Hotels take a lot of liberties with how they market themselves, and the categories they put themselves into (“five-star,” “boutique,” etc.). While it has geographic limitations, arguably the most prestigious “official” hotel distinction in the world is that of “Palace” status in France.
For the first time in roughly six years, we’ve seen updates to the list of hotels awarded this recognition. This also includes hotels having their status taken away, which is the first time in history that we’ve seen that happen.
I first wrote about how this was going to happen a few weeks back, and would now like to take a look at the actual hotels being added and removed. They mostly seem very logical, though I’m shocked by one addition, and am confused by the lack of addition of other hotels.
In this post:
Basics of the France “Palace” hotel concept
France is known for luxury and gastronomy, 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 status.
This is a much higher honor than being a five-star hotel, as there are currently only a little over 30 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, and that they excel at all criteria being judged, including service, gastronomy, etc.
This program 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.
I’ve written in the past about the list of Palace hotels before the most recent changes, so check out that post for more background.
France’s “Palace” hotels list has been updated
France’s Palace hotels list has been updated as of June 2, 2026, which is the first time that we’ve seen changes to the list since 2019. While the list is supposed to be updated every few years, there was a bit of a gap during the pandemic, given how hotels modified their service for some amount of time.
So, which hotels earned, lost, and maintained Palace status? Keep in mind that this isn’t a one-time award, but instead, hotels have to renew their Palace distinction with each cycle.
First, four hotels have lost their Palace distinction, which is the first time that hotels have had this honor taken away from them. These hotels include the following:
- Hotel Byblos Saint-Tropez
- Hotel du Palais Biarritz, Hyatt Unbound Collection
- Mandarin Oriental Paris
- Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme
Suffice it to say that this is really rough for Hyatt, with two of the four hotels belonging to the chain:
- The Park Hyatt Paris is a great points property, but there’s no denying it hasn’t really kept up with the competition in the past decade; maybe this is the push they need to finally renovate
- Hotel Biarritz is a charming property that I very much enjoyed staying at, but yeah, it’s probably not quite to the top French hospitality standard nowadays
- I haven’t stayed at the Mandarin Oriental Paris, but that seems like a pretty rough loss
- Byblos Saint-Tropez is a nice hotel in the center of town, but I’m not surprised it’s no longer quite up to Palace standards
Next, six hotels have earned Palace distinction for the first time, and these include the following:
- Bulgari Paris
- Cheval Blanc Paris
- Fouquet’s Paris
- Four Seasons Megeve
- Hotel Martinez Cannes, Hyatt Unbound Collection
- Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa
Okay, so five of those six hotels make sense to me. The Paris additions are all well deserved. It’s nice to see a hotel in Champagne get Palace status, and the Megeve property is gorgeous. However, I’m downright confused by the addition of Hotel Martinez… what am I missing?
It’s a perfectly nice 400+ room hotel in Cannes, but there’s no metric by which this is a top tier hotel in France, especially in terms of the lack of personalization of service, due to its size. Please, someone make this make sense! On the plus side for Hyatt, I guess it means the brand maintains one Palace property.
Perhaps what’s even more surprising is what hotels didn’t make the list. Airelles is probably my favorite hotel group in the world, and both Airelles Val d’Isère and Airelles Château de Versailles don’t yet have Palace distinction, as they opened since the previous round of awards, in 2019. These are both spectacular hotels, so how exactly did they not qualify for this distinction?
Lastly, it’s also worth at least pointing out how The Ritz Paris is one of the most iconic hotels in the city, but hasn’t actually been awarded Palace distinction. That always catches people off guard, since it’s considered to be among the best hotels in the city. I’ve heard all kinds of rumors (down to the hotel not “wanting” Palace status, for whatever reason), but I’m not sure what exactly is going on there.
Bottom line
Atout France has revealed an updated list of “Palace” hotels. With this, we’ve seen four hotels lose their status, including two Hyatts, one Mandarin Oriental, and Byblos Saint-Tropez. Meanwhile we’ve seen six hotels receive Palace distinction for the first time, including three hotels in Paris, and one in each of Cannes, Champagne, and Megeve.
Palace distinction is about as prestigious as it gets in the hotel industry, so this is a big loss for the hotels that are losing the recognition, and a big win for those that are gaining it. Hopefully this causes the Park Hyatt Paris and Hotel du Palais Biarritz owners to invest a bit in their properties, in hopes of regaining the status. Then again, when Hotel Martinez is somehow getting this award, then little makes sense to me anymore.
What do you make of these Palace hotel updates?
Beautiful hotels. I did not know of the Airelles group. I think my family and I are very interested and attempting to book a two week winter holiday at Courchevel after seeing your review. By the way, I do not know if you have visited the Amangiri Camp Sarika, but if not, please do. Lovely property and I think you would enjoy. The owner is a close acquaintance and that’s how we ended up there....
Beautiful hotels. I did not know of the Airelles group. I think my family and I are very interested and attempting to book a two week winter holiday at Courchevel after seeing your review. By the way, I do not know if you have visited the Amangiri Camp Sarika, but if not, please do. Lovely property and I think you would enjoy. The owner is a close acquaintance and that’s how we ended up there. The caretakers are very attentive and remember us every time my wife and I visit. I am sure they maintain notes but the continuity is very welcoming. I was referred to your blog very recently by my son and must admit that the hotel reviews are very informative and useful. Cordial greetings from Manila.
I've recently stayed at the Fouquet and the Park Hyatt in Paris and I'll take Park Hyatt ovver Fouquet every day of the year!
If four hotels lost the status and you list all four, it doesn't "include" the following, they are the following!
I stayed at the Martinez last December and the closet was just plain stupid. It was so small that the bar did not go horizontal, it went front to back and the closet was not that deep. We were able to hang maybe 5 items.
