Hôtel Byblos
Christopher Chauvin, General Manager of Hotel Byblos, St. Tropez.
- Hôtel Byblos St Tropez has welcomed almost every A-lister imaginable for decades.
- Its nightclub, Les Caves du Roy, is the most prestigious discotheque in France.
- Business Insider spoke to the Byblos' General Manager Christopher Chauvin about how the hotel deals with VIPs.
- He told us about the time a very "paranoid" Lady Gaga arrived behind a handbag.
- He also shared some of the craziest requests he's received from guests, which includes him lying to a priest for several weeks.
For Christopher Chauvin, the General Manager of Hôtel Byblos St. Tropez, no request is too small nor too great for his esteemed guests.
Over the years, the doors of the Byblos - situated on the French Riviera - have welcomed in the likes of George Clooney, Bill Gates, Beyoncé, Prince Charles, and, actually, pretty much any other A-lister you can think of.
Hotel Byblos
Hotel Byblos at night.
Everyone at Chauvin's hotel is a VIP, though: "Everybody's important. If you're not a celebrity you're a wealthy guy or a business person," he told us.
"Our other guests behave exactly like our celebrities - they want privacy and they want to be left alone."
This is a hotel where everybody wants the same thing: seclusion. You can certainly see the draw of Byblos, where rates for the most basic room appear to start at around €365 ($415) a night, for celebrities.
Over the years, the Byblos' celebrity guests have defined its culture, and it happened organically.
"It all started in 1971 when Mick Jagger got married at the Byblos, it completely revealed the Byblos to the celebrity clientele," Chauvin said.
Claude Dronsart
Mick Jagger at the Byblos.
Though Jagger's marriage to Bianca De Macias did not last (De Macias later remarked: "My marriage ended on my wedding day"), the Byblos' success with celebrity clientele did.
The flood gates were open.
'The scariest celebrity we had was Lady Gaga'
"It must be hard," I said to Chauvin, "keeping all of these A-listers away from paparazzi and selfie-wielding fans."
"Actually, it's not difficult because we have the know-how," he replied.
Apparently, there is more CCTV in the hotel than the entire city of St. Tropez. There's also only one way in and one way out, which is carefully controlled by the hotel."
However, not all celebrities are completely trusting.
"The scariest celebrity we had was Lady Gaga," Chauvin said, "she was completely paranoid."
Phillip Massey / FilmMagic
Lady Gaga hasn't always been so open in front of the cameras.
Now an Oscar-nominated actress for her starring role in Bradley Cooper's "A Star Is Born," it's easy to forget that 10 years ago few people even knew what Lady Gaga looked like; she was famous for her elaborate, face-disguising outfits.
"She arrived at the hotel via the basement," Chauvin said, "walked through the lobby, into the elevator, and up to her room - all with her handbag over her face.
"The receptionist couldn't even see who it was!
"You couldn't even open the curtains of her room, she was so stressed out," Chauvin added.
"Eventually, when she realised that nobody cared, and there were [CCTV] cameras everywhere, she started to be confident and was even smiling at the end of her stay."
'I lied for a month and a half to a priest'
Rich people know what they want and, often, they're not prepared to take no for an answer.
With that in mind, I asked Chauvin about the craziest requests he's ever received from guests: "Legal?" he replied with a wry grin - his PR looked like she was about to have a heart attack.
Chauvin laughed and said, "The most difficult request I had was from a regular guest, and it's a family that I love but she's a big shopping addict." His PR breathed again.
He went on to explain that when Louis Vuitton first opened a shop in St. Tropez they released a limited-edition bag to commemorate the occasion - an item that his client insisted on attaining.
However, the bag was not due to be released until after the guests had left town, and Chauvin was told that it was impossible to receive one ahead of time.
ADaste / Hotel Byblos
The Missoni Suite.
"I called my client and said 'I'm sorry it's impossible.' 'Impossible is not in my vocabulary,' she said, 'You find it,' and she hung up the phone."
After much deliberation, Chauvin managed to convince the designers to send his guests a bag ahead of time, provided they sign a non-disclosure agreement and that the bag would be sealed and put in their car before departure.
