Building
Due to its integration into an ensemble of entertainment and shopping amenities, then a relatively unusual concept in the French hospitality industry, it was billed as the "first American-style Parisian hotel".[3] Like much of the surrounding complex, the hotel was designed by star architect Pierre Dufau. Despite its bold appearance, it was given only one third of the usual budget for similarly sized hotels at the time,[36] with some sources quoting a price tag as low as FRF 50 million.[37] The hotel's walls are covered in factory-stamped steel panels hot painted with DuPont's Tedlar polymer, which gave the building the desired durability and character at a discount.[38] Dufau would reuse that technique on later works such as the SNECMA headquarters in the neighboring 15th arrondissement.[39]
Culminating at 116 metre, it was announced as Paris's future largest hotel and slated for a late 1973 or 1974 opening, suffering no major delays.[40][41] Although advertisements often listed the more impressive number of 1000 rooms as a bullet point,[21] the actual number was 962 (including 32 suites)[21] in its original Sheraton incarnation.[42] By the time of its entry into service, it had already been overtaken in terms of capacity by two competitors, the fr:Le Méridien Étoile and, narrowly, the Hôtel Concorde La Fayette.[43][44]
In its original configuration, the hotel had 31 floors, 25 of which were reserved for the rooms. While the other parts of the hotel have seen significant alterations, the volume allocated to the rooms has remained practically the same, with only minor variations in their number. A "salon", or conference hall, was also present at the base of the tower, with an original capacity of 1,000 patrons.[26] Two of the lower floors were also used as corporate rental space before the 2017 remodel.[45]
Remodels
Following its acquisition by Méridien, the hotel was given a three-year makeover, projected at FRF 100 million in 1986,[46] but retrospectively pegged at nearly three times more.[47] The lobby was expanded vertically, and a new 2000-seat conference hall was also fitted out.[7][47] The necessary space for the latter was gained from the phasing out of several underground facilities within the complex, including the Patinoire Gaîté-Montparnasse, an ice rink. A 2005 article named it as the largest hotel-integrated conference center in Europe at the time,[48] with some 4,200 m2 of total space across all salons.[47][49]
