Travel & Living

Baccarat Hotel in the Heart of New York City

The new standard in modern elegance — Baccarat Hotel New York is the first hotel and global flagship for the more than two-hundred-and-fifty-year-old Baccarat crystal brand. Directly across the street from the Museum of Modern Art and steps away from Fifth Avenue’s legendary shopping, the Forbes Five Star hotel occupies the first 12 floors of the split level tower that rises 550 feet above West 53rd Street. Glowing inside and out, the lower levels of the hotel are veiled by a 125-foot wide corrugated crystal-like curtain.

Photo: Courtesy of Baccarat Hotel

Baccarat is a storied luxury brand whose artisans have produced custom designs since King Louis XV founded the company in 1764. Baccarat has created exquisite products for the world’s most discriminating figures including kings, queens, tsars, sheiks, emirs and sultans, modern moguls, designers and rock stars. The opening of the hotel in New York City marks the brand’s new evolution into a perfectly crafted lifestyle and hospitality brand.

More Baccarat craftsmen have received the coveted Meilleurs Ouvriers de France title than any other French company. This rare distinction is bestowed by the French government to artisans that are truly the finest in their fields. This commitment to fine craftsmanship is woven into every element of service and were woven in the design details of the hotel.

Le Jardin | Courtesy of Baccarat Hotel

Baccarat Hotel New York features 114 sensationally appointed guest rooms and suites. Esteemed Two Michelin-starred Chef Gabriel Kreuther, who helms his namesake restaurant at Bryant Park, serves as the hotel’s Culinary Director. Chef Kreuther works closely with Executive Chef Ali Dey Daly to oversee the menus in the glamorous second-story lobby salons and bar, as well as in-room dining. In the Grand Salon, you can enjoy inventive all-day dining and the hotel’s signature afternoon tea program. The adjacent Bar is an epic space featuring barrel-vaulted ceilings, a 60-foot bar and the outdoor Le Jardin terrace overlooking the MoMA. The hotel also features a 55-foot indoor pool, an elite fitness training facility, and the first Spa de La Mer in the United States.

Paris-based interior design firm Gilles & Boissier led the creation of the hotel’s interiors, which combine Baccarat’s French classic aesthetics with a fanciful modern sensibility. Skid-more, Owings & Merrill served as architects for the 50-story tower, while New York-based designer and member of the Architectural Digest 100, Tony Ingrao, led the residential design. The tower’s sixty private residences are accessible through a separate entrance and will have access to all of the hotel’s amenities.

Baccarat Suite | Courtesy of Baccarat Hotel

The hotel’s interiors were conceived by French design duo Gilles & Boissier to combine the classic elegance of a Parisian hôtel particulier with the contemporary aesthetic of its midtown New York City location. Gilles & Boissier, alongside Starwood Capital’s own design team, designed many of the hotel’s furnishings including commissioning several never-before-seen works from the Baccarat factories. Classic pieces were also curated from the brands’ archival and contemporary collections for the public spaces and rooms. The beautiful parquet wood flooring; woven rugs; hand-pleated silk wall coverings and stainless ribbed ceilings; mica-coated ceilings and mirror and marble wall treatments. Seventeen custom chandeliers hang throughout the property — many suspended by rough cord rope — while one stand-out chandelier is made exclusively out of wood and hangs in the second-floor bar.

The BarFoyer | Courtesy of Baccarat Hotel

French curators Stéphanie and Frédéric Chambre assembled the hotel’s art collection, which includes works from important movements over the more than 250 years since Baccarat’s founding. Commissioned original art and one-of-a-kind furniture from renowned French artists Francois Houtin and Armand Jonckers can also be found throughout the hotel.

Each of the hotel’s 114 guest rooms and suites feels like a private pied-à-terre. Room categories start with the generous Classic King and ascend to the Baccarat Suite, the hotel’s “pièce de résistance.” All rooms feature floor-to-ceiling windows, sitting areas, and custom jacquard linens by Mascioni. Hidden from the sleeping area by hand-painted French doors, white marble bathrooms boast glass-enclosed showers with oversized shower heads and exclusive amenities created for the hotel by Parisian perfumer Francis Kurkdjian.

Courtesy of Baccarat Hotel

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Each of the hotel’s 114 guest rooms

and suites feels like a private

“PIED-À-TERRE”.

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A tablet equipped with state-of-the-art technology control all aspects of the room, including temperature, lighting, and room service. You can also enjoy complimentary use of the house car for transport within 15 blocks of the hotel.

At the ultimate hotel gift shop in the 53rd Street Boutique is showcasing an exquisitely curated collection of lighting, barware, décor and more.

Display Pieces in Grand Salon | Courtesy of Baccarat Hotel

On the hotel’s second floor, you will enjoy Chef Kreuther’s French-inspired culinary concept during the day and evening. Hailing from the French region of Alsace, Chef Kreuther’s cooking throughout his illustrious career has been deeply rooted in his Alsatian heritage and classic French culinary technique. His culinary approach is driven by an unwavering commitment to excellence and imbued with thoughtful craftsmanship and luxury — the same defining qualities synonymous with the Baccarat name, both as a hotel and world-class artisans, whose legendary factory is located near Kreuther’s childhood home. The hotel’s menus are created in partnership with Chef Kreuther and the hotel’s Executive Chef Ali Dey Daly, and change seasonally throughout the year.

Gluten-Free Afternoon Tea | Courtesy of Baccarat Hotel

In the Grand Salon, light breakfast fare, all day dining selections, afternoon tea, weekend Brunch, and cocktails are offered. The hotel’s bar, inspired by the stables of Versailles, serves hand-crafted cocktails, aperitifs, fine wines and a light bites menu. You can also enjoy gathering on the adjacent seasonal Le Jardin terrace overlooking MoMA.

Ginza Cocktail | Courtesy of Baccarat Hotel

Baccarat has partnered with the ultra-prestigious skincare brand La Mer to create the intimate Spa de La Mer, its first spa in the United States. Designed to recall a luxurious European seaside retreat, the four treatment rooms beckon guests and locals who crave revitalizing treatments and soothing respites.

Adjacent to the spa, luxurious day beds in alcoves surround the black-and-white marble-tiled pool, which suggests a sunken ballroom. The walls surrounding the pool feature the artwork of painter Francois Houtin who is known for his detailed prints of utopian gardens. The forest scene is a tribute to the woods near Baccarat’s French-countryside factory.