Hotel de Crillon, Paris

Got a spare 1000 euros in your pocket? Want to celebrate on your birthday or splash out for your honeymoon? You could snuggle down in a bed slept in by Madonna or lie back in a bath washed in by Lance Armstrong.

The Hotel de Crillon even flew the Texas flag when Lance Armstrong stayed here after winning the Tour de France. Many others no doubt had a view to being treated like royalty when staying at this famous hotel in Paris: Saul Bellow, Mariah Carey, Placido Domingo, the list goes on.

It's no surprise that they were treated like royalty, as once upon a time, the hotel did treat royalty. Built in the eighteenth century during the reign of Louis XV as a residence for the Duc d'Aumont, it was here that Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI, took piano lessons. Later, it was owned by the Count of Crillon till 1907, when it underwent refurbishment to turn it into the hotel that we know today.

Looking out from the window of their room decorated in the Louis XV style, guests may admire the Place de la Concorde with its rich collection of statuary. The square's location is at one end of the Champs Elysees and a stone's throw from the American Embassy. Guests could be in the Jardin des Tuileries for their afternoon stroll in five minutes or admire the Mona Lisa in the Louvre within fifteen.

The hotel's location wasn't always a place of harmony. Looking out of their window two centuries ago, a guest would have seen the thousands of executions by guillotine, including those of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, when the square was known as the "Place de la Revolution".

Many years later, after the First World War, President Wilson and the American delegation stayed at the Crillon during the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. The tables were turned during the Second World War when the German high command set up their headquarters here in 1940 after Paris fell. With Paris liberated again in 1944, the story goes that when General de Gaulle was marching down the Champs Elysees and entered the Place de la Concorde, snipers were still active from the windows of the hotel.

Judging by its courtyards, restaurants and tea rooms, it's no wonder that guests from all around the world have made a beeline to stay in this famous hotel in Paris.

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