Hôtel Martinez

The Hôtel Martinez is an art deco hotel on the Promenade de la Croisette in Cannes. It was opened on 20 February 1929 by Emmanuel Michele Martinez, son of Baron Giovanni Martinez and Giuseppa Labiso Costanza, members of a noble Italian family of Spanish origins from Palermo. Karan Singh the crown prince of Jammu and Kashmir was born there in 1931.

History
In 1927, Emmanuel Michele Martinez, a manager of hotels in London and Paris and the director of the Cannes Luxury Hotel Association, decided to build his own hotel on the Côte d'Azur. Using the connections his family had with nobility, Martinez bought the "Villa Marie-Therese" on September 22, 1927, from Alfonso XII. The Hotel Martinez opened in 1929.

Karan Singh the crown prince of Jammu and Kashmir, and later a high ranking minister in the Government of India, was born at Suite 318-319-320 at the Martinez when his father Maharaja Hari Singh was holidaying there on March 9, 1931, and had reserved the entire third floor for the occasion.

During World War II, the hotel was occupied successively by the French Army, the Italian Army, the Commission d'armistice, the German Army, and (after Victory in Europe Day) by the US Air Force.

In 1981, the hotel was sold to the Concorde Hotels & Resorts Group (belonging to the Taittinger Group).

In 2005, four hotels including Hotel Martinez were sold to Starwood Capital Group.

The hotel was sold in 2012 and joined the Hyatt Group on April 9, 2013. It was renamed the Grand Hyatt Cannes Hotel Martinez. The hotel closed for renovations on October 30, 2017 and reopened for business on March 5, 2018 under its original name.

Location
Hotel Martinez is located on the Croisette at Cannes, 500 meters from the palais des Festivals, facing the Mediterranean Sea, the Bay of Cannes and the Lérins Islands.