Latest news with #CotedAzur
Forbes
2 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Inside Robinhood's Crypto-Fueled Plan For World Domination
C rypto financiers might seem unlikely guests at the Château de la Croix des Gardes, a 25-acre Belle Époque villa commanding the Bay of Cannes from its hillside perch. Yet on a sun-drenched June afternoon, Robinhood commandeered the storied estate, famous for its star turn in Alfred Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief, for 'To Catch a Token'—a crypto field day conceived by longtime Côte d'Azur resident Johann Kerbrat, the firm's head of crypto. The spectacle opened with a cinematic flourish: a video of Robinhood cofounder and CEO Vlad Tenev driving a midnight-blue 1962 Jaguar E-Type convertible along the corniche, an homage to Cary Grant's entrance in Hitchcock's film. When the reel faded, Tenev stepped out in real time—decked out in a pinstriped white Tom Ford suit, black-and-white ascot, green attaché case in hand—to greet an invitation-only crowd of more than 300 that included Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin and top brass from financial heavyweights JPMorgan, Mastercard and Stripe. The theatrics are warranted. Robinhood's stock is trading at $111 a share, an all-time high 384% above last year's levels, vaulting the brokerage firm's market cap to nearly $98 billion and into the ranks of the world's 250 most valuable companies. In 2024, it generated $1.4 billion in profit on nearly $3 billion in revenue and now holds $255 billion in assets, expanding at a 44% net deposit growth rate over the past year. In terms of active or funded accounts, Robinhood, with 26 million, is rapidly gaining share on Schwab, with 37 million, is three times larger than Morgan Stanley's E-Trade and six times larger than Merrill Lynch. Tenev's personal fortune has jumped sixfold in a year to $6.1 billion. Guerin Blask for Forbes The 38-year-old chief executive operates in perpetual motion. In late May, he is in Las Vegas, preaching to 35,000 bitcoiners about how crypto will further disrupt global finance through tokenization—the process of converting assets like stocks, bonds and real estate into digital tokens that can be traded 24/7 on blockchain networks. From there, he bounces to Tampa for a conference for registered investment advisors, and a few weeks later he's in Robinhood's posh Manhattan offices for its annual shareholder address. 'It's New York this week, then France, then the U.K.,' he rattles off before listing more than a dozen Robinhood offices across America, Europe and Asia. 'I have to visit each one at least once a year, and they just keep multiplying.' Despite his boyish looks, including a hair bob and goatee reminiscent of Errol Flynn's 1938 Robin Hood, Tenev these days sounds very much like the seasoned chief executive of a giant financial conglomerate. The upstart brokerage that blossomed from the ashes of the global financial crisis and Occupy Wall Street movement has grown up. It wants to be a one-stop financial firm for tech-native generations who prefer transacting digitally. Within the next 20 years, according to Cerulli Associates, they are expected to receive some $124 trillion in assets, mostly from their Boomer parents. A week before his staged entrance at the French estate, Tenev explained the method behind Robinhood's events. "The pace of rolling out new products has been pretty high,' he said. 'It's a good way to show to the world what we're doing. We have to figure out what story we're telling with each one, and it also really motivates people." MANDARIN ORIENTAL; ROBINHOOD The get-together at the Château marks Robinhood's first-ever international and crypto-focused event, dense with announcements. Starting in July, Robinhood is allowing European users to trade blockchain-based 'stock tokens,' nonvoting derivatives that track hundreds of U.S. stocks and ETFs, including privately owned tech juggernauts SpaceX and OpenAI. The trading will be commission-free, 24 hours a day, five days a week. For U.S. customers, crypto staking—the practice of locking digital assets to blockchain networks like Ethereum or Solana to earn income—will finally be permitted. Robinhood's June acquisition of Luxembourg-based crypto exchange Bitstamp for $200 million will unlock perpetual futures with no expiration on bitcoin and ether for continental customers. To underpin it all, Robinhood is building its own blockchain. 'We as an industry find ourselves at an important precipice,' Tenev told the VIPs fanning away the Riviera heat. 