Peek inside Touriste’s Hotel Chateau d’Eau – inspired by Paris’s legendary nightclub scene

Founders Adrien Gloaguen and Julie Revuz unpack its unorthodox design DNA

From bourgeois-with-a-twist to 1980s disco, each of the eight hotels in Parisian hospitality group Touriste’s growing portfolio has a different style, a different story and even a different designer.

And if Adrien Gloaguen and Julie Revuz—the husband-and-wife team behind the group—can find a designer who has never worked on a hotel project before, then so much the better.

Adrien Gloaguen, cofounder of Touriste
© Touriste

Some might say it’s a risky approach, the pair concede. But it is a strategy that hasn’t let them down yet. Being open to and challenged by new ideas from ambitious, hungry designers is how they keep the brand fresh and the properties individual. If that means signing off on pink sheets or carpet on the walls, so be it. ‘We like that it is an adventure each time,’ says Revuz. ‘Every new designer comes with a new idea about what hospitality should look like, and every time we trust that designer, it pays off.’

‘It is the origin of the identity of the hotel,’ adds Gloaguen. The group’s eighth site, Hotel Chateau d’Eau, is set to open this month in Paris’s 10th arrondissement.

Designed by Necchi Architecture’s Alexis Lamesta and Charlotte Albert, it is an homage to the Parisian nightclub scene of the 1980s in the heart of the city’s artistic district. ‘The designers’ style is influenced by the 70s, 80s, and 90s,’ says Revuz. ‘We liked the way they work with carpet and aluminium to create a look that is fun but also chic.’

The interior of the seven-storey, 35-bedroom property is inspired by Maison Gainsbourg, the eclectic, black-walled Parisian home of French singer-songwriter and actor Serge Gainsbourg. Filled with handpicked flea market and antique finds, including a pair of vintage Italian ceramic panthers, Hotel Chateau d’Eau embraces the energy and creativity of Paris’s revellers, past and present.

Every Touriste hotel is designed with a dream client in mind, says Revuz. In the case of Hotel Chateau d’Eau, that client would be Yves Saint Laurent’s muse and former Chanel model Betty Catroux. ‘This hotel is sexy. It is somewhere Betty would roll in at 2 am coming back from La Palace nightclub,’ she adds. ‘All of our hotels have a story. This is the story for this particular property.’

Hotel Chateau d’Eau is the third hotel Gloaguen and Revuz have opened in the last 18 months, hot on the heels of Hôtel Beauregard and Hôtel de la Boétie. Regarding their longer-term expansion plan, the duo say that while they remain ambitious, there is not so much a grand vision as a focus on snapping up opportunities along the way.

‘It is completely opportunistic,’ says Gloaguen. We are presented with a number of properties, and we decide where to go next based on what comes up. We don’t have a plan set out, but broadly, we would expect to continue to buy one or two new hotels a year.’

Touriste’s Hôtel de la Boétie, designed by Beata Heuman, combines rich colours with classic shapes. It opened last year.
© Simon Brown

As for where they intend to take the brand next, the two are undecided. Or rather, not yet in agreement. Gloaguen would like to expand to other major cities around Europe, including London, Amsterdam and Madrid. Revuz would prefer to target alternative French cities like Marseille. Both agree, however, that Touriste will remain a city brand. ‘We are not looking at properties in the middle of nowhere,’ says Revuz.

Who will design these upcoming projects, wherever they may be, depends on the style and eventual location they settle on. ‘We have a wish list of designers,’ says Gloaguen. ‘When I see a building, we imagine which designer will be best suited to that building.’

Despite the company ethos of making sure that every hotel has a unique identity, there is a familiar thread that runs through the portfolio. ‘We have a number of hotels that look completely different and all of them have been described as looking like they have been inspired by Wes Anderson. [But} the thing is, we were not inspired by Wes Anderson at all. Our hotels are not movies but each time we create a little story. Every hotel is a person, whether that’s Betty Catroux or Catherine Deneuve. Perhaps that’s what makes a Touriste hotel – the stories of the people who inspire them.’