Paris Hotel: The Hotel de Crillon in Paris is one of the oldest luxury hotels in the world. It is located on the foot of the Champs-Élysées at No. 10 on the north end of Place de la Concorde.
The Hotel de Crillon reflects total opulence, beginning at the honey-colored marble lobby and into the adjacent gastronomic restaurant Les Ambassadeurs filled with crystal chandeliers and decorated in seven different marbles. The hotel's public salons are filled with 17th and 18th century tapestries, chandeliers, gilt-and-brocade furniture, fine pieces of sculpture, and Louis XVI chests and chairs. Its Leonard Bernstein suite, on the top floor with a wrap-around terrace that provides a spectacular view of Paris, also contains one of the maestro's pianos.
The hotel was the favorite of the Joseph P. Kennedy family and royalty from around the world chooses to stay including George V of the United Kingdom, Hassan II of Morocco and Japan's Emperor Hirohito. The notorious swindler "Count" Victor Lustig impressed his unsuspecting victims with his luxurious suite at the Crillon. Other celebrities who favored the Crillon were Jacqueline Onassis, Barbara Hutton, Charlie Chaplin, Porfirio Rubirosa, Orson Welles, Elizabeth Taylor, and Tyrone Power. In more recent times, Axl Rose, Allan Bloom, Saul Bellow, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mariah Carey, Roger Federer, Placido Domingo, and Madonna have stayed at the Crillon. When Lance Armstrong stayed here after his Tour de France wins, the hotel even flew the Texas flag to salute him.