'We have a chance to prove to the world what we've believed all along, that crypto is much more than a speculative asset. It has the potential to become the backbone of the global financial system. We are hoping to turn that from a possibility to an inevitability.' To understand the coup Tenev is planning, it helps to revisit Robinhood's turbulent past. In 2013, Tenev and his cofounder, Baiju Bhatt, two Stanford physics and math grads, saw a world ripe for disruption. After college, the two developed software for giant hedge funds whose high-frequency trading dominated Wall Street. It was a front row seat to these funds' nearly insatiable appetite for trading volume, which they were willing to pay for. Retail investors who were accustomed to paying commissions of, say, $10 or $25 per trade at brokerage firms like Charles Schwab, Fidelity and Merrill Lynch could be a great source of this volume. Tenev and Bhatt built a fun and easy-to-use mobile trading app for novice traders that eliminated account minimums and commissions because they knew hedge funds would pay them to execute their customers' trades. They then marketed their zero-commission platform under the slogan of democratizing investing and rolled it out with the fanfare of a new blockbuster video game. Before Robinhood even launched, its Apple app store waitlist swelled to nearly 1 million people. By September 2019, the incumbents—Charles Schwab, E-Trade, Fidelity, TD Ameritrade (acquired by Schwab in 2020) —eliminated their fees, cementing the upstart's approach as the new industry standard. The triumph, however, didn't last long. In early 2021, after trading on the app exploded thanks in part to pandemic lockdowns and millions of stimulus checks, Robinhood became the focus of a regulatory firestorm during the GameStop meme-stock trading frenzy. Spurred by the Reddit community WallStreetBets, GameStop's stock price soared dramatically—seemingly without regard to the dismal underlying financials. This unprecedented volatility triggered a massive collateral demand from Robinhood's clearinghouse, forcing Tenev to halt purchases of the stock on the platform. Cue user fury, Main Street vilification and congressional grillings, including questions over the suicide of a young Robinhood options trader. But rather than retreat, the GameStop trading debacle—which exposed how outdated, opaque and slow U.S. stock trading is—crystallized an idea Tenev had been mulling. 'Could we actually put stocks on blockchains?' he says. 'My belief was that the value would be in taking stocks 24/7.' Robinhood first tried to modernize legacy systems by partnering with alternative trading platforms like West Palm Beach–based Blue Ocean to extend trading hours. However, these efforts hit a wall. 'I didn't realize how difficult it would be to change these core infrastructure elements because so many things depend on them. Maybe that was a little bit naive,' Tenev admits. Meanwhile, his crypto chief, Kerbrat, was exploring other ways to execute his idea. With U.S. regulators taking a cautious stance on digital assets under the Biden administration, the team took the experiment to Europe, where a rulebook was already in place. 'Sometimes it's easier to start with new infrastructure and build it from the ground up. We believe the technology can scale to any jurisdiction, and over time we'll be able to figure out how to make it available everywhere in the world,' Tenev says, knowing his lucrative trading volume machine could grow exponentially as millions of investors worldwide start trading U.S. stocks like memecoins. While Kerbrat worked on tokenization in Europe, Robinhood was reinventing itself elsewhere. In March 2024, Bhatt, now worth $6.7 billion, exited the company (he stepped aside as co-CEO in 2020) to pursue a new venture in space-based solar energy. Despite lingering customer litigation from GameStop, Tenev was busy introducing a wave of new products—IRAs, high-yield savings accounts, a credit card offering 3% cash back (with 3 million people on the waitlist), a private banking service for cash delivery on demand and sophisticated options tools previously reserved for institutional investors—turning Robinhood into 'a mousetrap to trade anything,' in the words of Brett Knoblauch, managing director at Cantor Fitzgerald. The whirlwind of launches matches its architect's own cadence. In a moment of reflection, the Bulgaria-born Tenev lifts his palms in a what‑can‑you‑do shrug. 'I just wake up, work, eat, work out, go to sleep. My wife doesn't love it when I say this, but I actually prefer to integrate work into personal life as much as possible.' What Tenev says he didn't fully anticipate during Robinhood's explosive growth was how deeply accessible trading resonates with the entrepreneurial spirit. At a private event in Miami last year, the company's top users included not just self-taught day traders but small-business owners and startup founders—people who approach markets with the same DIY mindset that built their companies. This fiercely independent impulse, he believes, is Robinhood's real protective moat: 'Entrepreneurs don't trust other experts to do their stuff for them. They like to figure things out for themselves.' Robinhood is engineered for them—a control panel for those who want to manage their own money without gatekeepers. Tenev plans to dominate next-generation investors in three phases he calls 'arcs.' First, win the active trader market, where the ROI is immediate, as evidenced by Robinhood's current strong results. Medium-term, around five years, he wants to serve the entirety of his customers' wallets, from credit cards to crypto, mortgages and IRAs. Third arc: Build the number one global financial ecosystem, presumably with Robinhood's blockchain as its backbone. Says Tenev, prepping for the next day's shareholder meeting, 'This will be much larger than the first two arcs. The opportunities start slowly but compound over time.' T okenization may be Robinhood's long-term ambition, but its core crypto business is already a juggernaut. In 2024, its crypto revenue reached $626 million, up from $135 million a year earlier, accounting for more than one-third of total transaction-based revenue. In the first quarter of 2025, crypto revenue has already reached $252 million. 