
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.
Each house in its own photograph. Its story is below.













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.
1864The first winter season in St. Moritz
In 1864 Johannes Badrutt, owner of the Kulm in St. Moritz, bet his English summer guests that they would enjoy the winter, and offered to pay their way home if they did not. They stayed until Easter. His son Caspar opened Badrutt's Palace in 1896, and the tower over the lake has been the town's landmark since.

1913The Gstaad Palace opens
The Gstaad Palace opened above Gstaad in 1913 and is still owned by the Scherz family. On Lake Lucerne, the first hotel on the Bürgenstock opened in 1873, and the resort reopened in 2017 after a full rebuilding. Lucerne is the town below it, across the water.
Zermatt is car-free, and its hotels are reached by train or electric taxi with the Matterhorn above them. Kitzbühel keeps the Tyrolean version of the same life, with the Hahnenkamm race every January.
1844The Baur au Lac opens in Zurich

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. The island resorts are in Resorts.
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.

Beyond the city palaces lies the other great tradition: the house in the mountains. A lodge on a Tyrolean lake, a resort reached only by cable car, a kasbah under the highest peak in North Africa, villas facing the Torres del Paine and suites inside a pine grove in Bhutan.
58 of them follow, region by region, each with what sets it apart, taken from the house's own pages. Each photograph shows the valley, the peak or the shore the house looks onto, not the house itself.
From Tyrol to the Highlands and Iceland.























From the High Atlas to the Cederberg.










From the Adirondacks to the Torres del Paine.











From Bhutan and Japan to New Zealand.















The houses on this page, by the year each first opened. The Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc is in The French Riviera, and the Hôtel de Paris is in Monaco.
| Since | Hotel |
|---|---|
| 1812 | Claridge'sLondon |
| 1834 | Hôtel des BerguesGeneva |
| 1844 | Baur au LacZurich |
| 1873 | BürgenstockLucerne |
| 1876 | Hotel SacherVienna |
| 1876 | Mandarin Oriental (The Oriental)Bangkok |
| 1887 | RafflesSingapore |
| 1889 | The SavoyLondon |
| 1896 | The BreakersPalm Beach |
| 1896 | Badrutt's PalaceSt. Moritz |
| 1898 | The RitzParis |
| 1899 | The Dolder GrandZurich |
| 1906 | The RitzLondon |
| 1906 | Montreux PalaceMontreux |
| 1907 | The PlazaNew York |
| 1909 | Hôtel de CrillonParis |
| 1912 | The Beverly Hills HotelBeverly Hills |
| 1913 | Gstaad PalaceGstaad |
| 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. Badrutt's Palace Hotel · Kulm Hotel St. Moritz · Gstaad Palace · Bürgenstock Resort · Baur au Lac · The Dolder Grand · 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 · Achensee, Alpenrose and Cocoon Lodge · Falstaff, The Arula Chalets · Schmelzhof · Zillertalerhof · Priesteregg · Austria Hotel Collection, Das Central · Schwarzer Adler · Hotel Stein · Luxury Travel Advisor, Goldgasse · Das Kranzbach · Grand Hotel National · Cervo · Meranerhof · Vigilius · Meranerland, Der Forsterhof · Santo Stefano di Sessanio · Uniqhotels, Szuflandia · Luxury Explorer, Le Chalet Mont Blanc · Consolación · Copperhill Mountain Lodge · Alladale · ADF, ION Adventure Hotel · Kasbah Tamadot · Kasbah du Toubkal · Saruni Samburu · Angama Mara · andBeyond, Ngorongoro Crater Lodge · Yellow Zebra Safaris, the refurbishment · Kerzner, Gorilla's Nest · Singita Pamushana · i-escape, Mowani · Bushmans Kloof · Marataba · I Love NY, Mirror Lake Inn · The Little Nell · Dunton Hot Springs · Herald, Salish Lodge · Dwell, Mashpi Lodge · Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel · Inkaterra Hacienda Urubamba · Relais & Châteaux, EOLO · Awasi Patagonia · Tierra Patagonia · Fodor's, Noi Puma Lodge · Ananda in the Himalayas · Shakti, Kumaon · Amankora · TravelMole, Uma Paro · Six Senses Bhutan factsheet · Travel+Style, Alila Ubud · Business Wire, HOSHINOYA Guguan · The Peak, HOSHINOYA Guguan · Michelin Guide, Arcana Izu · TravelAge West, HOSHINOYA Fuji · Destination NSW, Wolgan Valley · Gourmet Traveller, Wolgan Valley · Cradle Mountain Lodge · Hapuku Lodge · NZ Herald, Mahu Whenua · Relais & Châteaux, Blanket Bay. 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.
In St. Moritz, in 1864, when hotelier Johannes Badrutt persuaded his English summer guests to stay for the winter.
In 1896, on the shore of Lake St. Moritz.
The Scherz family, which has run the hotel for generations.
It opened in 1913.
The Baur au Lac, on the lake since 1844 and run by the same family since then.
Vigilius Mountain Resort above Lana in South Tyrol, at 1,500 m.
No road leads to it. It has 41 rooms and was designed by Matteo Thun.
HOSHINOYA Fuji, on Lake Kawaguchi facing Mount Fuji.
It opened in October 2015.
The Grand Hotel National, opened in 1870.
Ritz ran it from the end of the 1870s and brought in Auguste Escoffier in 1881.
Salish Lodge & Spa, on top of Snoqualmie Falls in Washington State.
It has 86 rooms.
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