Balancing novelty and understated luxury is key to what les vacances mean now.

Designer Luc Berger is a soft-spoken 30-something with an unassuming demeanor that belies his accomplishments: We are, after all, taking coffee at Le Meurice, a hotel that is at least partly his own design.

Berger, along with his partner in business and life, Margaux Lally, is in the midst of a pandemic-spanning project to update guest rooms and suites at the famed Parisian hotel.