'They're eating Coinbase's lunch in the U.S. right now,' says Rob Hadick, general partner at crypto VC firm Dragonfly. In May 2025, Robinhood's crypto volume spiked 36% month-over-month while Coinbase's dipped, Cantor Fitzgerald's Knoblauch notes. Coinbase still owns the institutional market, he concedes ('their offering is much broader and custodial'), but Robinhood's takeover of Bitstamp, finalized in June, handed it 5,000 institutional accounts and additional licenses in Europe and Asia. Tenev and Kerbrat insist Robinhood's approach is fundamentally different from that of crypto exchanges like Coinbase. 'In this industry people talk to you about the advantage of this [blockchain] layer versus this layer and just forget at the end of the day about the end user. We don't want to build a technology just to talk about the technology. We want to build something that people can use on the day-to-day and actually see the advantage compared to the alternative financial system,' Kerbrat says. Micky Malka, founder of Ribbit Capital and an early backer of Robinhood, Coinbase and their European competitor Revolut, says focusing on the Coinbase-Robinhood rivalry is shortsighted. 'To me, the question for the next ten years is how much market share they take from the incumbents. It's not a fight amongst them,' he says. Knoblauch estimates Robinhood's $255 billion in assets under custody will rival Interactive Brokers', which has $665 billion in client assets, within seven years. Next up, Charles Schwab, which the analyst calculates Robinhood has gained share on for 14 straight months. Tenev is also serious about diversifying. The old Robinhood was criticized for being a payment for order flow (PFOF) junkie, dependent on heavy trading volume and the most aggressive Wall Street hedge funds. Transactions still account for 56% of its revenue (down from 77% in 2021), but today Robinhood has ten business lines on track to each generate over $100 million in revenue within two years, according to John Todaro, managing director at Needham & Company. Take Robinhood Gold. What began as a simple $5 per month or $50 per year premium service, offering margin access, professional research and a little extra yield on balances, has evolved into the centerpiece of Tenev's powerful subscription model. Among its current perks: 4% yields on brokerage cash, interest-free margin loans up to $1,000 and a 3% match on IRA contributions. The newly released Robinhood Gold credit card, which offers 3% cash back on all purchases, was just sent to the first 200,000 customers. 'If they get to 15 million users on Gold, you're looking at close to a billion dollars of subscription revenue. It's taking a business that used to be very cyclical to having recurring revenue, then diversifying the overall revenue base,' Knoblauch says. Then there's Robinhood Strategies, Tenev's new hybrid robo-human advisory product gunning for old-school stalwarts like Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch in the $60 trillion U.S. wealth management business. For a 0.25% annual management fee, capped at a flat $250 for Robinhood Gold members, customers get tailored portfolios of stocks and ETFs, algorithmically managed and rebalanced with human oversight. Since launching in March, this disruptive new platform has already brought in $350 million. Tenev describes his company's approach to new products as scientific, empowering small teams inside Robinhood to test hypotheses with customers who provide immediate feedback to its initiatives on social networks. 'A lot of companies will just look at what's happening in the outside world and copy it, sort of a competitive benchmarking. When we launch products or new features, we do it because we like to figure stuff out,' Tenev says. Robinhood's recent launch of home mortgages—currently at 6.1% for 30-year fixed plus $500 toward closing costs—is the result of a stealth online pilot it ran starting in June. 'It went all over social media. Then I acknowledged we were running the pilot in a tweet. It was probably one of my most viral tweets of the year.' T enev's tokenization push is a bit of a moonshot, and Europe, which has already adopted many of the crypto road rules still being debated in Congress, is Robinhood's lab. 'The experiment that we're running in Europe is, What would Robinhood look like if it was rebuilt from the ground up entirely on crypto rails? Then we'll see what the pros and cons are and bring the best of that EU app to the U.S. and the rest of the world,' he says. So far the tokenization of stocks is minuscule. xStocks, a new but already leading platform from Switzerland's Backed Finance, has tokenized more than 60 listed equities, including household names such as Apple and Amazon, and made them available on large crypto exchanges like Kraken and Bybit. xStocks has less than $10 million in daily volume. Structural issues abound: These tokens are derivatives backed by assets held off-chain, which means routine corporate actions like dividends, stock splits or other things that might occur over a weekend, when markets are closed, could scramble collateral calculations and risk unintended liquidations. 