Hotels take a lot of liberties with how they market themselves, and the categories they put themselves into (“five-star,” “boutique,” etc.). While it has geographic limitations, arguably the most prestigious “official” hotel distinction in the world is that of “Palace” status in France.
For the first time in roughly six years, we’ve seen updates to the list of hotels awarded this recognition. This also includes hotels having their status taken away, which is the first time in history that we’ve seen that happen.
I first wrote about how this was going to happen a few weeks back, and would now like to take a look at the actual hotels being added and removed. They mostly seem very logical, though I’m shocked by one addition, and am confused by the lack of addition of other hotels.
Basics of the France “Palace” hotel concept
France is known for luxury and gastronomy, and by connection, some amazing hotels. This is where France’s Palace distinction for hotels kicks in. Since 2010, Atout France (France’s official tourism development agency) has been awarding certain hotels Palace status.
This is a much higher honor than being a five-star hotel, as there are currently only a little over 30 hotels in France with this distinction. Note that a French hotel having Palace distinction doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s in a former palace (though several properties are). Rather, it’s intended to describe just how grand these properties are, and that they excel at all criteria being judged, including service, gastronomy, etc.
This program is intended to encourage hotels to be their best, all while increasing the profile of these properties on the international scene. I know many Francophiles go out of their way to stay at Palace properties, and for good reason.
I’ve written in the past about the list of Palace hotels before the most recent changes, so check out that post for more background.
France’s “Palace” hotels list has been updated
France’s Palace hotels list has been updated as of June 2, 2026, which is the first time that we’ve seen changes to the list since 2019. While the list is supposed to be updated every few years, there was a bit of a gap during the pandemic, given how hotels modified their service for some amount of time.
So, which hotels earned, lost, and maintained Palace status? Keep in mind that this isn’t a one-time award, but instead, hotels have to renew their Palace distinction with each cycle.
First, four hotels have lost their Palace distinction, which is the first time that hotels have had this honor taken away from them. These hotels include the following:
- Hotel Byblos Saint-Tropez
- Hotel du Palais Biarritz, Hyatt Unbound Collection
- Mandarin Oriental Paris
- Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme
Suffice it to say that this is really rough for Hyatt, with two of the four hotels belonging to the chain:
- The Park Hyatt Paris is a great points property, but there’s no denying it hasn’t really kept up with the competition in the past decade; maybe this is the push they need to finally renovate
- Hotel Biarritz is a charming property that I very much enjoyed staying at, but yeah, it’s probably not quite to the top French hospitality standard nowadays
- I haven’t stayed at the Mandarin Oriental Paris, but that seems like a pretty rough loss
- Byblos Saint-Tropez is a nice hotel in the center of town, but I’m not surprised it’s no longer quite up to Palace standards
Next, six hotels have earned Palace distinction for the first time, and these include the following:
- Bulgari Paris
- Cheval Blanc Paris
- Fouquet’s Paris
- Four Seasons Megeve
- Hotel Martinez Cannes, Hyatt Unbound Collection
- Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa
Okay, so five of those six hotels make sense to me. The Paris additions are all well deserved. It’s nice to see a hotel in Champagne get Palace status, and the Megeve property is gorgeous. However, I’m downright confused by the addition of Hotel Martinez… what am I missing?
It’s a perfectly nice 400+ room hotel in Cannes, but there’s no metric by which this is a top tier hotel in France, especially in terms of the lack of personalization of service, due to its size. Please, someone make this make sense! On the plus side for Hyatt, I guess it means the brand maintains one Palace property.
Perhaps what’s even more surprising is what hotels didn’t make the list. Airelles is probably my favorite hotel group in the world, and both Airelles Val d’Isère and Airelles Château de Versailles don’t yet have Palace distinction, as they opened since the previous round of awards, in 2019. These are both spectacular hotels, so how exactly did they not qualify for this distinction?
Lastly, it’s also worth at least pointing out how The Ritz Paris is one of the most iconic hotels in the city, but hasn’t actually been awarded Palace distinction. That always catches people off guard, since it’s considered to be among the best hotels in the city. I’ve heard all kinds of rumors (down to the hotel not “wanting” Palace status, for whatever reason), but I’m not sure what exactly is going on there.
Bottom line
Atout France has revealed an updated list of “Palace” hotels. With this, we’ve seen four hotels lose their status, including two Hyatts, one Mandarin Oriental, and Byblos Saint-Tropez. Meanwhile we’ve seen six hotels receive Palace distinction for the first time, including three hotels in Paris, and one in each of Cannes, Champagne, and Megeve.
Palace distinction is about as prestigious as it gets in the hotel industry, so this is a big loss for the hotels that are losing the recognition, and a big win for those that are gaining it. Hopefully this causes the Park Hyatt Paris and Hotel du Palais Biarritz owners to invest a bit in their properties, in hopes of regaining the status. Then again, when Hotel Martinez is somehow getting this award, then little makes sense to me anymore.
What do you make of these Palace hotel updates?