This is a HUGE blow to Hyatt. And a blow to Marriott and Bulgari. Just shows that the big chains can't operate true luxury hotels.
Sorry. Miswrote. A blow to Hyatt and a huge assist to Marriott because no honest observer would say the Bulgari is a palace.
I hate Paris.
“That’s hot.”
New list went out last Tuesday
Several surprises!
I'm not surprised by the PH Vendome downgrade. I have spent countless nights there, and always wondered why it had the palace label. The lobby/bar/reception areas are a time warp to the 90s, although they renovated Pur very nicely. The rooms are also quite dated, although to be fair they are keeping them in great condition. And service is by no means palace level, except from a few senior employees (their senior guest managers are...
I'm not surprised by the PH Vendome downgrade. I have spent countless nights there, and always wondered why it had the palace label. The lobby/bar/reception areas are a time warp to the 90s, although they renovated Pur very nicely. The rooms are also quite dated, although to be fair they are keeping them in great condition. And service is by no means palace level, except from a few senior employees (their senior guest managers are fantastic but other than that it's a crapshoot). I hope this gives them some motivation to take things to the next level, because I developed a relationship with some of their staff over the years so I obviously have a soft spot for it.
Funnily enough, there's a documentary on Youtube from 2004, unrelated to the hotel but part of it is filmed in it, and it looks exactly the same as today.
I am in no way shocked by the proposed downgrades and I remain sceptical that any property would refuse the designation. The 'Palace' distinction should be carefully curated and reviewed to retain the cachet that it demands.
Hyatt fully deserves this since they have screwed their customers and mostly allowed their hotels to have declining standards. Buh bye.
If I can't smoke in the room, I don't care how many French accolades a place has. I'd rather be in a Motel 6.
Maybe it's time to grow a pair and give it up?
My impression has been MO generally over-expanding, and that service has been suffering in general at the brand for a couple of years now. Their re-design of the hotel Lutetia was unimpressive, although I've never stayed at the original MO Paris.
The Mandarin in Paris has absolutely ROTTEN service. All aspects of its operations. Same for the NYC property. They are expensive properties but they're not true luxury properties. Never again. How did Hyatt Paris get on the list in the first place?
Really? It’s been a few years (2022), but the MO at Columbus Circle in NYC seemed fine to me. Great views of Central Park. Amazing spa. How did they ‘wrong’ you?
It wasn't any single thing. It was the service across the board on nearly a dozen stays.
Wow me too. Which was shocking considering the other properties MO has are excellent
This is a big blow to Hyatt, which lacks a real true luxury brand. As a reminder a palace designation isn’t necessarily about a renovation or lack thereof. It’s about a hotel having the required amenities and operating standard. The chains struggle to compete at this level because they are constantly cutting costs.
Yeah, Hyatt was ‘golden-child’ while Marriott was Bonvoying us, but they, too, will soon be on the sh*t-list, because of this pending major devaluation… (sure, fine, some nice new PH in KUL, and a few gens in Europe, and I’ve got a sweet spot for Ventana Big Sur, but…)
At least IHG has Six Senses, some of which truly are exceptional. Zil Pasyon in Seychelles, Mahlolo Island in Fiji… they got good stuff.
None of the IHG hotels are at the palace level. Not even the Intercontinental Le Grand in Paris, which is one of the oldest hotels. Even Hyatt's best Park Hyatt properties are at best a Fairmont or JW Marriott.
None of the IHG hotels are at the palace level. Not even the Intercontinental Le Grand in Paris, which is one of the oldest hotels. Even Hyatt's best Park Hyatt properties are at best a Fairmont or JW Marriott.
PH Paris should have lost it a long time ago.
I can't believe the Ibis-CDG didn't make Ben's shortlist!
It was probably the older part of that hotel that kept if off of the list. The newer part is fine.
I’ve stayed at Cheval Blanc Paris; it is one of the best hotels in the world. It deserves this distinction, for sure. Plénitude deserves its 3 stars, too.
I’ve also stayed at Park Hyatt Paris (using points!), and am a fan of their restaurant PUR’, but it is no palace. Likewise, Hyatt Unbound should be removed from the list; what a joke!
And by Francophiles you mean rich American and Chinese tourists?
@ François -- In the context of hotels mostly retailing for $2K+ per night, that's fair/accurate...
Americans are a significant share of Palace guests (around 25%), but they are followed by French (20%), UK/Switzerland/Germany/Italy (25% together), and Middle East (15%)... China and Brazil remain below 5%.
Ben, we had a very recent meeting with the Ritz Paris team and we asked about the Palace designation. They actively do not want it (for a few reasons) and said they recently turned it down. I would be surprised to see them on the new list.
@ pstm91 -- I appreciate your thoughts. I'm not doubting what you're saying, but that's obviously an odd explanation. Any clue why a hotel wouldn't want such distinction? Not saying it's the case here, but that sounds like a statement you'd expect from a company that was judged but was found ineligible for an award ("we didn't want it anyway!").
Presumably there are consequences to receiving the distinction such as having to commit to certain staffing levels or being charged a higher city tourism tax.
We were just as surprised to hear them say it. I wish I could give you specifics but they all they told us is that they had turned down in the past and do not have interest in obtaining it. They were quite clear. It will be interesting to see when the update is released.
The Ritz already has its reputation and actually needs this less than the Palaces need the Ritz.
I would not be surprised to learn they consider Palaces to be beneath them.
In this kind of game it's the worst "palace" that benefits from the aura of the better ones, not the other way around.
They really failed to get the distinction the first time, there is a court decision from 2013 against Atout France that is publicly available if you search it on Google. "Tribunal de grande instance de Paris, 21 juin 2013, 2011/16712" So they decided not to participate anymore.