'Some market maker has to take that risk, and how will they hedge that risk when there is no market open? If they're going to take that risk, they need to blow their spreads and charge people a lot of money,' says Dragonfly's Hadick. 'The infrastructure is not there at the moment on the off-chain side, and the on-chain product is not there yet. . . . I'm worried these initial products are going to be essentially duds.' This hasn't stopped others from jumping in. In June, the Winklevoss twins' Gemini launched tokenized trading with MicroStrategy shares for its EU customers. Coinbase is reportedly seeking SEC approval to offer tokenized stocks, and even Larry Fink, CEO of $12.5 trillion (assets under management) BlackRock, is urging the SEC to approve tokenization of stocks and bonds. Robinhood is going further. Besides public stocks, it's tokenizing private companies and has already announced tokenized shares of OpenAI and SpaceX, each valued at more than $300 billion today. OpenAI has already publicly disavowed Robinhood's product, emphasizing the tokens are not authorized or recognized by the company. 'Nobody, no founder, wants their equity floating around on-chain with holders they don't know,' Hadick warns. Tenev is a weathered veteran when it comes to facing naysayers. 'It's still a little crufty,' he admits, using pejorative coder slang for unnecessarily complex software. 'I don't think the brokers want to make it easy for us to pull their stocks out. But what happens when it becomes self-custody? When you can tokenize and self-custody, you can be independent of the brokerage infrastructure—the same way you can load a crypto wallet on MetaMask, Robinhood or Coinbase, you'll be able to seamlessly use any interface to hold your stocks and trade them in pretty much all instances.' T his is precisely why Tenev is obsessed with making Robinhood his young customers' sole tool for all things related to money. When it comes to retail financial services, inertia is second in power only to compound interest. Customers are inherently sticky, but Tenev knows that the old giants of the financial world, including Fidelity, Schwab and Merrill Lynch, are vulnerable as trillions in Boomer assets are bequeathed to their digital-native offspring. In fact, he thinks his biggest competition will come not from firms like Coinbase or Fidelity but from the Anthropics and OpenAIs of the world: 'They're the ones moving the fastest and doing the most interesting stuff. Though I would say it's too early to proclaim the financial industry being disrupted by ChatGPT.' Early Robinhood investor Malka, whom Tenev calls his mentor and whose firm has already profited on its stake by more than $5 billion by Forbes' estimates, is an unabashed Tenev fanboy. 'Robinhood has a leader who's not even 40, who is extremely AI-native, understands where AI goes, understands tokenization, and he's leveraging those two strategies like very few can,' he says. 'We're just starting to get the right setup to bring the 'internet moment' of money, where anybody in the world can save in the same product. Loans are going to get cheaper because credit underwriting is going to get better. All those things.' Tenev believes Robinhood will ultimately employ AI agents to replicate and improve on the services of high-net-worth family offices, putting a 'family office in your pocket.' AI is so central to Tenev's vision that the former math Ph.D. candidate couldn't resist recently cofounding and becoming chairman of AI startup Harmonic, which he leads with computer scientist Tudor Achim, who previously led autonomous driving startup In July, Harmonic raised $100 million in Series B funding from Kleiner Perkins, Paradigm and Sequoia, valuing it at $875 million. The 'mathematical superintelligence' lab is building an advanced reasoning engine, one that 'guarantees accuracy and eliminates hallucinations.' No doubt a useful feature in the coming age of AI and money. 'It would be pretty amazing to solve the Riemann hypothesis, or one of the other big Millennium problems, on a mobile app,' muses Tenev, referring to the most profound unanswered mathematical questions. 'Rather than observing that, I hope to be actively participating.' Jamie Dimon, Larry Fink and Ken Griffin, take note. More from Forbes Forbes Vibe Coding Turned This Swedish AI Unicorn Into The Fastest Growing Software Startup Ever By Iain Martin Forbes Go Back To The Office, But Bring Your Own Snacks. Blame Congress. By Kelly Phillips Erb Forbes The Best Places To Retire Abroad In 2025 By William P. Barrett Forbes Inside America's Top Small Business Bank By Brandon Kochkodin Forbes You're Not Imagining It: AI Is Already Taking Tech Jobs By Richard Nieva
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
I traded my career in London for a flexible life on the French Riviera. Two kids and 8 years later, I have no regrets.
