A palace on Place Vendôme, the first electric hotel in London, a sail in the sea off Dubai, a colonial veranda in Singapore, a fleet of green Rolls-Royces in Kowloon and a beach in Phuket. The houses every other hotel is measured by.
1898César Ritz opens the Ritz on Place Vendôme
César Ritz, the Swiss hotelier called "the king of hoteliers and hotelier to kings", opened the Ritz on Place Vendôme in Paris on June 1, 1898. The great jewelers of the square are in Fine jewelry.
1758Louis XV commissions the palace that became the Crillon
On the Place de la Concorde, the palace Ange-Jacques Gabriel built for Louis XV in 1758 opened as the Hôtel de Crillon on March 11, 1909. After 4 years of work it reopened on July 5, 2017, run by Rosewood.
Le Bristol opened in 1925 at 112 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, in a mansion Hippolyte Jammet bought in 1923 to make into one of the great hotels of Paris. It belongs to the Oetker Collection.
1889The Savoy opens with electric light throughout
Richard D'Oyly Carte opened the Savoy on the Strand on August 6, 1889, with the profits of Gilbert and Sullivan. He made César Ritz its manager and Auguste Escoffier its chef. It was the first hotel in Britain with electric light throughout, and had the country's first electric lifts.
Claridge's began as Mivart's Hotel on Brook Street, Mayfair, in 1812. William and Marianne Claridge bought it in 1854, and the present building opened in 1898. César Ritz opened his London Ritz at 150 Piccadilly in May 1906, in a building by Charles Mewès and Arthur Davis, in London.
1876The Sacher opens opposite the Opera
Eduard Sacher opened the Hotel Sacher in 1876, facing the Opera in Vienna. His father Franz is said to have made the first Sachertorte in 1832, for a reception given by Metternich.
Giuseppe Cipriani, who had founded Harry's Bar, opened the Hotel Cipriani in 1958 on the island of Giudecca, across the lagoon from St Mark's Square in Venice. Its pool, added in 1968, was the only one in central Venice.
321 mThe height of the Burj Al Arab
The Burj Al Arab opened on December 1, 1999, on an artificial island 280 meters off Jumeirah Beach in Dubai. Designed by Tom Wright, it rises 321 meters. The "seven-star" label came from a British journalist who toured it before it opened. The hotel says it has never used the term, and it holds 5 stars, the highest rating, from the Forbes Travel Guide and from Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism.
Emirates Palace opened in Abu Dhabi in 2005, under a central dome and 114 smaller ones, and has been run by Mandarin Oriental since January 1, 2020.
1876The Oriental opens, the first hotel built in Thailand
Raffles Hotel opened in Singapore on December 1, 1887, as a 10-room hotel run by the Armenian Sarkies brothers. In 1915 its Hainanese bartender, Ngiam Tong Boon, created the Singapore Sling, and in 1987 the hotel was declared a National Monument.
The Peninsula opened in Kowloon, Hong Kong, on December 11, 1928. Since 2006 its guests have been met in 14 long-wheelbase Rolls-Royce Phantoms painted in the hotel's own green, an order The Economist reported as the largest Rolls-Royce had taken.
The Oriental opened on the river in Bangkok in 1876, the first hotel built in Thailand. It is now the Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok. Amanpuri, Aman's flagship, opened in 1988 on Pansea Beach in Phuket: 40 pavilions and 40 villas above a white crescent of sand.
1907The Plaza opens on Fifth Avenue
The Plaza opened on October 1, 1907, on Fifth Avenue at Central Park South in New York, in a building by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh. It became a National Historic Landmark on June 24, 1986.
The Beverly Hills Hotel opened on May 12, 1912. It was first painted pink in 1948, which gave it its name, the Pink Palace, and its Polo Lounge was named for the polo players who celebrated their wins there. It has been part of the Dorchester Collection since 1996. The Breakers in Palm Beach is in The American season.
The houses on this page, by the year each first opened. The grand hotels of St. Moritz, Gstaad and Lake Lucerne are in Alpine grand hotels, the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc in The French Riviera, and the Hôtel de Paris in Monaco.
| Since | Hotel |
|---|---|
| 1812 | Claridge'sLondon |
| 1876 | Hotel SacherVienna |
| 1876 | Mandarin Oriental (The Oriental)Bangkok |
| 1887 | RafflesSingapore |
| 1889 | The SavoyLondon |
| 1896 | The BreakersPalm Beach |
| 1898 | The RitzParis |
| 1906 | The RitzLondon |
| 1907 | The PlazaNew York |
| 1909 | Hôtel de CrillonParis |
| 1912 | The Beverly Hills HotelBeverly Hills |
| 1925 | Le BristolParis |
| 1928 | The PeninsulaHong Kong |
| 1958 | Hotel CiprianiVenice |
| 1988 | AmanpuriPhuket |
| 1999 | Burj Al ArabDubai |
| 2005 | Emirates PalaceAbu Dhabi |
The year each house first opened as a hotel under its name or its first name (Claridge's began as Mivart's). Sources below.
Paris🇫🇷 France
London🇬🇧 United Kingdom
Vienna🇦🇹 Austria
Dubai🇦🇪 UAE
Singapore🇸🇬 Singapore
New York🇺🇸 United StatesSources. Ritz Paris, history and identity · Hôtel de Crillon · Hôtel Le Bristol Paris · The Savoy · Claridge's · The Ritz London · Hotel Sacher · Hotel Cipriani · Burj Al Arab · Emirates Palace · Raffles Singapore, about · The Peninsula Hong Kong · The Economist, Pick me up, 2006 · Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok · Aman, Amanpuri · The Plaza Hotel · The Beverly Hills Hotel. Read October 2026. A record of places, houses and dates, published as research. Patrician.ch has no commercial relationship with any house named here. Photographs from Unsplash and Pexels, used under their licenses.
No official rating goes above 5 stars.
The "seven-star" label attached to the Burj Al Arab came from a British journalist who toured it before it opened in 1999. The hotel holds 5 stars from the Forbes Travel Guide and from Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism.
On June 1, 1898, on Place Vendôme.
It was founded by the Swiss hotelier César Ritz.
The Savoy in London, opened on August 6, 1889, the first in Britain with electric light throughout and with the country's first electric lifts.
At Raffles Hotel in Singapore, by the bartender Ngiam Tong Boon, in 1915.
14 long-wheelbase Rolls-Royce Phantoms in the hotel's own green, since 2006.
On October 1, 1907, on Fifth Avenue at Central Park South in New York.
It was first painted pink in 1948.
It opened on May 12, 1912.
The Hotel Cipriani on Giudecca.
Its pool, added in 1968, was the only one in central Venice.
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