Cercle de l'Union Interalliée

Before anything else, organisers should keep one fact in mind: the Cercle de l'Union Interalliée is first and foremost a members' club, not a commercial venue. Its exclusivity is precisely what makes it attractive, and it comes with restrictions and obligations that apply to every guest. The dress code is the clearest example: men must wear a tie, visitors included. In the same spirit, a group holding a conference there cannot expect what it would obtain in a fully privatised hotel: branded roll-up banners or advertising displays in the members' spaces are out of place, and the life of the club carries on around the event. The Cercle de l'Union Interalliée was created in 1917 to welcome Allied officers and statesmen, and has occupied an 18th-century mansion on the Faubourg Saint-Honoré ever since. Today it is a private club whose restored salons, gardens and neighbourhood, between the Élysée Palace and diplomatic residences, give executive meetings and dinners a setting few Paris venues can match, at the cost of rules that every organiser must know before committing.

A club first, not a commercial venue

Dates are scarce and are granted by the club, so the Cercle is difficult to book and should never be treated as an option among others on a shortlist. Once an event is accepted, it takes place in a house that remains a place of membership: members continue to use the restaurant, the salons and the gardens, the dress code applies to everyone, as noted above, and branding is kept discreet and confined to the rooms you have been allocated, subject to the club's agreement. Planners who accept these terms are rewarded with one of the most beautiful historic interiors in Paris and gardens that very few addresses in the city can offer.

Who can hold an event there

The Cercle is not open to hire on the open market: a company that is not a member can only organise an event through the sponsorship of a club member. Before building a programme around the venue, confirm that a member is willing to sponsor the event and has agreed the date and format with the club.

The salons

The two main rooms are on the first floor: the Salon Foch, the principal reception room, and the Salle à manger, the largest space, each able to seat around 300 people theatre-style. The second floor has four smaller salons, named Duc de Doudeauville, Jules Cambon, Duc de Guiche and Duc de Broglie, suited to breakout sessions, board meetings or private lunches; the Salon Luynes is on the ground floor and the Salle du Conseil sits in a separate wing of the building. These smaller rooms hold roughly 10 to 60 people theatre-style, depending on the room.

Deliveries: the constraint to plan first

On this stretch of the Faubourg Saint-Honoré, next to the Élysée and diplomatic residences, deliveries are the main difficulty. Access to the courtyard is refused by default and should never be assumed: it can only be negotiated for an early slot before 7 a.m., before the club opens to its members, and trucks above 20 cubic metres cannot enter it at all. Delivery vehicles are not allowed to park in the street either, so unloading has to be organised as a short, supervised drop, with smaller vehicles where possible.

Lifts and timing inside the building

The lifts serving the upper floors are reserved for the members' restaurant from noon to 3 p.m., which rules out any delivery or movement of equipment to the floors during that window. Schedule set-up either before noon or after 3 p.m., and make sure every supplier knows the slot before they travel.

Which events it suits

Executive conferences, board meetings, award ceremonies and dinners for up to a few hundred guests, where discretion and a historic setting matter more than technical scale. Large productions with heavy staging, or events that cannot secure a member's sponsorship, should look at the heritage and congress venues compared in our guide to Paris convention and conference centres, or at the Paris hotels with event space.