My husband and I made the decision to leave life in London behind for the French Riviera. I love raising bilingual, French-born kids, and I have no regrets about our choice. That said, I didn't anticipate how difficult it would be to move away from our extended family. One balmy holiday evening in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, my husband and I shared a bottle of rosé by the lighthouse. Somewhere between the first sip and the last, we made a decision: to swap London's gray skies and my established TV career for the endless blue of the French Riviera and the great unknown. Ten years after that life-changing night — and eight years after we packed our bags for real — I have two bilingual, French-born children, a more flexible freelance career, and a life I never quite imagined. Now, I can confirm: Sometimes the best decisions really are made on rosé. In France, we can ski in the morning and paddleboard in the afternoon. It's all possible on the Côte d'Azur, where the Alps are less than a two-hour drive from the Mediterranean. I love the easy access to these stunning landscapes, and as a parent, I deeply appreciate the year-round opportunities my children have to explore and enjoy the great outdoors. Often run by excellent instructors (many of them former ski pros themselves), ski schools are an affordable and enjoyable way for people of all ages to learn. In France, some let children as young as 3 years old take lessons. I even gave skiing a try as a complete beginner — though, needless to say, the kids have already surpassed me. I've been really impressed by France's healthcare system. I've found healthcare in France to be a major game changer. The system is subsidized by the government and topped up by affordable health insurance. In particular, I've found the country's attention to pregnancy, birth, and postpartum care to be world-class. Specifically, in France, postpartum women receive at least 10 free sessions of pelvic floor and abdominal rehab with a specialized physiotherapist — an experience that really made a difference as I recovered from two Cesarean births. In the UK (and also the US, for that matter), these sessions would have cost me money out of pocket. Raising kids here has felt rewarding. I have two bilingual bébés, which is a rewarding experience — and sometimes a humbling one, when my 4-year-old corrects my French pronunciation. At first, I worried about confusing my kids. I was concerned they'd feel like they didn't quite belong in either the place they were born or the place their parents call home. As it turns out, this shouldn't have been a concern. I've been amazed watching them pick up two languages, and I love our bedtime tradition of reading their favorite books in both French and English. On the other side of the coin, it's been hard living away from our support system. While we love raising our petites Francophones, parenting small children far from family is challenging in a way I didn't expect. There is no safety net, emergency support, or free babysitting. There are no playdates with fun cousins — and FaceTime calls aren't exactly the same as in-person playdates. Without close relatives nearby, my husband and I have felt "on" as parents all the time. Over the past five years, we've only spent 48 hours alone without the kids. Although we're lucky in so many ways, we're still waiting for that famous village to show up and give us a hand. (Especially on Wednesdays when, for some reason, most schools in France are closed.) Still, we have no regrets about moving here. I first visited France when I was 5 years old, in a car packed to the sunroof with camping paraphernalia — and ever since then, I've been hooked. I've loved France all my life, and I will always be glad that we asked ourselves the question: "What are the things that make us happy, and where can we do more of them?" The answer was here, and what an adventure it has been so far. Read the original article on Business Insider
Grazia USA
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Grazia USA
Dreaming of a Saint-Tropez Summer? Inside the Glamour & Grace of a Stay at Hôtel de Paris Saint-Tropez
