From the Place de la Concorde to the Basque Coast: Presidential France

America's oldest ally has hosted presidents at moments that shaped the modern world. In Paris, an eighteenth-century palace on the Place de la Concorde became the workshop for Woodrow Wilson's vision of world peace. A century later, on the Basque coast, a palace built for an empress hosted a summit of the world's leading democracies.

Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel

The Crillon's colonnaded facade was commissioned by Louis XV in 1755, and it frames one side of the Place de la Concorde, the most magnificent square in Paris. In 1919, as the Paris Peace Conference redrew the map after the First World War, the hotel became the headquarters of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace.

It was here that President Woodrow Wilson pursued his dearest ambition. Wilson chaired the commission drafting the Covenant of the League of Nations, whose sessions met at the Crillon, where his adviser Colonel Edward House was based. On February 13, 1919, Wilson came to the hotel for a morning session, and that same day the committee unanimously approved the draft covenant. The president himself lived elsewhere in Paris during the conference, but the League was born under the Crillon's roof.

After a four-year restoration, the Crillon reopened in 2017 under Rosewood. Its signature suites include the Marie-Antoinette Suite, beside the salon where the queen is said to have taken piano lessons, and the Bernstein Suite, named for the composer and longtime guest, with views across the Concorde.

Hôtel du Palais

Built in the 1850s as a seaside villa for Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, the Hôtel du Palais rises above Biarritz's Grande Plage. Its graceful, palatial architecture made it the natural centerpiece when France hosted the G7 summit in August 2019.

President Donald Trump stayed at the hotel during the summit, which also served as its venue. He sat down to lunch with French President Emmanuel Macron at the hotel on the opening day, and the leaders gathered there for extended working dinners as the talks continued. The first lady attended the spouses' dinner at the palace.

Today the hotel offers a front-row seat on the Atlantic: an ocean-facing terrace, a seawater pool, and the surf beaches of the Basque coast right on the doorstep.

InterContinental Paris Le Grand

Beside the Palais Garnier opera house, Le Grand has been one of Paris's landmark hotels since the Second Empire, and its Café de la Paix is a Parisian institution. In June 2024, President Joe Biden made it his base for the 80th anniversary of D-Day and the state visit that followed. On June 8, he and the first lady set out from the hotel for a welcome ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe and a parade to the Élysée Palace, returning that night after the state dinner hosted by President Emmanuel Macron.

Plan your stay: Explore more hotels in Paris and Biarritz

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About this guide: Presidential connections are drawn from public sources, including official White House schedules, presidential and historical archives, and reputable news outlets, as well as the hotels' own published histories. Hotel names, ownership, and amenities may have changed since publication. This information is provided for general interest, is not guaranteed, and should be independently verified. Hotelaholic is not affiliated with or endorsed by any U.S. president or government agency.