What is it about rock music and hotels? They seem like the most unlikely pair. One is all about cranking up the volume; the other is—hopefully—about keeping noise levels low enough to sleep. Yet they can’t seem to stay away from each other, from London’s Portobello Hotel to Los Angeles’s Chateau Marmont, and New York’s Chelsea Hotel. The latest example is the newly opened Bus Palladium in Paris, which might be the coolest and most rock-star-inspired of them all. It sits on the site of a famous (or infamous) Parisian rock club that first opened in the 1960s. The hotel is a fabulous, 1970s-inspired hangout designed by Studio KO, with a brutalist facade, 35 rooms, and a new nightclub deep in its basement. It’s located in the 9th arrondissement, the city’s trendiest neighborhood, home to everything from the Moulin Rouge to the very first Rose Bakery.

To boost its rock credentials even further, the artistic direction of Bus Palladium is handled by Caroline de Maigret—a model, author, and music producer who has lived nearby for about twenty years. She’s joined by chef Valentin Raffali, formerly of Marseille’s highly praised Livingston restaurant, and Lionel Bensemoun, the founder and former owner of the Le Baron nightclub. The hotel is owned by Nicolas Saltiel’s Chapitre Six hotel group, which specializes in properties in iconic, offbeat locations. Christian Casmeze, the owner of the site where Bus Palladium now stands, approached Saltiel with the idea of putting a five-star hotel on top of a nightclub. Saltiel was on board, even though it seemed nearly impossible on paper. The personal connection Saltiel felt for the place definitely helped—years ago, he worked as a waiter at Bus Palladium. “Nobody wanted to touch it,” he says, laughing. “The project was complicated; the construction was complicated… but when Christian proposed the idea, I said, ‘Let’s go!’ And working with Caroline, Valentin, Lionel… well, it’s like making a movie; a director always wants to work with the best people.”

What adds to Bus Palladium’s appeal is that it stands on hallowed ground. Not only was there once a Bus Palladium club on this exact spot, but the street it’s on, Rue Fontaine, could fill a whole history book. Toulouse-Lautrec, Edgar Degas, and surrealist André Breton all lived or worked there at some point. The nightclub started in 1925 as the L’Ange Rouge music hall, before entrepreneur James Arch renamed it Bus Palladium in 1965. Its golden years of guitar-solo hipsterdom stretched well into the 1970s and beyond, drawing people from far and wide to tune in, turn on, and freak out to the latest sounds. That is, until the music finally stopped in 2022, and the building was later demolished to make way for this new version of Bus Palladium.

The name, by the way, came about because Arch ran a bus service to pick up people from the suburbs so they could come to the club and dance alongside the likes of Patti Smith, Serge Gainsbourg, Brian Jones, Jane Birkin, and Salvador Dali—who showed up one night with a leopard on a leash. (The hotel has named a suite in his honor.) That sense of being a bit more democratic about who gets in—a kind of anti-velvet rope attitude—also shapes the new Bus Palladium. The hotel’s social heart is the new nightclub, a two-floor-below fantasy of a 1920s dancehall with balconies and a massive glitterball hanging from the ceiling. Meanwhile, at street level, there’s the bar and restaurant, open to everyone and running 24/7 in some form. That’s partly because the neighborhood, sitting on the edge of the former red-light district Pigalle, is both a place where people live their daily lives and a destination where crowds come to party.I go out a lot at night. The idea is that this place is for the hotel guests, but also for the wider local community. “It’s a space where people can connect with each other, and it won’t feel too flashy,” Saltiel says of Bus Palladium. “It feels like something we don’t really have in Paris.”

A dining area.
Photo: Courtesy of Bus Palladium

For Studio KO’s Karl Fournier and Olivier Marty, this social openness was one of the reasons they agreed to design Bus Palladium. They’ve created a hotel where vintage furniture from the 1960s and 1970s—sourced from places like Clignancourt’s antique markets—is mixed with sleek, modern pieces. Blush pink carpeting adds warmth and a playful, slightly kitschy touch. Meanwhile, the raw, almost industrial stairwells are painted red to mimic the backstage areas of iconic Parisian music venues like L’Olympia. “It was an offer we couldn’t refuse!” Fournier and Marty tell me via email when asked why they wanted to take on the project. “We already knew the place because the original club left a strong impression on us when we were young students in Paris. We loved its mix of styles, its lack of pretension, its rebellious spirit, and of course its long history.”