Photo Credit: Auriane Sanchez, courtesy of Hôtel de Paris Saint-Tropez Sun-drenched beaches, pastel rooftops, and Provençal charm — there's a reason the South of France has long held its place as the quintessential summer escape. And nowhere does the allure of la belle vie feel more palpable than in Saint-Tropez. Once a sleepy fishing village turned jet-set icon in the 1960s, Saint-Tropez today remains a playground for A-listers, luxury lovers, culture seekers, and style-savvy travelers alike. Whether you're strolling the port, dancing into the night at beach clubs, or simply people-watching in Place des Lices, the town delivers that rare blend of Riviera elegance and coastal ease. But, where should you stay to soak it all in? For those seeking an experience that's both rooted in history and rich in modern luxury, Hôtel de Paris Saint-Tropez stands out as the perfect home base. With its unbeatable location, legendary roots, and rooftop views you'll dream about long after you leave, it offers everything you want in a Côte d'Azur stay — and more. Here's why: Where to Stay in Saint-Tropez: Hôtel de Paris Saint-Tropez Photo Credit: Auriane Sanchez, courtesy of Hôtel de Paris Saint-Tropez Tucked at the entrance of Saint-Tropez's storybook village, just beside the town's famed Gendarmerie immortalized in 1960s French cinema, Hôtel de Paris Saint-Tropez is more than a luxury property — it's a living legend. With origins dating back to 1931, this five-star hotel was the first of its kind in the area and quickly became a hub for Parisian high society and iconic muses like Brigitte Bardot and Colette. Today, it offers GRAZIA USA readers a chance to step into the Tropezian myth with all the modern trappings of indulgence, design, and soul-soothing escape. The Stay: From Chic Check-In to Riviera Reverie Photo Credit: Auriane Sanchez, courtesy of Hôtel de Paris Saint-Tropez The magic of this hotel lies in its unrivaled mix of old-world charm and contemporary allure, its rooftop serenity, and a staff whose attention to detail is second to none. Upon my arrival, I was welcomed into a stunning suite that perfectly captured the spirit of the sixties with bold colors, graphic lines, and Sybille de Margerie's artful touch — a nod to Saint-Tropez's golden era and timeless glamour. From the window-lined walls in the bedroom to the oversized bathtub, every detail of the space was lavish and luxurious. Photo Credit: Auriane Sanchez, courtesy of Hôtel de Paris Saint-Tropez Thoughtful touches abounded: Clarins products in the bathroom, cloche-covered sweet treats waiting on the table, and a subtle jasmine-rose scent that drifted through the air — the hotel's exclusive fragrance. As a luxury traveler, I can say that the room's comfort and ambiance were top-tier. Whether peeking out over the rooftop patio or catching a glimpse of the port from my bedroom windows, the views were quintessentially Tropezian. And the service? Impeccable. Every member of the staff I encountered made it their mission to elevate the experience with warmth and precision. Rooftop Oasis: Les Toits Restaurant and Poolside Perfection Photo Credit: Matteo Barro, courtesy of Hôtel de Paris Saint-Tropez Saint-Tropez may be known for its beach clubs, but the village's first (and only) rooftop pool — perched atop Hôtel de Paris — offers a refreshing take on luxury. Heated to a pleasant 27°C (80.6°F) and overlooking the terracotta rooftops and Mediterranean beyond, the pool quickly became my sanctuary. Photo Credit: Auriane Sanchez, courtesy of Hôtel de Paris Saint-Tropez Adjacent is Les Toits, the rooftop restaurant and lounge where I enjoyed aperitifs and each meal of my trip. Highlights included burrata with marjoram oil, lobster bisque-dressed prawn salad, and truffle rigatoni — all under the golden hand of Chef David Ignoffo. Pair it with a glass of Domaine Tempier rosé or a cheeky signature cocktail like 'Et Dieu Créa la Femme,' while sitting at the corner table overlooking the Mediterranean, and it's pure Riviera bliss. Photo Credit: Auriane Sanchez, courtesy of Hôtel de Paris Saint-Tropez Evenings came alive with jazz sets and DJ performances as the sun dipped below the sea — a magical moment best experienced with a drink in hand and toes dipped in the rooftop pool. Wellness at Its Finest: Spa by Clarins Photo Credit: Auriane Sanchez, courtesy of Hôtel de Paris Saint-Tropez On day two, after a morning lounging poolside and an elegant lunch, I made my way to the Spa by Clarins — a tranquil, high-touch sanctuary in the heart of the hotel. My treatment was equal parts luxurious and rejuvenating, combining expert Clarins techniques with powerful botanical ingredients. From the sauna to the sensory showers, every detail was perfectly curated to restore body and mind. Photo Credit: Auriane Sanchez, courtesy of Hôtel de Paris Saint-Tropez The hotel also offers signature treatments like 'Nouvelle Vague' (a 90-minute facial and