Following on from our look at Schloss Elmau and the diplomatic role hotels play on the world stage, this week’s venue has just stepped out of the spotlight after doing exactly that job again. From 14–17 June 2026, Hôtel Royal at the Evian Resort hosted the G7 Summit, welcoming the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US to its terraces above Lake Geneva. It’s the second time the Belle Époque palace has taken on the role, with the first being the G8 in 2003. This makes it the only French property to host the gathering twice.
The hotel’s diplomatic history runs deeper still. In 1938, Evian hosted a humanitarian conference convened by President Roosevelt, bringing together 32 nations to address the plight of refugees fleeing Nazi persecution. Since 1992, the Royal has been the annual venue for Franco-German talks between political and economic leaders from both sides of the Rhine, with Emmanuel Macron and then-Chancellor Olaf Scholz meeting there as recently as September 2024.

The hotel’s garden-level convention centre holds 13 meeting rooms, the largest of which, La Grande Rotonde, was purpose-built for the 2003 G8 summit. The room includes direct access to a private lawned terrace, big enough for 280 delegates. A second modular space can be divided into three configurations, seating up to 300, with lake views and a 13,000-lumen integrated projector. For smaller, more discreet gatherings, seven private suites on the sixth floor, each looking out over the lake and the Alps, are kept specifically for board-level meetings.. Beyond the hotel itself, the wider Evian Resort adds La Grange au Lac, a timber-built concert hall with capacity for over 1,000, available for the largest plenary sessions.
All 150 rooms and suites were refreshed during the hotel’s 2013 to 2015 renovation, which also restored Gustave Jaulmes’ original Belle Époque frescoes in the lobby. Among them, the Suite Royale, dedicated to King Edward VII, remains the property’s signature address, and it was one of several suites kept ready for arriving G7 delegations this June. In May 2025, Atout France renewed the hotel’s Palace distinction, the highest official accolade in French hospitality, awarded for three-year terms and held by only 33 hotels nationwide. The Royal is also a member of The Leading Hotels of the World. Wellness plays its part too: the evian®SPA, the first of its kind in Europe, opened in 2024 and was named Best Spa in France by Hotel and Restaurant Meetings France, while the World Spa Awards has named it France’s Best Resort Spa in both 2024 and 2025.

For event planners weighing up the Royal beyond its headlines, its offering is straightforward: a flexible conference centre, a kitchen with a Michelin star (Les Fresques, under chef Yohan Fatela), and a resort wrapped around it offering golf, spa, two concert halls and a casino, all run with the same privacy and luxury the hotel affords to visiting heads of state.