The living area of the hotel’s Suite Dali.
Photo: Courtesy of Bus Palladium

From a design perspective, Fournier and Marty say they wanted something that, like the club itself over the years, played with trends but managed to outlast them all. So, the Brutalist exterior of the hotel mirrors the club from James Arch’s time, as it’s a cast replica of what was there before. Inside, the Brutalism—using exposed concrete surfaces—is softened with natural materials like wool, cork, and velvet. There’s also a nod to the Space Age style of the 1960s. The Studio KO team explains, “That was a time when space exploration and its imagery inspired creativity in fashion, design, and architecture. It’s a nod to that magical era when technology was still seen as a sign of a brighter, better future—since then, we’ve become more cynical!”

The glass-walled bathroom of the Suite Dali.
Photo: Courtesy of Bus Palladium
Photo: Courtesy of Bus Palladium

For Caroline de Maigret, who calls herself a “Pigalle chick” and used to hang out at the original Bus Palladium, the club was a first: “The DJ played rock music. I know that sounds obvious to American or British people,” she says, “but it was much less common for the French.” Saltiel brought de Maigret on board because of her connection to the place—in the 2000s, she’d book bands she worked with to play live there—and also for her sense of style and music. You can listen to her playlists (featuring everyone from Rosalía to Miles Davis, Prince to Fleetwood Mac) through the OJAS speakers in the rooms, or tune into a live feed of whatever music is playing downstairs in the club. De Maigret designed the playlists to be a bit sexier (need I say more), to get you in the mood to go out, to feel a bit jazzier, or to feature only French music. “I thought that would be fun for French people,” she says, “but also for guests from other countries, who can hear the last fifty years of French music.”

The hotel restaurant and bar.
Photo: Courtesy of Bus Palladium

De Maigret’s influence shows not just in what you see, but in what you feel—that hard-to-define quality of a hotel where style meets soul. For example, she decided the staff should wear the perfect Gainsbourg-style brown corduroy suits from Husbands Paris, because the late ’60s to early ’70s was one of rock’s most stylish eras. Or that what you really want to eat when you come in late at night (or early morning) isn’t much different from what you’d grab at a 24-hour deli after a club night—tortilla chips, salsa, and Haribo candy. And if you need any more reason to stay, just know that de Maigret’s playlist has about 3,000 songs. You’ll check in, and chances are, you’ll never want to leave.It looks like you didn’t include any text for me to rewrite. Could you please provide the text you’d like me to work on?

Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs about the iconic Paris nightclub reopening as a stylish hotel written in a natural tone with clear answers

General Questions

Q Which famous Paris nightclub is turning into a hotel
A The legendary nightclub Chez Castel located in the SaintGermaindesPrés neighborhood

Q Is the nightclub completely gone or is it still there
A The nightclub is still there The hotel has been built on the floors above it The famous basement club will continue to operate separately

Q When did the hotel open
A The hotel named Htel Castel opened in late 2024

Q What makes this hotel different from a regular Paris hotel
A Its deeply tied to the history and vibe of the original club The design is very rock n roll chic and guests get exclusive access to the private club downstairs

The Hotel Design

Q How many rooms does the hotel have
A Its a very intimate boutique hotel with only 20 rooms and suites

Q What is the style of the rooms
A Think bohochic meets rockstar den Expect velvet dark colors vintage furniture and a moody luxurious atmosphere inspired by the 1960s and 70s

Q Does the hotel have a restaurant or bar
A Yes Theres a stylish groundfloor restaurant and bar called Castel Restaurant which is open to the public The hotel also has a private rooftop bar for guests

The Nightclub Access

Q Can regular hotel guests get into the nightclub
A Yes One of the biggest perks is that hotel guests get priority access to the private club which is notoriously hard to get into for the general public

Q Is the nightclub open every night
A It operates on its own schedule typically Thursday to Saturday Its best to check with the hotel concierge for the current calendar

Q Can I visit the nightclub if Im not staying at the hotel