Relais & Châteaux is an association of individually owned and operated luxury hotels and restaurants. As of April 2023, the association has 580 members in 65 countries across five continents.[1] Predominantly operated in Europe and North America, the Relais & Châteaux also has members in South America, Asia, Africa and Oceania.[2][3] Governed by the 1901 Act of French law, the association was founded in 1954 which was initially known as Relais de Campagne. In 1975, it merged with Châteaux-Hôtels to form Relais & Châteaux.[4]
History
In 1954, Marcel and Nelly Tilloy, two music-hall artists who owned La Cardinale on the right bank of the Rhône River in France, joined forces with some hotelier friends to form the organization 'Les Relais de Campagne' ('The Country Road Houses'). They also created a road trip called Route du Bonheur ('Road to Happiness') along the Route Nationale 7 from Paris to Nice, where each of the founding properties appears as a stop along the road. By the early 1960s, establishments outside France had joined the association, including hotels in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.