The Hotel Amour Nice

Essence through the senses, that is the pitch of this section. With the desire to make you discover inspiring places through sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste. Sense.

The name alone is a program figure… The fact remains that, for their third opus, Emmanuel Delavenne, André Saraiva and Thierry Costes offer much more than a one-on-one in love. Visit and experiences.

“ Honestly, Nice was not an end in itself ,” warns Mickaël Correia, the operations manager of the latest Amour hotel.

No more than other large provincial towns. The founders of the two Parisian establishments had just expressed the wish to inaugurate a new address elsewhere than in the capital. In 2018, the visit to the former Hi Hôtel niçois hastened things. “ Emmanuel Delavenne literally falls in love with the region and the city. So much so that once the place was acquired, just a year ago, this pure Parisian ended up settling on the French Riviera.

He discovered such richness there, especially in the flea markets. One of his hobbies. The hotelier would have two warehouses in Nice, filled with his latest favorite purchases. During a whole winter, he hunts for bargain hunts, while seeking inspiration, in museums, local factories… No rush for all that. Once the spaces have been designed and then created, Emmanuel Delavenne takes the time to immerse himself in them to set up the imagined universe. “ It is unthinkable to resort to interior architects or other designers concerned with defining and applying a 'concept'. No moodboard here! “Love is lived, right? Its 38 rooms and its restaurant-bar-lounge too.

The teams therefore take great care to dress the premises little by little. “ I remember us hanging up a first series of frames, before Emmanuel Delavenne asked us to stop: “we'll start again in two weeks, otherwise we risk being too repetitive”. Over the weeks, therefore, local ceramics very 1950, books by entire libraries evoking the Riviera, creations in bubbled glass from Biot, collection speakers... each find their place.

Others will wait a little longer. In particular the plants of the patio brought to be covered with a glass roof. In the meantime, for a few months, the first customers have already been enjoying a sweet holiday atmosphere. No feigned authenticity, no chilling modernity. But a retro Mediterranean atmosphere, both bohemian and warm, exactly in keeping with the taste of the time. Everything here invites you to bask. In particular the absence of telephone and TV in the rooms. Make way for the senses…

VIEW

It is requested from all sides. Without any abruptness, at will. On the bustle of the city through the large bay windows of the bar. On the surrounding rooftops from the 62 bathtub or the terrace with swimming pool on the top floor which overlooks Nice. On the big blue, feet in the sand of the hotel's private beach. On the antique pieces of furniture catching the eye one by one: the crustacean-like light fixtures in the living room, the daybed in room 45, the restaurant's " Wanted " poster featuring Helmut Newton, Larry Clarke and Ralph Gibson, the bathroom door in the 41 like a telephone booth… Not to mention the candy pink or azure blue flat areas punctuating each floor, often erotic photos like invitations and of a bedroom… 13.

THE SMELL

It is becoming. In the spring, the Hotel Amour Nice will offer a whole range of amenities developed exclusively with Molinard. From Grasse, the famous 1849 vintage perfume house will supply candles, soaps, shampoos, etc., with notes of green tea and basil. In the meantime, plants take over in pots, like the succulents in the entrance and the monsteras, so dear to Matisse, scattered here and there.

TOUCH

This sense, the games of materials awaken it throughout the day. In contact with the thick carpets bordering the beds, the curtains in old linen sheets and short velvet, the cold marble of the Italian showers, the raw wood of the tables, the ropes of boats as handrails on the floors, the yellowed pages of old vacation novels…, before the softness of the sheets takes over.

HEARING

Upon entering his room, jazzy notes resonate. Those of the radio. Another story at the bar as in the restaurant. From retro Elipson speakers, the playlists of the hotel teams follow one another. Between Brazilian melodies by João Gilberto, classic rock by Elvis Presley and new wave by Joy Division, the head and feet end up beating time. Until the slightly broken voice of the waitress invites you to have a last drink...

TASTE

He is no exception. As usual, the kitchens of the Amour hotels know how to hit the mark, simply, surely. First, at the turn of a sunny aperitif, between olives from the Alziari estate, beef cecina, panisses with herb mayonnaise and various pastis. Later, the dishes follow, with the same vivacity, in particular the pistou pasta, frank, generous, enveloping... Add rather natural wines, more than wide hours, and you will easily admit that there is not no more bad taste.