full-body massage) and tech-forward options like Indiba ONA and pressotherapy. For those seeking the full experience, the hotel's 'Lunch & Spa' and 'Brunch & Spa' packages are an indulgent way to spend the day. Breakfast in the Garden, Culture in the Air Photo Credit: Auriane Sanchez, courtesy of Hôtel de Paris Saint-Tropez Mornings began with an abundant buffet breakfast at Le Pationata, a verdant courtyard oasis. Think Bordier butter, homemade spreads, hot chocolate à l'ancienne, and fresh pastries galore — plus a menu of eggs, pancakes, and porridge for those who prefer something warm and personalized. Photo Credit: Auriane Sanchez, courtesy of Hôtel de Paris Saint-Tropez Art and culture are also central to the hotel's identity. From in-house installations by Italian sculptor Andrea Roggi and local artist Elisabeth de Gourcuff to the literary 'Les Conversations d'Agnès' salon hosted seasonally in the patio, there's a creative pulse that enriches the entire guest experience. Local Gems, Curated by a Concierge Legend Photo Credit: Auriane Sanchez, courtesy of Hôtel de Paris Saint-Tropez The concierge, Samuel Andréo, is a true Saint-Tropez institution — and recently honored with the Gold Palm of Les Clefs d'Or. He custom-curates each guest's itinerary, recommending everything from Barbarac ice cream and Sénéquier sunsets to hidden beaches and festive dining spots. His team arranges shuttles to Pampelonne Beach, making lunch suggestions like La Part des Anges, and makes each and every guest feel as if they're not just visiting Saint-Tropez, but living it. GRAZIA' s Favorites at Hôtel de Paris Saint-Tropez Photo Credit: Auriane Sanchez, courtesy of Hôtel de Paris Saint-Tropez The Suite Stay: Designed by Sybille de Margerie, each suite blends 60s Riviera glamour with modern luxury. Bonus: Clarins products, signature scent, and sweet treats on arrival. Designed by Sybille de Margerie, each suite blends 60s Riviera glamour with modern luxury. Bonus: Clarins products, signature scent, and sweet treats on arrival. The Rooftop Pool: The only rooftop pool in Saint-Tropez — with unbeatable views over the village, port, and Mediterranean. Heated to perfection and pure photogenic bliss. The only rooftop pool in Saint-Tropez — with unbeatable views over the village, port, and Mediterranean. Heated to perfection and pure photogenic bliss. Dinner at Les Toits: Chef David Ignoffo's Mediterranean menu is a love letter to Provence. Don't miss the truffle rigatoni or saffron shellfish risotto — paired with a Bandol rosé. Chef David Ignoffo's Mediterranean menu is a love letter to Provence. Don't miss the truffle rigatoni or saffron shellfish risotto — paired with a Bandol rosé. Spa by Clarins: A wellness sanctuary in the heart of the hotel. GRAZIA pick: the signature 90-minute 'Nouvelle Vague' treatment. You'll leave radiant and recharged. A wellness sanctuary in the heart of the hotel. pick: the signature 90-minute 'Nouvelle Vague' treatment. You'll leave radiant and recharged. Live Rooftop Evenings: From jazzy sunset sets by Cynthia Queenton to all-female DJ nights, Les Toits transforms into a glamorous groove under the stars. From jazzy sunset sets by Cynthia Queenton to all-female DJ nights, Les Toits transforms into a glamorous groove under the stars. Le Pationata Breakfast: A serene garden breakfast with Bordier butter, artisanal jams, and à-la-carte pancakes. The perfect way to start a Tropezian morning. A serene garden breakfast with Bordier butter, artisanal jams, and à-la-carte pancakes. The perfect way to start a Tropezian morning. Art & Culture: In-house sculptures by Andrea Roggi and cultural programming like 'Les Conversations d'Agnès' add soul and sophistication to your stay. In-house sculptures by Andrea Roggi and cultural programming like 'Les Conversations d'Agnès' add soul and sophistication to your stay. Concierge Magic: Samuel Andréo is not just a concierge — he's a Saint-Tropez oracle. From hidden beaches to local legends, he unlocks the village's best-kept secrets. GRAZIA' s Takeaway Photo Credit: Matteo Barro, courtesy of Hôtel de Paris Saint-Tropez Hôtel de Paris Saint-Tropez is the kind of place that lingers in your memory like a favorite fragrance — bright, elegant, and unmistakably French. For readers dreaming of a South of France escape this summer that offers historic glamour, artistic soul, and rooftop serenity, this hotel is a must. Whether you're coming for a romantic getaway, solo retreat, or glamorous girls' trip, there's no better place to begin your Tropezian chapter.
