A room with gold walls and cushions and blue couches and chairs
A room with gold walls and cushions and blue couches and chairs

The library at L’oscar

Michel Reybier, owner of La Reserve, has just bought L’oscar, a London luxury boutique hotel. Darius Sanai drops by and looks forward to a new star of the scene

I first met Michel Reybier when I interviewed him for a feature in a Hong Kong luxury magazine I had just launched, LE PAN, about his celebrated wine estate, Chateau Cos d’Estournel in Bordeaux. Much of the interview was about the other businesses he ran, how he had made his first fortune in the food industry (selling high-end packaged charcuterie), the medical clinic group he had bought and was expanding, and his little boutique luxury hotel group, La Reserve.

Follow LUX on Instagram: luxthemagazine

Having gotten to know him a little more over the years, I noticed that he is not a man who likes to talk about himself. He lets his businesses do the talking; and now his small hotel group, renamed Michel Reybier Hospitality, has become quite a significant one. In the last few years he has bought the Seiler hotel group in his adopted home of Switzerland (which includes some of the country’s best-known traditional hotels, including the Mont Cervin Palace in Zermatt, where my parents went on their honeymoon – very thoughtful of him) and the La Reserve hotels in Geneva, Paris, St Tropez and Zurich have become must-visits for the contemporary-minded high net worth set.

Purple velvet couches in a restuarant

The restaurant at L’oscar. Image by Ben Rice

Any luxury hotel group worth its salt needs a property in London, but great hotels in London are hard to come by: by and large scarce and overpriced. But where there’s a will, and a canny owner, there’s a way, and so last week I dropped by his new acquisition in central London, L’oscar. In Holborn, near Theatreland and surrounded by offices of affluent workers (lawyers, digital, entertainment), L’oscar opened in a blaze of publicity around five years ago, with dramatic, Costes-comes-to-London design, then faded away a bit. In buying it this year, Reybier intends to make it a new star of the London scene. His experienced team are aware of its slightly off-centre location – you don’t have the Mayfair oligarchs and PE titans coming to play here – and will doubtless make a virtue of its local qualities.

A gold and black bedroom

L’oscar’s bright and spacious suites

The hotel will undergo some light refurbishment and what is now the bar, under a dramatic rotunda, will become the restaurant, which will move from its street side location – a logical move.

Read more: LUX Art Diary: Exhibitions to see in April

Reybier naturally owns a champagne house, and I dropped by the bar for a glass or two of Jeeper champagne a couple of days back.

A marble bar with purple seats and a man serving behind the bar

The bar at L’oscar’s restaurant. Image by Gregoire Gardette

The staff seem energised, the room is as glamorous as any in a London hotel – in fact, makes many London luxury hotels look quite ordinary – and as I mentioned to him, it’s a place that could become a hub in an area that needs one. The Jeeper champagne was excellent too, balanced, understated, very nicely put together – rather like its owner. The magic wand wielded by Reybier and his wise CEO, Raouf Finan, turned a fusty old palace, the Eden in Zurich, into the most glam hotel in town, just before lockdown. L’oscar needs much less of a makeover, being pretty glam already, but London will only benefit from the arrival of a Euro star.

www.loscarlondon.com

www.michelreybierhospitality.com

Share:
Reading time: 3 min
interior restaurant
interior restaurant

La Muña restaurant at La Réserve Eden au Lac Zurich.

In the second of our four part luxury travels view column, our editor-in-chief Darius Sanai discovers the elegant alpine charm of La Réserve Eden au Lac Zurich

Have you come across a La Réserve junkie? They are fans of one of Europe’s most distinctive and chichi luxury hotel groups, a kind of micro-version of the original Aman concept. There are La Réserves in Paris, Geneva and Saint-Tropez. The Geneva and St-Trop (in fact, Ramatuelle, on the coast just outside) properties have similarities. They’re both resorts, with delicious swimming pools – Geneva’s is the city’s most bijou pool and spa, as well as an outdoor pool with a country-club feel for the summertime.

Follow LUX on Instagram: luxthemagazine

So, I was interested when the owner of the La Réserve group, Michel Reybier, told me that he was opening a La Réserve in Zurich, not a city known for the quality or variety of its luxury hotels. But where would it be? Just outside town, on a greenfield site near the lake, like Geneva? Or a city centre hotel like Paris?

hotel bathroom

The view from one of the hotel bathrooms. Image by G Gardette

The answer is, a bit of both. The La Réserve Eden au Lac is, as its name suggests, set on the shore of Lake Zurich, a ten-minute walk or five-minute taxi ride from the heart of downtown. It is still in the city centre, a conversion of one of the city’s most celebrated properties, Hotel Eden, which had become a little neglected.

Read more: How ethical blue economy investments support ocean conservation

My room, on the second floor, with a small balcony, had an entrancing view across the lake to the Alps beyond. The interior was just delightful. The bed was in the centre of the room, with a writing desk behind, a blend of 20th-century modern and contemporary touches in the design, bare walls, Ibiza-style white drapes and some beautiful Swiss marquetry.

luxury bedroom

The Eden Suite at the hotel

Reybier has made the Geneva and Saint-Tropez properties destinations in themselves due to their dining and bar options. Would Zurich be the same? The Eden Kitchen & Bar is melded into the lobby restaurant and, while many people would enjoy their Cecconi’s-type vibe, I like my hotel bars to feel a little bit more exclusive, more club-like.

