George V still pulling the crowds
In the lobby of the George V, just off the Champs Elyseés in Paris, there's a gaggle of tourists. They are not hotel guests but they have come to view something for which the hotel is becoming renowned in the French capital - its floral designs. In row after row of vases - some long and elegant, some stout - colourful displays entice the crowds. Each week there's a new theme, and flower sculptures are rejuvenated daily - sometimes hourly.
In charge of these magnificent displays is Jeff Leatham, an American whose career has included positions at the Four Seasons Los Angeles hotel in Beverly Hills, and Ian Schrager Hotels. Every year, Leatham spends £1m on flowers, purchasing some 15,000-17,000 stems a week from the Netherlands. It's an enormous job, and Leatham has a team of seven full-time staff who work exclusively on the hotel's floral designs. So popular is his work that he has published one book and is working on another.
These floral displays epitomise the kind of detail that guests at the George V have come to expect. Many are extremely wealthy people, for whom money is no object. Rack rates range from €670 (£428) for a superior room to €9,000 (£5,750) a night for the presidential suite. Naturally, such rates ensure a high-profile guest list. Jennifer Lopez, Tom Cruise, Bruce Springsteen, Céline Dion and Sir Anthony Hopkins are among recent celebrity visitors to the hotel.
The original George V was designed in the 1920s by French architects Lefranc and Wybo, under the direction of American owner Joel Hillman. Opened in 1928, it immediately set new standards in the hospitality industry.
The venue was described in early press coverage that first year as "conceived in the spirit of modern and elegant luxury and endowed with the latest technological innovations". At that time, innovations included the installation in each guest room of a telephone with both outside and hotel service lines; suites with two bathrooms, "allowing two people to take a bath at the same time and be ready to go down to dinner together"; fitted closets; extra-wide corridors on guest floors to eliminate luggage gridlock; fire alarms; and an elaborate dumb-waiter system to speed up delivery of hot food from the kitchen to guest rooms.
The cost of design, construction and installations came to more than US$60m. Opening rates started at Ffr150 per night for a four-bedroom apartment with two bedrooms. Quickly dubbed as being in "modern French style" by the Paris-based Anglo-American press of the 1920s, the hotel's art deco facade and decor drew admirers from the international design world.
Unusual for 1928 was the layout of the main floor. The kitchens, equipped with modern refrigeration and ventilation, and electric ovens in the pastry kitchen, were set on the same level as the main restaurant, rather than below ground in customary Parisian hotel style. The restaurant opened on to a courtyard and offered a separate dining room for children, where nannies could tend to their needs. These nannies, as well as valets and other attendants, were accommodated in a total of 70 maids' rooms, a significant percentage of the hotel's original 300 rooms.
Flexibility in design permitted configuration of suites with as many as five rooms. The luxurious appointment of these, and of the salons and public areas, attracted international acclaim. Sotheby's declared the George V to be the "Parisian hotel that contained the most works of art".
Over the years, the George V became a venue for milestone events in history over seven decades of the 20th century. In 1929, the hotel hosted the signing of the Young Plan, outlining war reparation agreements, and was officially made a branch of the League of Nations. In August 1944, the hotel became General Eisenhower's headquarters during the liberation of Paris from the occupying Germans. Other heads of state who have made the George V their Parisian base for meetings include French presidents Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and François Mitterrand, and US presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter.
On 1 November 1997, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts signed an agreement with owner Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, already a major shareholder in Four Seasons, to manage the hotel. It was renamed the Four Seasons Hotel George V, Paris, becoming the first Four Seasons in France. The hotel was shut for a US$125m (£80.4m) renovation, reopening on 18 December 1999 with 245 rooms and 650 staff.
Just over three years later, there are great expectations for the hotel's restaurant, Le Cinq. The restaurant achieved the award of its first Michelin star just two months after opening, and was accorded a second in March 2001. Will it get a third? Watch this space.
Factfile
Four Seasons Hotel George V, Paris
Rooms: 245, including 61 suites
Occupancy, 2002: 82%
Average achieved room rate: €700 (£447)
Staff: 650
General manager: Didier Le Calvez, formerly general manager of the Pierre, New York
Executive chef: Philippe Legendre
What's it like to work there?
How did you get the job in the first place? By chance. When I first came to France, I worked for Disneyland Paris, doing anything from being a valet parker to a lifeguard. I then joined Marriott as a concierge, and came to the George V as part of the preopening team.
What are the key components of your job?
It can be absolutely anything, and we certainly get some strange requests.
But mostly it's about giving the impression that anything is possible, even if secretly you don't think that it really is. We try and accommodate all requests, unless they are immoral or illegal.
Do you book transport? Of course, but we're not just talking cars and drivers. I often have to get hold of Ferraris and Rolls-Royces, and I have had to book private planes and yachts at short notice.
What unusual requests have you had? When singer Janet Jackson was staying, she wanted 25 different colours of spray paint to spray her costumes. It was a Sunday evening, and I had to get hold of someone who had a hardware store to go and open it, so that her request could be met.
More recently, a woman said that she wanted to meditate in the open air as it was a full moon and could she go on to the roof of the hotel. We couldn't allow that for safety reasons, but we found her somewhere else where she could meditate instead.
And I've also been asked to buy dogs for people to take home before now. I've got to know how to get hold of the breeders to get them their dogs.
Do you eat out much?
I try to eat out as much as possible, to be able to recommend restaurants to guests. I spend a lot of my own money eating out. There are some great restaurants in Paris and I've had some amazing meals.
A lot of restaurants will save a couple of tables for our guests, even if they are normally fully booked, so we can usually get reservations.
Do you celebrity-spot?
I try not to, but I can't deny it's exciting to watch for famous people. We had the Rolling Stones stay for a month, but I didn't ask for their autographs - that would be tacky.
What about the rest of the team?
It's big. There are 15 of us, making us the largest concierge desk in Paris. We also have two full-time secretaries. We work very much as a team and often end up finishing one another's sentences.
What are the tips like? Pretty good. We share them out. We had one in excess of €5,000 (£3,194) recently from a wealthy businesswoman.
