HISTORICALLY, lavish lobbies telegraphed luxury to hotel guests in bold type.
Consider the Four Seasons George V in Paris, a circa-1928 slice of the good life.
Adorned with dinosaur-size chandeliers, 12,000-bloom floral arrangements and antique Flemish tapestries, its opulent entrance has long epitomized globe-trotting grandeur.
Lately, however, travelers are striding into high-end hotels to find…no lobby at all.
These properties claim that jettisoning the grand entrance and front desk provides a more personal sense of “coming home.” But is the trend genuinely luxe or just stingy minimalism masquerading as “elegance”?
Persons:
George V
Locations:
Paris