31 of these properties, and they’re most heavily concentrated in Paris, Courchevel, and Saint-Tropez. Furthermore, French hotel brands like Airelles and Cheval Blanc are also heavily featured.
You can expect that “Palace” properties have a great sense of place, amazing dining, and good French service. For those into miles & points, the Park Hyatt Paris and Hôtel du Palais Biarritz are two of these properties that you can book with points.
If you’ve stayed at a French “Palace” property, what was your experience like?
So, where does Four Points by Sheraton Elysee Palace in Nice fit in here? There js nothing palace about it. Have stayed there often as a budget hotel that got Starwood points.
They sold rooms as sea view where you had to crane your neck out the window just right to see a sliver of the Mediterranean. The hotel only has east west facing windows.
The number of website trackers block by the App DuckDuckGo has increased from an average of 13 per page to 15 today …. an interesting indicator, yes?
I've been at Crillon, George V, and Le Meurice -- each deserves to be on the list. Rooms at Crillon tend to be on the small side. Strangely, not on the list is the Ritz Paris. Yet, the Hyatt -- a few doors down -- is? Mandarin Oriental absolutely does not deserve to be on the list -- typical of the brand, service is uniformly terrible, from housekeeping to the concierge.
Perhaps FNT Delta Diamond can chime in. I've found that Mandarin Oriental is an expensive hotel chain but not a luxury hotel chain.
It would appear, according to posts below, that this website personal data tracking/logging activity could be proven to be illegal in both the USA and EU too. If that is the case it would be unfortunate and could have far reaching consequences.
Some have mentioned a “Paywall” to generate revenue, others simply do not understand the significance of what has been disclosed below. As this website is free to view, furthermore, personal data tracking...
It would appear, according to posts below, that this website personal data tracking/logging activity could be proven to be illegal in both the USA and EU too. If that is the case it would be unfortunate and could have far reaching consequences.
Some have mentioned a “Paywall” to generate revenue, others simply do not understand the significance of what has been disclosed below. As this website is free to view, furthermore, personal data tracking implications is beyond their comprehension, they will probably simply “Shut-up and put-up”.
Following the revelations posted below, there are two distinct factors which stand out as being significant:
#1. The silence from the website author is deafening.
#2. The monkey has stopped dancing too.
One will have to observe the reaction, or, lack of it following this post. In the past few days several website critical posts have been swiftly deleted. Thank goodness for the screenshot capabilities provided by Mr Apple.
What you need to prove is if it's actually tracking you. Many of the third party advertisers may still set cookies to tell their ad platform not to track visitors. So there may be a lot of placed cookies, but strictly for the purpose of consent letting the bidding partners know that you should not be tracked and that they should only serve generic ads. Any of those ad blockers will still show it up...
What you need to prove is if it's actually tracking you. Many of the third party advertisers may still set cookies to tell their ad platform not to track visitors. So there may be a lot of placed cookies, but strictly for the purpose of consent letting the bidding partners know that you should not be tracked and that they should only serve generic ads. Any of those ad blockers will still show it up as items being blocked as they are blocking the cookies and scripts entirely, but that does not mean that Ben is automatically in the wrong either.
"As you’ll notice, there are two points hotels" - Three, there's also the Shangri-La.
Kinda sort in the sense that Shangri-La goes have a points system, but no one I know who stays at their hotels leverages them in the same way that "points hotels" like Hyatts, Marriotts or Hiltons do.
Portugal has Pousadas of Portugal, an exclusive chain of 34 historical hotels many of which are considered to be amongst the top hotels in Portugal and are the very embodiment of the best that Portugal has to offer.
I stayed at a couple of these and they did have a great sense of place and I enjoyed staying at them. I'm not sure about "many of which are considered to be amongst the top...
Portugal has Pousadas of Portugal, an exclusive chain of 34 historical hotels many of which are considered to be amongst the top hotels in Portugal and are the very embodiment of the best that Portugal has to offer.
I stayed at a couple of these and they did have a great sense of place and I enjoyed staying at them. I'm not sure about "many of which are considered to be amongst the top hotels in Portugal". It's possible I chose from the subset that were not considered "top hotels".
One has to thank the OMAAT website for highlighting which French Palace Hotels, can be booked with points. One can now choose an alternative in the full knowledge that the points collecting proletariat, will never venture there.
The monkey can now dance to a familiar tune ….
I don't know what you mean with the last sentence.
Well said, other ‘1990’… you’re getting good at this!
Also, Ben, these full screen ads are intrusive and I think they're actually making me want to stop engaging on the site. It's getting more annoying. I know it's hard to monetize this thing, and we've been looking the other way with how many trackers you install on our machines. But for gosh sakes - balance.
