It required nearly eight years and upwards of $350 million to renovate the 332-room Carlton Cannes hotel. No wonder the mayor of Cannes was so giddy when it reopened, on March 13. “The Carlton is a little like our Eiffel Tower,” said David Lisnard, presiding over a ribbon-cutting ceremony for “the Old Lady,” as it’s known. Dating back to 1913, the building resembles a white wedding cake and has served as an architectural anchor to La Croisette, Cannes’s seaside promenade, for more than 100 years.
The Carlton, now the flagship property of the Regent Hotels & Resorts—they also own Regent-branded hotels in Berlin, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and more—became an internationally recognizable emblem of the French Riviera thanks to Alfred Hitchcock. In his 1955 film To Catch a Thief, Cary Grant and Grace Kelly memorably holed up in the hotel. For decades now, even when it was closed, the hotel has been one of the city’s last vestiges of glamour.
