In the 19th and 20th centuries, the former Majestic hotel and lodge boosted the reputation of the spa town.They offered wealthy bathers and their esteemed guests the most modern luxury and comfort.
After the Grand Hôtel was built, spa visitors had accommodation on site, but also were housed as far away as Clermont in wooden huts, eastern-style tents or rooms improvised in grain stores, according to Émile Thibaud, master glassmaker and son of the mayor of Royat. From 1874 onwards, land located along the cliff opposite the spa was purchased in order to build hotels. It ran along Boulevard Vasquez . The visit to Royat of the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII, on 27 July, 1884, led to a form of Anglomania that lent itself to the names of hotels, including Hôtel Majestic, Royal St-Mart and Royat Palace.
The Grand Hôtel Majestic was built between 1861 and 1864 by Madame Neuville, then purchased by Léon Servant and extended from 1876 to 1911. Construction of this building in brick and stone in neo-Louis XIII style was the work of architects from Clermont (Nicolas Mourton) and Paris (William Klein, Albert Duclos and Ernest Mizard). Once successive renovations were completed, the hotel featured 300 rooms and 50 apartments, all with private bathrooms. The hotel featured the latest technical innovations including lifts and electric lighting from 1891. The interior was decorated in luxurious style. In 1912, the architect Mizard built the Majestic lodge, an Art Nouveau-style annex to the hotel. The two buildings are listed on the historic monuments registry.
The hotel's guests included the Goncourt brothers, Alexandre Dumas the son, the Prince of Wales, Émile Zola, Bartholdi, Félix Faure, Armand Peugeot, and Belgian King Léopold II, François Mauriac, the Sultan of Morocco, Pierre Laval, Marshall Pétain and General De Gaulle.
- These two monuments are part of the discovery trail entitled ‘La ville d'eaux à la Belle Epoque’, included in the ‘De-ci de-là’ brochure. This document is available free of charge from the Royat tourist information office and can be downloaded from the bottom of this page.
- Outdoor visit only.