Ben, based on what I'm seeing in your GDPR disclosures, OMaaT engages in industrial-scale data harvesting operation through hundreds of third-party vendors for behavioral profiling, cross-device tracking, and targeted advertising. This contradicts the privacy policy's claims about minimal data collection and demonstrates why European GDPR protections exist. In the US (without VPN), you receive no consent prompt and this tracking seems to occur automatically.
Oracle Data Cloud and LiveRamp are massive data brokers that aggregate offline...
Ben, based on what I'm seeing in your GDPR disclosures, OMaaT engages in industrial-scale data harvesting operation through hundreds of third-party vendors for behavioral profiling, cross-device tracking, and targeted advertising. This contradicts the privacy policy's claims about minimal data collection and demonstrates why European GDPR protections exist. In the US (without VPN), you receive no consent prompt and this tracking seems to occur automatically.
Oracle Data Cloud and LiveRamp are massive data brokers that aggregate offline and online data to build comprehensive consumer profiles across devices and platforms. Epsilon (appearing multiple times in the list) similarly specializes in cross-database matching to connect your browsing with purchase history, demographic data, and real-world behavior. Criteo is notorious for aggressive retargeting that follows users across the web. Adobe Audience Manager and Adobe Experience Platform create persistent identity graphs linking all your digital interactions. Demandbase specializes in B2B tracking that can identify your employer and professional role. Bombora tracks "intent data" to determine what you're researching or considering purchasing. Perhaps most concerning, vendors like HUMAN (formerly White Ops), DoubleVerify, and Integral Ad Science employ device fingerprinting techniques that can identify you even without cookies, making privacy tools less effective. These aren't just showing you ads based on the current page you're reading. They're building permanent dossiers of your interests, behaviors, locations, and purchasing patterns that persist across every site in their network.
Ben, if this is what's necessary for you to run your website profitably, de salut and I'm moving on.
Thank you ADR, for echoing my own observations about how this website is being used as a data collection/mining platform. Being fair to some website administrators, once told, they are usually horrified by the practice. Whilst others become extremely aggressive due their conscious actions being made public, etc.
Personally, I always use both a VPN and another means to prevent tracking, etc. Furthermore, I never, ever, set my VPN to my home country, preferring to...
Thank you ADR, for echoing my own observations about how this website is being used as a data collection/mining platform. Being fair to some website administrators, once told, they are usually horrified by the practice. Whilst others become extremely aggressive due their conscious actions being made public, etc.
Personally, I always use both a VPN and another means to prevent tracking, etc. Furthermore, I never, ever, set my VPN to my home country, preferring to change locations worldwide and very irregularly.
The organ grinders monkey will quite possibly chirp up with some nonsensical gobbledygook comments, as it will probably consider one man’s security consciousness to be simply paranoia. The poor darlink.
Savvy, AeroB13a. I often forget the VPN.
Appears as though this is not an interesting topic to most. ICE Air, people of size and the US's odd ESTA requirements seem to be taking up all the oxygen.
Well, the website is owned by PointsPros, Inc and sadly, that practice is common these days. That’s how he, or whoever owns PointsPros, Inc, make money. I find it questionable as well, but I doubt he cares about such concerns.
Pity. Thanks for that context. As Ben Schlappig has been the sole officer, president, and registered agent of PointsPros, Inc. since it was incorporated in 2011 - it would stand to reason that he owns PointsPros, Inc and has wide latitude in determining policy.
Man's gotta do what he's gotta do. I'm just disappointed I had to find out this way. I'd imagine most of his American readers have no idea how data intrusive his...
Pity. Thanks for that context. As Ben Schlappig has been the sole officer, president, and registered agent of PointsPros, Inc. since it was incorporated in 2011 - it would stand to reason that he owns PointsPros, Inc and has wide latitude in determining policy.
Man's gotta do what he's gotta do. I'm just disappointed I had to find out this way. I'd imagine most of his American readers have no idea how data intrusive his site is for US visitors. I'd hope he'd be a little more transparent about that.
I hope you're Ben's first subscriber when he rolls out a paywall model.
I'd be delighted to pay if that meant not being subjected to such intrusive anti-privacy practices. Sadly, experience in my relatively young life indicates that you'll often both pay and not receive privacy benefits.
That aside, I have no issue paying for content. My concern is about data practices not being disclosed to American readers when they are disclosed to European readers.
When I go into the "About" section of the website and when I click on the link that says,"Click here to configure your consent choices." then nothing happens. I can't opt out and I'm located in Europe. I've often wondered why that is so.
