Who do you accept as clients?

Expatriates, executives, entrepreneurs, diplomats and international families relocating to Paris on a long-stay basis. Initial conversations are by referral or by private introduction.

How quickly can someone become fully operational in Paris?

Under three weeks for most profiles, including non-EU nationals. The constraint is rarely paperwork — it is sequencing.

Do you sign non-disclosure agreements?

Yes. NDAs are signed by default for any client who requests them, and discretion is the operating norm in their absence.

Are your services available in English?

Entirely. Native French and fluent English. A bilingual presence is included at every appointment.

What is the difference between BookAndSmiles and a corporate relocation agency?

Corporate agencies dispatch tickets. The house orchestrates. A single bilingual interlocutor is responsible for the entire transition and lifestyle of the client.

Can you begin before I arrive in Paris?

Yes. We typically engage two to four weeks before arrival — apartment shortlist, documents pre-assembled, calendar of post-arrival appointments confirmed.

Do you work with HR mobility departments?

Yes. Direct corporate mandates are accepted with monthly reporting and a single point of contact for the assignee.

What neighbourhoods do you specialise in?

The 1st, 7th, 8th, 16th and 17th arrondissements, Neuilly-sur-Seine, Boulogne-Billancourt, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Versailles and Fontainebleau.

Back to the house

Life Infrastructure · Paris

Executive Personal Assistant.Your Life Infrastructure Partner in Paris — bilingual, discreet, always on your side.

For UHNW principals and international leaders whose lives already carry more than a calendar can hold, the finest luxury is no longer another service. It is peace of mind. It is walking into Paris without the mental load of the household, the administrative universe, the vendors, the small daily fires that steal evenings. The house holds a small number of Executive Personal Assistant retainers for principals who deserve to breathe.

« Le vrai luxe ne crie pas, il murmure. »

This is not a transactional service. It is a trusted relationship — a single bilingual partner who holds your Paris life so that yours can be spent on what matters. A retainer built on continuity, discretion and warmth.

The four pillars

Lifting the mental load.

Four zones of the private life that a corporate assistant cannot easily hold — because they touch the household, the administrative, the personal and the discretionary. Each pillar is piloted with care, never guaranteed — because the finest work is honest work.

Administrative stewardship.

Piloting the French administrative universe with a hand already familiar with its grammar — prefecture appointments, CPAM, OFII, tax residency filings, French bank onboarding, insurance renewals, driving-licence exchange. We facilitate the sequence and prepare the files so nothing lands on your desk unresolved. The regulators, notaries and licensed professionals remain the deciders — that is the honest boundary of stewardship.

·Prefecture · residence permit sequencing
·CPAM · OFII · tax residency coordination
·French bank onboarding · document translation
·Insurance renewals · household compliance
·Institutional liaison — schools, embassies, chambers

Household orchestration & lifestyle management.

A senior Parisian household breathes on a small, quiet ecosystem — housekeeper, chef, nanny, driver, gardener, technicians. We coordinate the ecosystem so it disappears behind you — schedules, holiday rotas, discreet replacements, quality control, the conversation you should never have to hold. Seamless continuity of your lifestyle is the entire point.

·Household staff coordination · schedules & rotas
·Property logistics · maintenance, upgrades, seasonal transitions
·Daily life coordination · groceries, laundry, deliveries
·Guest & family arrivals · anticipated end-to-end
·Discreet incident handling · when something breaks

III

Vendor management.

Sourcing, vetting and holding the relationship with the trusted providers a Paris life deserves — the dry cleaner who returns a Kiton within forty-eight hours, the watch atelier that calls before opening the case, the private doctor on WhatsApp, the notary who signs by DocuSign. We audit vendors, negotiate the retainer and hold the file so you never open it. Trust, curated.

·Sourcing · shortlist within two weeks of brief
·Vetting · references, discretion protocol, contract review
·Retainer negotiation · flat-fee or per-service
·Single point of contact · one WhatsApp thread
·Quiet replacement · when a vendor no longer holds standard

On-the-ground representation.

When you cannot be present — a viewing, a signature at the notary (as your mandated proxy, within the legally admissible scope), a delivery, an embassy pickup, a school reunion — a bilingual, briefed and warmly trusted proxy is on the ground within the hour. We speak in your voice, never beyond your written mandate. Presence, when yours is asked elsewhere.

·Trusted proxy at scheduled appointments
·Bilingual presence · FR / EN, embassy-grade
·Signatures on mandate · never beyond written scope
·Deliveries & pickups · airport, customs, ateliers
·Discreet family stand-in · school events, medical visits

Why a retainer, not a service.

The relationship is the product.

A transactional assistant answers tickets. A retained Executive PA holds a life. The difference is invisible on the first month and structural by the sixth — when you notice that your calendar breathes, your household runs itself, and the administrative universe has stopped costing evenings. Peace of mind, restored.

One bilingual partner.

FR native, EN fluent. One voice, one WhatsApp, one file. No ticket queue, no rotation, no re-explaining who you are.

INSEAD-grade standards.

The house was built inside the INSEAD administration. The bar for the file, the letter and the follow-up is the bar of a top-tier programme — quietly held every day.

Absolute discretion.

NDAs are signed by default. The most loyal principals are never named. No client logo, no reference in a pitch, no name spoken outside the file — that is what warmth requires.

Facilitation, not guarantee.

We pilot administrative sequences we do not control — the prefecture, the CPAM, the notary. We prepare the file to their standards; the decision belongs to them. Honesty is the ground floor of trust.

By introduction only.

The Executive PA retainer is reserved to a small number of principals — those introduced by an existing family, a partner law firm or a family office. The first conversation is quiet, unbilled, warm and short. It exists to know whether the fit is real — because a Life Infrastructure Partner is chosen, never sold.

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