The staircase with its shallow steps allows women to float down the stairs in their crinolines

The refurbishment has followed a path trodden by many hotels in reducing the number of rooms in order to increase the size of those that remain on offer. The constant drive for ever higher standards means that more and more is expected from a five star hotel by discerning, highly mobile, guests. Much of the investment in the refurbishment has gone on the building fabric, with the installation of full air-conditioning, over 1400 new sound proofing windows as well as new bathrooms and furnishings throughout. The hotel is easy to spot when driving towards it as the newly cleaned exterior gleams out cream and fresh against the grime encasing so many other Parisian buildings. Not all floors have yet been handed back to the operator, but the timing of this refurbishment has worked well, with occupancy rates in the French five star market being at historic low points over the past months, minimising any loss the hotel may have made by being closed.

Bedrooms are traditional in feel with heavy drapes providing effective blackout - rollover for more!

However having been so far-sighted in their planning and timing of the refurbishment, and in handling it so well in so many areas, the sense of theatre appears lacking in the bedrooms and bathrooms. Design here does not seem able to rise to the challenge of meeting the same high standards of the building itself. Bathrooms in particular are of a very good standard but don’t quite make it to the luxury reached in other five stars, such as that of the Amigo we featured in an earlier Reveiw (see the Archives)without either the sense of drama or the bidet. They are perhaps too understated; the cream marble used being almost like a limestone, whilst the bath feels undersized. Showers lack the variation of power jets and body jets now associated with luxury showers. Water is delivered powerfully, but through a central rose of unvarying power.

Neither do the toiletries stands and the wash hand basins seem suitably luxurious for this level of hotel, perhaps an indication that in the end the budget constraints were coming into play. As so often this happens at the expense of the luxury finishes that guests enjoy. The use of a separate toilet is an additional and luxurious feature many hotels are using, but here there is no wash hand basin in the toilet, necessitating a trek to the bathroom after use, ­ guaranteed to wake your partner at night!