Nolinski Golfe de Saint-Tropez, a 55-room estate hotel opening in Gassin in April 2027, is the first Nolinski property outside an urban setting, and it belongs on your 2027 Côte d'Azur shortlist if you want a design-led alternative to the peninsula's older palace hotels. Reservations open in July 2026, so the booking window is closer than the opening date suggests.
Nolinski Golfe de Saint-Tropez: The Brand's First Step Beyond the City
Evok Collection, the hotel operator behind the Nolinski brand, has until now kept the name firmly in European capitals: Paris first, then Venice. Both properties built a following among travelers who care about interior design and want a boutique scale without sacrificing full-service amenities. Nolinski Golfe de Saint-Tropez changes the formula. This is the brand's first resort property, and it arrives at the former Mas de Chastelas estate in Gassin: a historic Provençal mas set within three hectares of landscaped gardens on the Saint-Tropez peninsula.
The move matters because Nolinski is not simply licensing its name to a beach hotel. Pierre Bastid, who owns both Zaka Investments (the real-estate company leading the project) and Evok Collection (the operator), is keeping the development in-house.
Famille C Participations, the investment fund of the Courtin-Clarins family, is a strategic shareholder of Evok Collection, adding a backer with deep roots in French luxury to the project.
That ownership structure, one owner across the real-estate and operating sides, with a credentialed strategic partner, tends to produce tighter results: fewer compromises between how a property is built and how it is run, which at the resort scale is where most openings lose the plot.
Designer Nathan Litera, who is imagining and designing the property, is working with what the brand calls a Riviera interpretation of the Nolinski design language: clean lines, sensuous materials, and light as a primary design element. In practice, that means the pared-back palette and considered materiality of the Paris and Venice properties applied to an outdoor-facing, garden-set context rather than an urban one. The three-hectare garden setting and the Mas de Chastelas bones suggest it has the raw material to work.
The Mas de Chastelas Site: A Provençal Estate Above the Gulf
Gassin sits above the Saint-Tropez peninsula, away from the port crowds, with views over the gulf. It is a different proposition from staying in Saint-Tropez town itself: quieter, more residential in character, and historically the address of choice for travelers who want proximity to the action without being inside it. The Mas de Chastelas site fits that profile. Three hectares of landscaped gardens provide the kind of buffer that is scarce on the Riviera in high season, when even properties marketed as retreats can feel compressed.
The 55 rooms and suites all come with terraces, which is the right call for a property at this price point and in this location. On the Riviera, a terrace is not an amenity, it is the point. The facility list is complete for a five-star resort: restaurant and bar, wellness and spa, kids club and teen zone, tennis and padel club, and two pools at 18 meters and 33 meters. The dual-pool setup is practical: a larger pool for lap swimming and general use, a smaller one that can function as a quieter alternative or a more social space depending on how the property programs it.
The kids club and teen zone are worth flagging for families. The Saint-Tropez peninsula has no shortage of luxury hotels, but properties that accommodate families across age groups, rather than tolerating children while catering to couples, are a shorter list. If the programming matches the facility investment, Nolinski Golfe de Saint-Tropez could carve out a clear position in that segment.
What the Clarins Family Backing Means for This Riviera Debut
The involvement of Famille C Participations, the investment fund of the Courtin-Clarins family, as a strategic shareholder of Evok Collection is not incidental detail. The Clarins family has a long history in French luxury, and their participation in Evok Collection's ownership structure brings both capital stability and a network that matters in the French hospitality market. For a brand making its first resort move, that kind of backing reduces the risk of the opening-year operational gaps that can define a new property's reputation before it has a chance to find its rhythm.
It also signals that Nolinski Golfe de Saint-Tropez is not a one-off experiment. When a brand's first resort opening is capitalized and structured this carefully, the more likely read is that it is the first in a series rather than a standalone pivot. Whether Evok Collection follows this with additional resort properties is not confirmed by the announcement, but the ownership architecture suggests the ambition is there.
How Nolinski Golfe de Saint-Tropez Fits the Saint-Tropez Competitive Set
Nolinski Golfe de Saint-Tropez, at 55 rooms, sits at a scale that is larger than a true boutique but small enough to maintain a coherent identity.
The brand's urban track record suggests it will compete on design and atmosphere rather than on beach-club spectacle, which is a defensible position on a peninsula where the loudest properties have been doing beach-club spectacle for decades.
If the restaurant and bar program matches the design investment, and the source material describes the property as conceived as a destination in its own right for lunching, gathering, and extending the evening, it could draw a day and evening crowd beyond hotel guests, which is how the most commercially durable Riviera properties tend to operate.
The comparison that will matter most is probably not with the established Ramatuelle properties but with newer entrants. The Riviera has seen consistent interest from urban boutique brands looking for a seasonal resort play, and Gassin's position above the gulf gives Nolinski a geographic distinction from properties clustered closer to the port.
Practical Details: Booking, Timing, and Who This Is For
Reservations open in July 2026 for an April 2027 opening. That nine-month window before opening is standard for a property at this level, but it means the most desirable rooms for peak July and August 2027 will go early. If a Riviera stay in high season is on your radar for next year, July 2026 is the moment to act, not because inventory will disappear overnight, but because the best terraced suites in a 55-room property fill faster than the room count implies.
The property is suited to couples and families who want a design-led base on the Saint-Tropez peninsula without the noise of the port. The kids club and teen zone make it a credible family option; the restaurant, bar, and pool programming make it equally viable for a couple who wants to stay put for three or four days rather than moving between properties. Groups looking for a full buyout or event space are not the obvious target based on the announcement, though the gardens and facility breadth would support it.
Rate information has not been released ahead of the July 2026 reservation opening. Given the brand's positioning in Paris and Venice, and the Riviera premium that applies to any five-star property in this location during peak season, expect pricing to sit at the upper end of the peninsula's competitive set. Watch the July 2026 reservation launch for confirmed rates and availability.
Nolinski Golfe de Saint-Tropez is the opening to track on the French Riviera for 2027. The brand's design credibility, the Clarins family backing, and the Mas de Chastelas site in Gassin give it a foundation that most new resort openings lack. Whether the execution matches the setup will be clearer once rates are published and early reviews emerge, but the structural ingredients are in place for this to become the peninsula's most-discussed new address of the year.