"I was so proud of myself," Chauvin said. "I called my client and said, 'I got you the bag!' She said, 'Great! I want three!'"
Chauvin then recalled the time another friend of the hotel wanted his daughter to get married in Ramatuelle - a charming Provençal village adjacent to St. Tropez.
There was a problem, though.
The guest did not live in Ramatuelle, so the priest was refusing to allow his daughter to be married there.
"I said, 'Okay, but what do you want me to do?' He said, 'I don't know, find me the solution! I have no solution, that's why I'm calling you.'"
Shutterstock.com
There are certainly worse places to get married than Ramatuelle.
Rather than shy away from the somewhat outrageous request, Chauvin posed as his client's cousin, and went to see the priest.
"I had to sign letters saying that my cousin Delphine wanted to get married there and I lived here at this address. I used the address from a friend of mine who actually lived in Ramatuelle," Chauvin said.
"So I lied for a month and a half to a priest. And after that, he said, 'Fine, they can get married in the church.'"
Things didn't quite go to plan, though.
"They split up two months before the wedding," Chauvin said. "I went crazy."
€2 million of Champagne in one night
Hotel Byblos
Les Caves du Roy.
Synonymous with the Byblos is the hotel's iconic nightclub: Les Caves du Roy.
Les Caves du Roy has more stories to tell than a library, but they don't come cheap.
While entrance to the club may be free, the drinks inside will set you back €28 ($32) minimum or €300 ($341) if you feel like splashing out on the cheapest Champagne - that's if you're beautiful, rich, or famous enough to make it past the bouncers.
We've had guests buying Champagne for the whole club full of 1,000 people.
In Les Caves, Champagne flows like a river - Chauvin estimates that they go through around 10,000 bottles a year.
"We're actually the biggest Dom Perignon consumer in the world," he said, "also in big bottles like Magnums [1.5 litres], Jeroboams [3 litres], Methuselah [6 litres].
"For years, [Louis] Roederer couldn't supply us with enough bottles of Cristal Champagne," he added.
Chauvin said during a Champagne shortage around 10 years ago, the hotel employed people simply to
"We had people driving to Switzerland just to buy six bottles, Italy to buy two Methuselahs," he said.
I asked why his clientele couldn't simply drink other Champagne: "They were very exceptional products at the time," was his reply.
At the time, Chauvin said they were find and buying Methuselahs of Cristal from private sellers for €22,000 ($25,000) and selling it to partygoers at Les Caves for €50,000 ($57,000).
Now? They cost €8,000 ($9,100).
Aponte / Hotel Byblos
Jack Nicholson and Cher at Les Caves du Roy.
On that note, Chauvin added: "Nightlife is unpredictable, though.
On one night, all it will take is a few big fish competing for the title of biggest spender and sales will go through the roof.
"They'll challenge each other," Chauvin said. "'You get one Jeroboam? I get two. You get two? I get four.' It goes on like this.
"In 2009, we had our biggest party ever at the club with three of our wealthiest guests. We sold almost €2 million worth of Champagne in one night - that was crazy."
Chauvin added that these super-rich clients won't just keep their booze to themselves: "We've had guests buying Champagne for the whole club full of 1,000 people.
"People like to be in St. Tropez for that also, you can be Mr Nobody just having fun with friends and you end up with a bottle of Cristal drinking with your friends for free!"
'People in St. Tropez know how to behave'
Alexandre Chaplier / Hotel Byblos
B restaurant by the pool at Byblos Saint Tropez.
Byblos has certainly proved its ability to show guests an elaborate good time while keeping things discrete.
The limits of its security prowess may be tested in April when the hotel opens up its first private beach in Ramatuelle, though.
The area will feature a restaurant that can host up to 110 guests, a bar/lounge area that can accommodate 30 guests, and a dedicated space on the beach for up to 80 sun loungers.
Chauvin is not concerned about privacy, though: "People in St Tropez know how to behave.
"The beach, of course, we're going to be very attentive but we're not worried about the challenges.
"We'll handle it." And the look he gave me assured me that they will.