Brimming with Mama Shelter’s characteristic vibrance and playful spirit, here’s everything a modern bon vivant needs to know about this rather ‘Nice’ new 102-room hotel
With France on track to become the most visited country in the world by 2025*, there’s more reason than ever to book an ‘ooh la la’ getaway thanks to this new hotel opening. Welcome guests from June onwards, Mama Shelter Nice will open its doors in the alluring Côte d’Azur, situated in the artistic and epicurean city of Nice.
Complete with 102 rooms, a rooftop with pool, a bar and pizza counter, a restaurant, two workshops, two studios, and breakroom, the new hotel will offer everything needed for a break in sun-soaked paradise.
What’s more, the opening will mark the 11th Mama Shelter location to France, totalling 18 worldwide.
Prime location
Mama Shelter will bring a new offering to the Riquier district, true to Mama Shelter’s commitment to opening in cities and neighbourhoods that are on the rise. Located close to Old Port, the historic centre, the hotel will occupy three buildings including one from the early 20th century with a preserved façade.
Mama Shelter will become the vibrant heart of the Riquier district, attracting locals and tourists alike, and set amongst the various parks dedicated to boules. The hotel is easily accessible from the airport and main central station, both direct on the tramline.
Delicious Design
Benjamin El Doghaïli, architect and head of the Mama Shelter design studio, has embraced Nice’s artistic heritage and designed the hotel to be at one with its environment. El Doghaïli draws his inspiration from the works of the many painters who settled there, in the palettes, motifs, subjects, and collages of Matisse, Braque’s birds, Picasso’s ceramics from the Vallauris period.
On the white walls of the lobby, hand-painted frescoes will pay homage to these artists illuminated by large mirrors alongside giant hangings by artist Kate Mary. White carries over into the rooms, textured directly on the walls and brightened by ochre curtains to resemble the walls of 19th-century Niçois buildings. The carpets are designed by artist Laureline Galliot, and celebrate pointillism, the technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of colour are applied in patterns to form an image.
Powdered pink bathroom tiles form an infinite checkerboard from floor to ceiling and Mama’s iconic cartoon masks will hang on bedside table lamps, as they do across all the hotels in the portfolio.
Throughout the property, El Doghaïli’ demonstrates his love for bright and vibrant hues by marrying saffron yellow, red ochre, ultramarine blue and Nice olive green with the smeared palettes of impressionist painters. In collaboration with talented artists and artisans like Lola Mercier or Beniloys, bouquets of mediterranean fruits, flowers and vegetables – such as lavender, sunflower and wheat poppy – will adorn the top of columns enhanced with plaster capitals, evolving with the seasons, in the style of a Van Gogh still life.
At the centre of the restaurant, an olive wood bar reigns on a floor paved with perfectly laid terracotta tiles, and suspended luminous sculptures inspired by festive street lights lighten up the room.
Between the three buildings is a verdant patio and flowered alleyway covered by a retractable glass roof. The rooftop is home to a mosaic swimming pool with wicker screens for shade, lounge chairs and bar.
Edible opportunities
The ground floor restaurant offers a large room with an open kitchen, slanted mirrors, cast iron columns adorned with frescoes where communal tables rhythmically fill the space and set the tone: convivial, friendly, laid-back.
For lunch and dinner, guests can enjoy a Mediterranean-inspired Mama Menu – from sharing platters to vibrant salads – or opt for the daily special. At breakfast, the overflowing buffet offers a mix of savoury and sweet dishes and Sunday brunch can be enjoyed by groups of all ages.
At the rooftop restaurant, meats, fish, and vegetables are prepared on a Big Green Egg barbecue to enhance flavour or are grilled in a Josper charcoal oven for a hint of smokiness.
Pizzas from the pizza oven are served by the slice and displayed on a counter, to be enjoyed with an accompanying glass of rosé.
Opening June 2024. Find out more and make a booking via mamashelter.com