Hospitality Net
03-07-2025
- Health
- Hospitality Net
Surrenne's South of France Debut at The Maybourne Riviera
Following the success of Surrenne Belgravia's debut in London, the wellness and longevity club has now arrived on the Côte d'Azur, going far beyond a traditional hotel spa with longevity stays, retreats, personalized treatments, and expert-led movement and fitness practices. Surrenne's holistic and science-backed approach elevates wellbeing for guests and members alike. This debut comes at an exciting time as the summer high season is in full swing and the Riviera is abuzz with the energy of Monaco and recent restoration of Gabrielle Chanel's clifftop artist and intellectual retreat, La Pausa. Spanning three floors, Surrenne Riviera offers signature treatments that merge cutting-edge technology with holistic therapies, tailored to address the unique needs of every guest. Surrenne also offers personalized facials (in partnership with Biologique Recherche - fusing science and skincare for lasting, visible results), recovery therapies including a signature lymphatic drainage treatment, and expert nutritional guidance, complemented by cold therapy, infrared therapy, osteopathy, and red-light therapy. Surrenne Riviera also features four wellness-focused studios: the Surrenne Gym with state-of-the-art Technogym equipment; the Performance Studio for one-on-one training; and the open-air Waves Studio and Riviera Reflections, which offer group classes like yoga, spinning, TRX, and Pilates, created with Lagree Fitness. More than a wellness retreat and in-keeping with Maybourne's legacy of excellence, Surrenne establishes a new benchmark in transformative wellbeing for guests and members. Perched on the rocky peninsula of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, The Maybourne Riviera offers breathtaking views from Italy in the east to Monte-Carlo in the west. This jewel of the French Riviera features 65 rooms, including 24 suites, each with a private terrace overlooking the Mediterranean. A true gastronomic destination, the hotel boasts 4 restaurants and one bar, including a private beach and abc kitchens, helmed by Michelin-starred chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Surrenne a longevity center, dedicated to well-being, and an infinity pool complete this unique experience, suspended between sky and sea. Hotel website
%3Amax_bytes(150000)%3Astrip_icc()%2Ftal-one-off-jelly-fisherman-sandals-tout-e707e7cbcab744a3b69ce6477adef2c7.jpg&w=3840&q=100)
Travel + Leisure
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Travel + Leisure
Jelly Shoes Are Making a Major Comeback This Summer—and This Style is Surprisingly Comfy to Travel In
As a kid in the '90s, I lived in jelly shoes. Plastic flats and sandals in eye-popping, glitter-flecked colors ruled my childhood. Now, in the year 2025, my inner eight-year-old is happy to witness this fun flavor of summer footwear making a comeback on TikTok—and they're not just for children. PVC sandals are shaping up to make a major revival this summer, appearing on the shelves at Target, Old Navy, and Gap, as well as the runways of designers from Chloé to The Row. Their unexpected cameos on catwalks and the feet of fashion influencers show that this polarizing trend can actually be adult-friendly, and surprisingly comfy, as well. $69 $55 at Amazon $69 at Nordstrom $69 at When you picture a jelly shoe, you likely see Melissa's hero Possession sandals, right?. The Brazilian brand calls it 'the original fisherman-inspired jelly shoe that transformed the '90s generation into jelly lovers,' and this comfortable style is even well-suited for walking, making it an unexpected choice to become your new go-to travel shoes. Debuting in 1997, the sandals were designed to look and function like the shoes anglers wore on the Côte d'Azur. The fisherman style—featuring an open toe and woven straps that drain water—has been sported on boats and coasts since ancient times. They're traditionally made from leather, rubber, or other materials that easily shed water, but Melissa's fashionable take is made of bubble gum-scented, partially recycled PVC. Rest assured, they're far more comfortable than they sound. $69 $55 at Amazon $69 at Nordstrom $69 at Shoppers have raved that this take on the traditionally rigid jelly style is actually 'extremely comfy,' with one person adding that they could 'walk miles' in them. Meanwhile, another reviewer marvelled that they're 'just like the OG jellies I used to have with one incredible exception—they're actually … comfortable.' They revealed that they've 'been wearing them nonstop in a heat wave with no chafing, no blisters, [and] no sweaty slippery feet,' even adding that cushioning at the insoles makes them 'genuinely comfortable to wear all day.' Not to mention, the $69 Possession sandals have earned hundreds of ratings on the Melissa site, racking up an average 4.8-star rating. While the site is still stocked with timeless favorites, Melissa has also released modernized versions of its jelly sandals with new colors, fresh vegan and sustainability certifications, and even all-star collaborations, like with the high-end Parisian shoe brand Nodaleto. In addition to the original Possession style, there's also the Possession Heel, Possession Platform II, and an array of other trendy iterations, all in the same style as the iconic fisherman shoes. While Melissa seems to be leading the new wave of a more comfortable take on jelly shoe nostalgia, countless other brands are joining in with their own variations, too. Whether you're in the market for cute new beach shoes or are looking for a stylish pair of sandals for your summer travels, read on to find more sleek and sophisticated jelly shoes we expect to see everywhere in the coming weeks, from $15. At the time of publishing, the price started at $69. Love a great deal? Sign up for our T+L Recommends newsletter and we'll send you our favorite travel products each week.
