Hotel Carlton Inter-Continental

Executive summary by Darmansjah

The InterContinental Carlton Cannes is a 343-room luxury hotel built in 1911, located at 58 La Croisette in Cannes on the French Riviera and listed by the Government of France as a National Historic Building. During the Cannes Film Festival it is the most prestigious place to stay and the undisputed headquarters of motion picture industry deal-making.

Part of the InterContinental chain, the Carlton is famous for hosting movie stars from around the world during the annual Film Festival. The hotel was also featured in Elton John's well-known 1983 music video for the single, "I'm Still Standing", and the exterior and interior features in New Order's 1993 music video for the single, "World (The Price of Love)". More famously, the hotel was a central location for the Alfred Hitchcock film To Catch a Thief starring Grace Kelly and Cary Grant. In 1970 it featured in the Peter Sellers/ Goldie Hawn comedy "There's a Girl in my Soup" and exterior scenes were filmed at the entrance to the hotel and on the hotel beach. The hotel lobby scene and interior scenes were done on a film set.

 

While staying at the Hotel Carlton during the 1955 Cannes Film Festival, Academy Award winning movie star Grace Kelly had an arranged meeting and photo shoot with Prince Rainier III of Monaco; they married in 1956.

The Carlton's distinctive domes on both seaward corners were reputedly designed to resemble the breasts of Caroline Otero ("La Belle Otero") the most famous courtesan of the French Riviera during the years surrounding World War I. The Carlton's elegant seventh floor formal dining room was named La Belle Otero in her honour. There are a couple of restaurants : the Carlton Restaurant on the ground floor and the Carlton Beach Restaurant.

Sylvie Nissen gallery in the lobby of the Carlton Hotel was established in 1980, has collection of French artist René Gruau.