Fortunately, Reybier also appointed Philippe Starck to create La Muña on the top floor. With a view across the lake and city on a clear summer day, it’s also a curious and rather wonderful mix of Alpine and ‘yachty’ (the concept is ‘an imaginary yacht club created by Starck’) in an attic-type space in the rafters of the building. It really feels like an Alpine chill-out bar serving fabulous Japanese food, with a hint of South America. Creamy spicy salmon tartar with tobiko, sesame, jalapeño and fried rice was gorgeous, as were the grilled vegan gyoza. La Muña also has a very painstakingly sourced list of Swiss wines, the best of which were superb and hard to find.

Chapeau, Monsieur Reybier, you may just have created your best Réserve yet.

Find out more: lareserve-zurich.com

This article originally appeared in the Autumn/Winter 2020/2021 Issue. 

Share:
Reading time: 2 min
Luxury hotel pool area on the edge of Lake Geneva
Luxury hotel pool area on the edge of Lake Geneva

La Réserve’s outdoor pool area with sweeping views over the lake and the Alps

Why should I go now?

Switzerland’s lowland lake district has cast off its winter shroud of snow and ice, the sun is higher in the sky, and the green, flower-laden meadows by Lake Geneva contrast spectacularly with the still-white mountains lining the distance.

 Follow LUX on Instagram: the.official.lux.magazine

La Réserve has the pleasant distinction of being a city resort hotel in the countryside. Ridiculously close to Geneva airport – a ten minute drive on average – it somehow escapes any aircraft noise, and is located in its own grounds on the edge of the city, with a big outdoor pool and garden area and a beautiful view across Lake Geneva towards Mont Blanc. It’s a 15 minute taxi ride to the centre of the city – or you can take the hotel’s own boat service along the lake, which is even quicker, and much more scenic.

La Réserve is part of a small, uber-chic group of hotels owned by the French entrepreneur Michel Reybier; other properties are outside St Tropez (with an unmatched view across the bay there) and two in Paris. Reybier also owns the legendary Bordeaux wine estate Chateau Cos d’Estournel, as well as numerous other businesses.

What’s the lowdown?

Michel Reybier has given La Réserve a contemporary, sexy opulence which is quite a contrast to Geneva’s traditional grande-dame luxury hotels like the Four Seasons; as you walk in, you are enveloped in oriental colours and a dark, mysterious vibe; it’s a hotel that makes you want to settle down immediately in the sprawling bar area (immediately in front of you as you walk in) with a bottle of Louis Roederer.

Read next: Global businessman Johnny Hon on promoting global exchange

Depending on when you make it to La Réserve, there is an extensive and thoroughly Cote d’Azur-like outdoor pool, bar, terrace and garden area with sweeping views towards the lake and the Alps. Geneva’s weather is not quite as reliable as St Tropez, but not to worry. The jewel in La Reserve’s crown is the huge, opulent spa area, with a significant indoor lap pool, and lots of space to relax – as well as the kind of super-gym you might expect from this kind of hotel, with a glass wall to ensure anyone walking past feels extra guilty.

Indoor spa swimming pool at luxury hotel

The spa indoor pool

Did we say the spa and pool area was the jewel in La Réserve’s crown? Wait – we meant the Chinese restaurant. In keeping with the Oriental vibe, Tsé Fung is a Michelin-starred restaurant with an extensive Cantonese menu and wine list including, as one would expect, an excellent array of Chateau Cos d’Estournel vintages. (The spicy elegance of Cos would be one of the few Bordeaux wines to be able to match a number of dishes on the menu.) The cuisine and ambience could have been lifted out of Hong Kong, together with its moneyed beau-monde clientele whispering sweet nothings to each other. We witnessed a young gentleman and young lady who had plainly been set up by their (presumably significant) Swiss families on their first arranged date; modesty prevents us from revealing any of their conversation, but let’s just say that LUX expects an invitation to their wedding.

Elegant oriental style restaurant interiors

Michelin-starred restaurant, Tsé Fung

Getting horizontal

Rooms continue the super-chic, Oriental vibe; we had a suite (which really was a suite, unlike some: two separate rooms) whose living room and balcony were just begging for some marriage proposal action (see above). The bathroom was huge and lavish, and everything felt like Valentine’s Day.

Luxury hotel room decorated in white and magenta

A Junior Suite with a terrace overlooking the lush gardens

Flipside

La Réserve succeeds so spectacularly in being a resort hotel, relaxing all the senses and luring you to enjoy it, that if you are here on business (as we were) you might find it had to concentrate. Having said that, we just found it a fabulous tonic and a perfect concept for today’s always on, work/play traveller.

Rates: From CHF 550 (approx. €450/ £400 / $600 )

Darius Sanai

lareserve.ch

Share:
Reading time: 3 min