If you happen to find yourself in the city of Versailles, in north-central France, over Christmas next year, instead of looking for room at the inn you could be staying at the Palace of Versailles.

Belgian company Ivy International plans to convert the Hotel du Grand Controle, an outbuilding at the UNESCO World Heritage Site and the traditional home of the palace's treasurers, into a 23-room luxury hotel.

Before the hotel opens at the end of 2011, Ivy International will renovate the 1,700 m² building, which was built in the 1680s, at a cost of approximately €5.5 million.

Commenting on the development, the president of the palace, Jean-Jacques Aillagon, has said that "the project is "a pioneering initiative" intended to save a building which is "in a very dilapidated state." Ivy will lease the building from the French government for 30 years, paying part of the hotel's profit as rent.

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