Exclusive Parisian hotel 'won't be open to Chinese tourists'?

The founder of the French fashion label Zadig & Voltaire said an exclusive Parisian hotel the company plans to open in 2014 will not be open to Chinese tourists, according to Vogue UK. The label later said the comment by the brand's founder and owner, Thierry Gillier, was misunderstood.

The hotel will be located in a private mansion on the city's Left Bank.


"This was a project dear to our hearts," the brand's founder and owner, Thierry Gillier, told WWD. "It will be a slightly private hotel, not open to everybody, with 40 rooms. We are going to select guests. It won't be open to Chinese tourists, for example. There is a lot of demand in Paris -- many people are looking for quiet hotels with a certain privacy."

According to French newspaper Liberation, the label later asked WWD to remove the reference to Chinese tourists from its article, stressing that Gillier's words were misinterpreted and he was referring to "mass tourism." The magazine complied with the request, changing the phrase "Chinese tourists" to "busloads of tourists." 

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Clientele relation may need to explain further; perhaps, next time, do not even mention race/ethnicity/color r/t booking; for their front desk staff/event manager know how to handle business, e.g. avoidance of overbooking.

Intellectual statement may be good for the business. For instance, there are several American-Chinese come to visit the area; and will the hotel open for their booking?

    Reply#1 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 6:06 PM EDT

    "There is a lot of demand in Paris -- many people are looking for quiet hotels with a certain privacy."

    And so there's no further misunderstanding - that means whorehouse for rich and famous.

    • 1 vote
    #1.1 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 12:42 AM EDT

    He is saying they are not even going to open their doors for Chinese people.

    So, Africans and other dark skin people: "Don't even think.....!"

    Because the Rosa Parks bus, not even allowed to drive on the back alley roadway of this Anglo haven.

    • 1 vote
    #1.2 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 12:53 AM EDT

    Franco haven actually. Anglos are from England. But your point about cultural ignorance is still good.

    • 1 vote
    #1.3 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 1:07 AM EDT

    so wait... he actually SAID it 'won't be open to chinese tourists, for example', and the wwd changed his quote to read that he said 'busloads of tourists' instead?

    that's what i call modern journalism!

      #1.4 - Mon Oct 1, 2012 8:11 AM EDT

      All they had to do is ban cameras.

        #1.5 - Fri Oct 5, 2012 8:08 PM EDT
        Reply

        Put the money where your mouth is.

        If this owner does not wish to take Chinese tourists in his new hotel, may be he should bar Chinese from buying his fashion clothes too. That would hurt his wallet.

        • 8 votes
        Reply#2 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 6:10 PM EDT

        Good point, but I'm pretty sure the Chinese will take care of that on their own...

        • 3 votes
        #2.1 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 7:51 PM EDT

        China will be broke soon so no problem.

        • 2 votes
        #2.2 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:27 PM EDT

        Wonder if that designer had his products produced/made in China? Hmmmm

        Seem this hotel is going to be by invitation only or perhaps it is supposed to be one of those members only clubhotels?

        Does this pertain to all folks of Asian ethnicity, or all Chinese or just those from China, and if so how will he know the difference....? Will there be a test? What about those of Chinese ancestry born in France.....

        Will they be using the 'one drop' rule like was done in the Southern States' (USA) past, where if you had 1 drop of blood from a black person i.e. if one of your parents was black, you were considered black back in the day. Will it be if you have 1 drop of Asian or Chinese blood you are therefore Chinese and thus will not be allowed to enter the establishnent or be served?

        Will it be that if you are Chinese you can work there, entering through the back door sort of thing, but you cannot come through the front door or stay there? Or the guests can wear clothing sewn or made in China, but that is as far as anything Chinese can enter the premises? LOL

        Here starteth the slippery slope..... which other ethnicity/race will they bar from their establishment next, as it seems that it is not about business being about who can pay the big bucks/francs/euros..... after all....

        Imagine, we are in the 21st century and the 'coloured only' and 'whites only' ignorance of the past is being dusted off and again raising its ugly head in this day and age, and in France too?...

        Seems that this hotelier must have forgotten the motto of France.... LIBETY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY.....

        Oh well, ignorance will out .... as per usual.... The more we change the more we stay the same it seems, the world over......

        Peace .....

        • 1 vote
        #2.3 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 1:08 AM EDT
        Reply

        Wait, so "Chinese tourists" is some sort of slang term for ordinary/common tourists in France?

        Man, those guys take rude to a whole new degree.

        • 10 votes
        Reply#3 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 6:16 PM EDT

        Of course, it was rude (not to mention impolitic) of the man, but if you have been to Europe in the past few years, you might understand what he was talking about. There are busloads of Chinese tourists everywhere, and so many of them really haven't travelled before....and in general, they are not the most well-behaved tourists....

