Breaking free from Booking.com, star ratings, and Atout France, which awards them. Maja Hoffmann, punk hotelier?

In Arles, we booked and stayed at the Nord-Pinus, recently renovated, independently run. Directly through the establishment's website. Can one, in the hospitality industry — a complex trade — do without OTAs, Online Travel Agencies (Booking.com, Expedia, GetYourGuide...), without Atout France which awards the stars, without press offices, without televisions in the rooms?

A recent trip to Arles finally gave us the chance to discover the Grand Hôtel Nord-Pinus, to have a delightful lunch at the Arlatan, and to come across a pizzeria worthy of Roberta's in New York or those conceived by Thierry Graffagnino, our "Jimmy Page" in the field — world champion and pizza soloist. We were surprised to find no television in the room at Nord-Pinus, an establishment we had assumed was four-star rated. "Where the level of service delivered is that of a four-star" — that is not the same thing.

The satisfaction of travellers and tourists, the seamless customer experience offered at the right price, sometimes requires putting money into the product and freeing oneself from platforms and obligatory intermediaries.

Maja Hoffmann, at the head of the Maisons d'Arles — a punk hotelier?

Within the Maisons d'Arles, which currently brings together three hotels (the Arlatan, the Grand Hôtel Nord-Pinus, Le Cloître), the team of Maja Hoffmann — patron of Luma among other things — has decided not to list two of them on Booking.com. Not to place a television in the rooms at Nord-Pinus, explaining this choice when guests express surprise. Nor a coffee machine in those same rooms, perhaps to encourage guests to make their way to the bar? At the Maisons d'Arles, the hotels are not B Corp certified — another trend one is apparently expected to embrace.

We then wondered who awards the stars in France, what it costs, and how many hotel operators do without OTAs and Booking.com, for example. We reached out to the Atout France teams.

When you contact this state-run body, it is a chatbot that offers to reply — within 72 hours. Promoting tourism, a profession built on relationships and human encounters, without being reachable by phone, and so slowly — wow! (NB: 96 hours after contacting Atout France, zero response received. In Paris, one of the most visited cities in the world, there has been no physical welcome desk since early 2025. The tourism "notables" make some surprising choices…)

By contrast, at the Maisons d'Arles, we received photos and precise answers to our questions in under twelve hours. And on the Nord-Pinus website, guest reviews receive responses free of spelling errors, written in a considered and detailed manner. It is probably easier to go off the beaten track when you are wealthy — yet it is no less courageous for that. Long live the punks!

Hotels without televisions in the rooms — why?

"The hotel industry is very hierarchical, built around stars. We are the antithesis of all that. We want to best support this new generation, since our clients of tomorrow are today's Y and Z generations. I think we need to simplify things. What matters most is not the codes, not the stars — it's sincerity," said Céline de Labrousse, former head of hotel operations at the Maisons d'Arles, explaining this choice in the magazine Hôtel&Lodge. Many other three- and four-star establishments have also decided to do away with the screen, such as Le Charmant in Saint-Ouen or the Mob Hôtels run by Cyril Aouizerate.

The punks and their rates

It is probably easier to go off the beaten track when you are wealthy — as Maja Hoffmann is — yet it is no less courageous for that. Long live the punks!

Are there many such figures in hospitality, a trade that now attracts numerous entrepreneurs who have sold their companies?

- Jacques Borel was one in his time, with his motorway restaurants.

- Paul Roll too, who raised a smile at a recent forum: "In hotels, you no longer see or meet the manager. He has disappeared. It is now an administrative director, often dressed like a penguin. And Japanese tourists are less numerous in France."

- In Saint-Ouen, the couple Anne Oury and Selim Mouhoubi renovated a charming house and offer a four-star stay at the gates of Paris. Good restaurant, rates 40 to 50% lower than Paris for the same level of service — Le Charmant is well worth the detour.

- In the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, La Louisiane is a hospitality oddity — its current owner Xavier Blanchot spent much of his career at Teleperformance, in call centres.

- In the restaurant world, the small Mokonuts, run by Moko and Omar, is a hit in Paris while doing everything differently. You have to book well in advance to hope for a table.

Does cutting out these intermediaries allow for sharper pricing and profitability? The MGallery Jules César, a four-star, is offering rooms tonight at €246 in Arles, while the Nord-Pinus still has rooms available at €157. The Hôtel du Musée, three stars and no lift, is accessible at €130 a night. "Opening a hotel and doing without Booking.com is virtually impossible," admits Selim Mouhoubi, owner of Le Charmant. "Even though their commissions are high, this intermediary is indispensable and provides visibility over occupancy rates."

You need the means to be punk! Or to be the hospitality Brother at the Abbaye de Tamié (see below).

Moy House, Ett Hem, Krone Regensberg, Abbaye de Tamié

Four establishments, places of pause, have recently left me with memorable impressions in terms of authentic hospitality experience — a word now thoroughly overused. Ett Hem (in Stockholm), years ago, was popular enough to place prospective guests on a waiting list. The same at the Abbaye de Tamié, where it is the Brother in charge of hospitality who gets in touch, when a place becomes available, to invite you to come and share a retreat and soup, in silence. The same Brother notes on the website that it has become impossible for them to accommodate the many dietary requirements guests now list: gluten-free and so on. Near Zurich, Krone Regensberg is a remarkable Relais & Châteaux in every respect: location, view, restaurant. In Lahinch, in the south of Ireland, Moy House has closed — what a shame!

Only one of these establishments is on Booking.com. The Ireland's Blue Book is a serious guide. And the brooklynisation of the world is not inevitable.

More to follow in our next issue, out mid-May 2026.

Manuel Jacquinet.