May need to clear your cache, restart and see if it gives you the option when you log on. If it doesn't then, might be worth looking into.
OMAAT is required to comply with GDPR because the website is accessible to residents of the EU. The website does not even begin to comply with GDPR. It is also required to comply with US federal and state data protection and data privacy requirements. It doesn’t do that, either. The nonfunctioning configuration option could be construed as fraud.
Ben, you need regulatory counsel in the EU and the US to fix this.
What a fantastic evening of learning. Turns out OMaaT, View from the Wing, and Live and Let's Fly all use identical vendor lists - same 200 vendors in the same order. This appears to be a BoardingArea network-wide practice, not something unique to any individual blogger.
Looking at the specific data collection details is even more concerning than the vendor count alone.
These vendors collect:
- IP addresses, device identifiers, and probabilistic identifiers...
What a fantastic evening of learning. Turns out OMaaT, View from the Wing, and Live and Let's Fly all use identical vendor lists - same 200 vendors in the same order. This appears to be a BoardingArea network-wide practice, not something unique to any individual blogger.
Looking at the specific data collection details is even more concerning than the vendor count alone.
These vendors collect:
- IP addresses, device identifiers, and probabilistic identifiers (fingerprinting)
- Browsing behavior across multiple sites
- Precise location data (within 500 meters)
- Cross-device tracking (linking your phone, computer, and tablet)
- Data combined with offline sources (loyalty cards, in-store purchases)
Some vendors maintain cookies for up to 10 YEARS (LiveRamp: 3,653 days, Adform: 3,650 days). Many operate on "legitimate interest" grounds, meaning they can process your data without explicit consent unless you actively object.
Ben - other than the fact that the law does not compel it in the States, is there a reason why this is not disclosed to American readers?
It seems the cookie consent manager is not implemented correctly. I did a test with all cookies cleared in the EU region and found it still loaded a ton of tracking cookies even before the consent pop up loaded, and they still remain stored even after I went with the "no" option. I also tried it on one of my sites and only one cookie stored, which was the consent cookie to tell it to...
It seems the cookie consent manager is not implemented correctly. I did a test with all cookies cleared in the EU region and found it still loaded a ton of tracking cookies even before the consent pop up loaded, and they still remain stored even after I went with the "no" option. I also tried it on one of my sites and only one cookie stored, which was the consent cookie to tell it to not use cookies. My guess is the order of things might be wrong allowing the cookies to set before the consent manager can control what and what not to block. Something for Ben to look into.
C'est la guerre. Hope he does.
Alright Ben. Not trying to kick up a fuss. Dig your vibe. Just a little disappointed to learn that reading your content involves engaging with 200 third-party data brokers (including the likes of Oracle, LiveRamp, and Epsilon, plus cross-device trackers like Adobe Audience Manager) when I'm in the US, but Europeans get a full consent banner listing all 200 vendors. Giving you the benefit of the doubt, but I'm not sure how this reconciles with...
Alright Ben. Not trying to kick up a fuss. Dig your vibe. Just a little disappointed to learn that reading your content involves engaging with 200 third-party data brokers (including the likes of Oracle, LiveRamp, and Epsilon, plus cross-device trackers like Adobe Audience Manager) when I'm in the US, but Europeans get a full consent banner listing all 200 vendors. Giving you the benefit of the doubt, but I'm not sure how this reconciles with your privacy policy's claims about minimal data collection. Could you please explain why American readers aren't informed about this industrial-scale data collection, and whether you'd consider either reducing the tracking or implementing transparent consent for all users regardless of their location?
@ All Due Respect (and others) -- I am looking into this. I have virtually no involvement in the selling of ads (it's done through BoardingArea). Of course it's still my site, so I have to take responsibility for this, but it's definitely not intentional on my part...
Roger that, Ben. Appreciate your response. Looking forward to hearing what you find out.
Ben, Evian, albeit in Savoie, isn't a ski destination :-). It's on Leman Lake opposite Lausanne
All the commenter action is on the political stuff, but I like this. Stayed at a few of these hotels. Brilliant.
Still surprised the Hotel Ritz in Paris hasnt received the Palace distinction.
I've stayed at the Park Hyatt Paris on points and it was lovely. Wouldnt spend $1600 a night for it, but it was a great stay and I enjoyed the location.
Yeah, for the PH, 40K-ish points is far better than cash-rate there.
Best thing about Park Hyatts.
My understanding was that it was due to the extensive closure and renovation it went through several years ago and that it will (most likely) receive it again once it's eligible. This was several years ago though, so not sure of the whole story now.