        • 8 votes
        #3.1 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 7:39 PM EDT

        France is a fascinating place to visit; and, often the French remember more than we do the fact that we liberated them from the Nazis. That having been said, the French can be incredibly rude. A restaurant in Sette (yeah, ask yourself where THAT is) wouldn't seat my elderly mother and I for LUNCH because my mom (who needed sturdy footwear for walking) wasn't wearing stylish shoes. And, no she wasn't wearing the typical snow white athletic shoes that make us stand out in Europe. Just sensible walking shoes that matched in color what she was wearing.

        • 7 votes
        #3.2 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 10:31 PM EDT

        I have heard one will rent a room and before the night is over a couple of dozen will be staying in the room. The rooms are too expensive for a person that only makes $20 a day making your IPhones!

        • 5 votes
        #3.3 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 10:33 PM EDT

        My comment to "homesick yank".... In reply to your comment about "not the most well-behaved tourists".. have you recently noticed the "UGLY AMERICANS"???? Their inability to speak any local language other than English and being LOUD AND RUDE themselves! I've seen it plenty times myself. Why do you think Canadian tourists walk around the world with that maple leaf slapped on every surface? Because they don't want to be confused with the ugly American, that's why!

        But no worries... Chinese have most of the cash these days and will BUY THEM OUT!

        Mark my word!

        • 8 votes
        #3.4 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 10:35 PM EDT

        I'm not ugly, I'm quite fetching.

        • 4 votes
        #3.5 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:02 PM EDT

        So they'll change the phrase to "busloads of Chinese tourists.."

        • 1 vote
        #3.6 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:21 PM EDT

        It's sooo obvious that he was misunderstood, that a blind man could see it. How can you take the phrase

        will not be open to Chinese tourists

        And not understand that he meant all tourists?

        • 2 votes
        #3.7 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 12:28 AM EDT

        Re: the "Ugly American" comment: There may be truth to that. It is also a generalization, which is the source of most bigotry. When I travel to a country where I know some of the language, I always try to utilize what I can. Usually my hosts appreciate it. If their English is as bad as my mastery of their language, it usually works best for each to speak in their "foreign" language and listen in their native tongue.

        You sure you're not at least a homely American?

        • 2 votes
        #3.8 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 12:43 AM EDT

        Hell that is nothing new in America. In the early 1970s I was denied seating in a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco China town, because I was not wearing a tie and jacket. I was wearing a white dress shirt, Pull over V-neck sweater, Hagar slacks and a pair of Mason wing tip shoes.

        • 1 vote
        #3.9 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 1:20 AM EDT

        Hell that is nothing new in America. In the early 1970s I was denied seating in a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco China town, because I was not wearing a tie and jacket. I was wearing a white dress shirt, Pull over V-neck sweater, Hagar slacks and a pair of Mason wing tip shoes.

          #3.10 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 1:21 AM EDT

          Wants to Know--I have to jump in on your reference to our liberating the French from the Nazis because it is so often brought up whenever France acts in any way independent of the wishes of the USA--or of just a particular group in American society.

          We did not do it alone but had lots of help from the British; that is the first point.

          Most important, the French paid a heavy price for "liberation' American style which to spare American casualties involved great deals of aerial bombing. Among other results was the complete destruction of the transport system in France which made post-war reconstruction a much slower, more expensive process than it should have been in a nation that formally at least was among the victorious powers.

          • 2 votes
          #3.11 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 2:23 AM EDT

          numgman : Give credit to the brave French Resistance also. I don't think the new French President will be a puppet of the USA like Sarkozy was. OK, back to the article.

          • 1 vote
          #3.12 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 3:42 AM EDT

          Oh, I do agree with what some others have said about Americans overseas being rude. It is just that now the Chinese are the hordes of inexperienced tourists in Europe...in the 1960's and early '70's it was the Americans. Late '70's, it was the Arabs; '80's, the Japanese.....now it's the Chinese.

          • 2 votes
          #3.13 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 5:15 AM EDT

          Nicholas Sarkozy was voted out because he told the hard truths the French never like to hear: that before wealth can be redistributed, someone has to create wealth to begin with. He and Angela Merkel saw eye to eye on just about everything. Does that mean the Chancellor of Germany is an American puppet, too?

          Sorry, He, the sad truth is that during the Nazi occupation, collaborators outnumbered active resisters by a wide margin though there is a tendency to exaggerate the numbers and accomplishments of the Resistance today. Even while Albert Camus was risking his life as a resister fellow existentialist Sartre was having his plays produced in Paris!

