Inside Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo’s 2026 Renovations

Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo is rolling out a series of changes this year, the latest stage in a renovation programme that has reached across both architecture and hospitality concepts at the Société des Bains de Mer.

The hotel began in 1864 as a modest inn called “le Petit Hermitage.” It joined S.B.M. in 1928, when the parent company bought it partly to keep it from becoming too strong a competitor to its sister property, Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo. Over the following century, additions including the Galerie des Princes (1906), the Salle Belle Époque ballroom, and the Jardin d’Hiver, whose umbrella-shaped glass roof came out of Gustave Eiffel’s workshops, gave the hotel its current Belle Époque identity. A renovation between 2003 and 2011, led by interior architect Pierre-Yves Rochon, modernized more than 90 percent of the property and rebuilt the façades of the Prince and Beaumarchais wings.

The current round of work follows that same pattern. For summer 2026, the hotel unveiled over 40 renovated rooms in the Prince wing, as well as modular Diamond Suites that can connect up to four bedrooms. S.B.M. has indicated the renovation work will continue in further phases over the coming years.

The most visible new addition at the Hermitage is Bar Gustave, which opened in late May in the lobby and winter garden, beneath the hotel’s glass-and-steel dome. Designed by interior architect Shirine Zirak, the new bar spans the lobby, two adjoining rooms and the Jardin d’Hiver terrace. The design keeps the lobby’s original chandelier, ceiling moldings and traffic flow intact; only the furniture changes, along with a new lighting plan built to highlight the dome itself — the bar’s name is a direct reference to Gustave Eiffel.

S.B.M.’s changes this season extend beyond the Hermitage. At Monte-Carlo Beach, the group’s Relais & Châteaux property in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, the Olympic pool and Le Deck restaurant have been refreshed for a second consecutive year by French interior architect Dorothée Delaye, who first redesigned the spaces in 2025 with sun loungers, cabanas and a striped print drawn from the resort’s archival photographs. 

Jacquemus, which partnered with S.B.M. for the first time last year on a seasonal takeover of the Beach Club’s pier and Pool Café, has returned for 2026 with a different look. Last year’s collaboration used the designer’s signature banana yellow alongside coconut-milk white and black stripes, drawn from the “La Croisière” collection — a pairing that drew heavy social media attention through the summer. This year’s version shifts the palette toward blue, replacing yellow as the dominant tone across the pier and pool furnishings, while keeping the on-site Jacquemus boutiques that were part of the original collaboration.

The most significant culinary addition to the Beach this season is La Vigie Zanoni Monte-Carlo, a new restaurant at the tip of the Monte-Carlo Beach peninsula. Italian chef Simone Zanoni took over the kitchen there on June 12, building a menu around pasta, shareable starters, and grilled meat and fish. It joins the Michelin-starred Elsa Marcel Ravin, the Mediterranean-leaning Le Deck, and the Greek-inspired Maona Monte-Carlo among the property’s restaurants for the season.

All of this sits under one corporate roof. The Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo, like Monte-Carlo Beach, the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo, the Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort and Le Méridien Beach Plaza, belongs to the Société des Bains de Mer, the Monegasque company founded in 1863 that also holds the principality’s exclusive casino concession and operates the majority of Monaco’s other luxury hotels, restaurants, spas and entertainment venues. The Monegasque state and the ruling Grimaldi family together hold a majority stake in the publicly traded company.