          • 2 votes
          #3.14 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 12:19 PM EDT
          Reply

          LOL, it used to be that (we) Americans were the example of annoying or obnoxious tourists. Now it's the Chinese, with their new money that are the cheesy tourist.

          • 11 votes
          Reply#4 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 6:56 PM EDT

          Amen to that, Presidential!!!!

          • 1 vote
          Reply#7 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 7:17 PM EDT

          Money is money in the end. Considering how broke Europe is at the moment, no one in France should really look down their noses at tourism.

          • 9 votes
          Reply#8 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 7:19 PM EDT

          Chinese money isn't worth it.

          • 2 votes
          #8.1 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:26 PM EDT

          They have to exchange Yuan for Euros to be able to purchase things in Europe anyway. What does it matter if it "isn't worth it" if they exchange enough for Euros to begin with?

          • 3 votes
          #8.2 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:44 PM EDT

          China will own that hotel soon

          • 5 votes
          #8.3 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:44 PM EDT
          Reply

          Chinese = busload...good save. (sarcasm)

          • 6 votes
          Reply#9 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 7:37 PM EDT

          As a private entity they can do what they want, but I think their attempted explanation goes straight out the window when you note that "Chinese tourists" is followed by "for example." Seems pretty specific to me...

          • 4 votes
          Reply#10 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 7:46 PM EDT

          Chinese neighborhoods are well known to have the most quiet and courteous residents.

          • 2 votes
          Reply#11 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 8:40 PM EDT

          Not what I've heard. They yell at their children and talk loud.

          • 2 votes
          #11.1 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:25 PM EDT

          Yeah If you love the smell of fish heads cooking in the heat. The dead ducks hanging from the porch. The vegetable gardens in the front of the house. Oh and the grass that hasn't been cut in weeks. Viva La France

          • 1 vote
          #11.2 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:55 PM EDT

          fish heads cooking in the heat...... dead ducks hanging from the porch.......veggie gardens in the front of the house......... grass that hasn't been cut in weeks.....

          Pretty powerful stuff. Somebody has a simmering vandetta against a certain group of people, I would think.

            #11.3 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 2:18 AM EDT
            Reply

            Sounds as if the project may get all the quiet it deserves from the public...

            • 2 votes
            Reply#12 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 8:53 PM EDT

            Go to China and see what happens when you are non-Hon...

            For real life racism in China read -

            Four sites dive head first into the issue of racism in China: The China Digital Times, The China Expat, Topix.com, and The Fools Mountain Blog. The China Digital Times is a news site online with articles about issues and newsworthy stories related to the country of China, written by journalists from the area. The China Expat is an internet blog site dedicated to topics and matters relating to China but commented on by all, as is Topix.com (although not every thread has to do with China) as well as The Fools Mountain Blog.

            Read more at Suite101: Racism in China: Racism Toward Black People | Suite101.com http://suite101.com/article/racism-in-china-a146683#ixzz27okRDTaE

            • 3 votes
            Reply#13 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 9:21 PM EDT

            The Thai's have a phrase for Chinese tourist and most farang - Kee Noke...

            I had a Chinese relative tell me during my first visit to Thailand, "It is a social insult to tip."

            BTY - A insult is to leave a single Bhat coin, leaving nothing only proves YOU are kee noke...

              #13.1 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 9:32 PM EDT

              In Japan there is no tipping.

              • 1 vote
              #13.2 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 10:37 PM EDT

              AC Robertson Its Kee Nok not Kee Noke, which means bird @!$%# in Thai.

                #13.3 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:45 PM EDT

                AC Robertson's writing has been degenerating into fragments or incoherent phrases, recently. It's not a good sign of his mental condition.

                  #13.4 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 2:23 AM EDT

                  Glad to see the spelling and grammar POLICE are out in force...

                  You missed where I incorrectly spelled Baht... Ha! Ha!

                  If you want to be my secretary, I pay the same way Bill Clinton did, a cigar a day...

                    #13.5 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 6:31 AM EDT
                    Reply

                    Good thing it's not a US company. The lawers would be filing faster than . . . .

                    • 3 votes
                    Reply#14 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 9:28 PM EDT

                    Is he afraid they might go pee pee in his Coke?

                    • 1 vote
                    Reply#15 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 10:55 PM EDT

                    What's he afraid of, that Chinese might have more money than his 'selected' guests?

                    • 3 votes
                    Reply#16 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:08 PM EDT

                    The arrogance of the rich.

                    • 4 votes
                    Reply#17 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:19 PM EDT

                    Agreed. Yet he has no problem catering to those Saudi terrorists loaded with oil soaked US $.

                    • 7 votes
                    #17.1 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:55 PM EDT
                    Reply

                    It's not a secret that China haves hotels not for tourist. Knowing this, I'm sure what he said at the start, was the truth. Our laws are not like China's.

                    He just screwed up telling it like it really was. What do you do,?Change your words to please the others. He would make a great politician.

                      Reply#18 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:23 PM EDT

                      In Hong Kong they refer to people from mainland China as Locusts and in Canada they are called Robots.

                      • 2 votes
                      Reply#19 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:24 PM EDT

                      Their business, not ours! No further comment necessary.

                      • 3 votes
                      Reply#20 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:25 PM EDT

                      Who wants to go to a country full of fags anyway

                      • 2 votes
                      Reply#21 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:25 PM EDT

                      Me

                      • 1 vote
                      #21.1 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 8:26 AM EDT
                      Reply

                      If it is an expensive hotel, were the Chinese going to book it in the first place? He should rather get prepared for Arab customers, and their issues.

                      • 1 vote
                      Reply#22 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:35 PM EDT

                      Their issues , being the men's boy toys. Do they know that's not legal outside their own country?

                        #22.1 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 3:19 AM EDT
                        Reply

                        Its their hotel and they can do what ever they please and if they choose not to allow Chinese access its up to them all the bleeding heart liberals need to keep their noses out of it. It none of their business.

                        • 1 vote
                        Reply#23 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:38 PM EDT

                        Take your obvious racism and shove it where the sun don't shine. There's laws against discriminatory selling, but considering your comments, I'm not surprised at your idiocy.

                        • 2 votes
                        #23.1 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:42 PM EDT

                        Well, actually, if it is a private "invited guests" only club sort of hotel, niterider is probably correct about the owners being able to choose whom to serve, as not nice as that is. But I am not sure of the laws in France regarding such matters.

                        If one does not like a particular nationality, one is certainly prejudiced, but not necessarily racist. One might not like one ethnic group but feel well-disposed toward another ethic group of the same race.

                        I think people should use words correctly. If we just arbitrarily change the meanings of them, how can we communicate?

                          #23.2 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 5:39 AM EDT
                          Reply

                          So what happens when an American or Canadian tourist of Chinese descent wants to stay there? What about Koreans or Japanese people?

                          See where I'm going with this?

                          • 3 votes
                          Reply#24 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:41 PM EDT

                          Who cares

                            #24.1 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:47 PM EDT

                            I agree with nite rider who care?? It is after all his business and who knows maybe the people in France don't like Chinese tourists for whatever reason and by losing whatever money they might have spent to stay at his hotel he'll probably make back a hundred times as people will probably want to stay at a place where they won't have to look at the "Chinese Tourists" the abhor so much. Of course it could be that he really did misspeak and people are just trying to find a fire where there isn't even smoke.

                            • 1 vote
                            #24.2 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 12:17 AM EDT
                            Reply

                            Well, they are French. Rude little buggers, has anyone actually ever seen a polite Frenchman?

                            • 4 votes
                            Reply#25 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:49 PM EDT

                            Yes, very rude and idiots too.

                            • 1 vote
                            #25.1 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 12:40 AM EDT

                            I was a very polite frenchman until i read your comment, douchebag

                              #25.2 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 2:58 AM EDT

                              And Joe, you don't know me, and i don't know you, but as a usually very polite and well-travelled frenchman, i will say this to you and your ignorance ; F..k you ! aahh, that felt good.

                                #25.3 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 3:00 AM EDT

                                See? Rude frenchman right there.

                                  #25.4 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 7:00 AM EDT
                                  Reply

                                  I was removed from a Chinese hotel in the northeast recently.

                                  The took me at first, then changed their minds.

                                  They told me the hotel wasn't 'good enough' for foreign guests and they weren't allowed to let me in, according to local government policy.

                                  That's after 22 years in that country with a residency card and I speak the language. The U.S. passport was the issue.

                                  Every hotel in China is full of smoking, spitting, loud and obnoxious people. There's no such thing as a truly good hotel when you factor in those guests.

                                  • 2 votes
                                  Reply#26 - Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:57 PM EDT

                                  Same thing happened to me, even though my wife is Chinese and has a Chinese passport. I have the residency card also.

                                    #26.1 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 3:26 AM EDT
                                    Reply

                                    China will own that hotel soon just to teach the little schmock a lesson. I guess the French finally got tired of picking on us "ugly Americans" and moved on to the Chinese. Maybe I'll get better services next time I'm in Paris....NOT. No body beats the French for rudeness.

                                    • 1 vote
                                    Reply#27 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 12:01 AM EDT

                                    It's "schmuck". Putz.

                                      #27.1 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 2:21 AM EDT

                                      . No body beats the French for rudeness.

                                      Unless it's SooLong

                                        #27.2 - Sat Sep 29, 2012 4:25 AM EDT
                                        Reply
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