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Review: Intercontinental Carlton Cannes
If you’re just tuning in…Hello! You’re amidst an epic around the world surprise trip celebrating my mom’s 75th birthday. There were two big places that we sought out to hit on the trip: Bali and Grasse, France. Grasse is roughly 30 minutes from Cannes and home to the Molinard factory which makes the perfume my mom has worn for 50 years. It’s been a lifelong dream of hers to visit the factory. We’d selected the Intercontinental Carlton Cannes as a great spot to use our IHG free nights and points with its close proximity to Grasse and unbelievable location and history as the grande dame of the Boulevard de la Croisette. We arrived into Nice and headed to the Intercontinental Carlton Cannes via Blacklane. THIS WAS THE FINAL DESTINATION!
There are several very nice hotels on the beach in Cannes, but the Intercontinental Cannes is iconic.
While we were checking in, my mom started to mosey around the lobby. RIGHT BY A MOLINARD SIGN. She tried to cover up her excitement, but she couldn’t. It all dawned her at the moment as to why we were in Cannes…to visit the Molinard factory
The Deets:
- When: April 2017
- Where: Cannes, France
- Loyatly: IHG Spire and Intercontinental Ambassador
- Cost:
- 4 total nights, 2 rooms
- 2 free credit cards nights
- 5 nights at 50k points
- 1 night at 60k points
- 4 total nights, 2 rooms
- Benefits
- Free Wifi
- Upgrade to Superior City View room
- Welcome gift
The rooms are large, but are in need of a facelift..
There’s no doubt that the hotel has seen it’s best days, but the allure isn’t so much in the rooms, but rather the bar and restaurants. This is a place to be seen, not hide away in your room.
A design feature that I hope they keep as renovations expand…the built in wardrobe closet.
The biggest complaint would be the shower set up. Very awkward and tiny. It’s hard to tell from the pic below but you step up into the shower and stand in a basin. It’s quite slick and very narrow.
The view from the room
We had fruit and chocolates as a welcome gift
A clear view from the room
The Spa and Gym
A very small space with equipment that is fairly old. I’m not sure it really matters though, I doubt the holiday guest frequently this hotel is looking to get in mega gym work outs.
Cool Design Features
This staircase leads up to the rooms, but look at the design features. Molding, wrought iron, and what’s tucked into a corner? The business center. No it’s not large, but it’s so cool.
The Carlton Bar is famed and packed with celebs during the festival.
The Famed Carlton Beach Restaurant.
We chose to eat here on our last day. It’s mega $$$ as is everything about the hotel, but worth splurging for a meal or a drink. I believe my tuna nicoise salad was almost $30. Crazy.
Look at this beach set up.
It was a little cold on this particular day, but still beautiful.
The pier that’s attached is even lined with beach chairs. The cool factor is on blast.
Not far from the hotel is the Rue d’Antibes.
You’ll find bakeries, restaurants, clothing stores, and lots of people watching
I was really happy we chose this hotel.
Unbelievable bones and worksmanship. It feels as if it’s from a different era, and this is sort hotels my mom loves. We took advantage of it’s location and walked the streets of Cannes, stopping to have a drink, pastry, and enjoy the sea air. It really feels as if you’ve arrived. We stayed the week before the festival which meant everything was being set up, constructed, and a bumping energy could be felt all around the city. Availability was wide open when we locked in dates, roughly 6 months in advance. There are times during they year when you can snag this grande dame for under 200 Euros. That’s a great deal and one that warrants paying the cash rate vs using points.
If you’re thinking of coming during peak holiday beach season…prices can range 500-600 Euro a night for the room we had, and entry level rooms aren’t much cheaper. Using a free IHG credit card night is perfect, and if you need some extra point you can always buy them for roughly $0.006 per point ( even cheaper when they’re on sale.) This is the time to really make great use of points, and availability is still pretty solid.
You don’t have to stop here. Check out how we paid $5k and took a $125k Surprise trip Around The World to celebrate my Mom’s 75th
Flights:
- Boston to Beijing
- Beijing to Singapore
- Singapore to Bali Roundtrip
- Singapore to Dubai
- Abu Dhabi to Cannes, France
- Etihad Airways First Class Apartment A380 Abu Dhabi to London ($8k)
- Etihad Airways Business Studio A380 Abu Dhabi to London ( $3500-5k)
- British Airways Club Europe A321 London to Nice
- Cannes, France to Dallas
- Lufthansa Business Class A321 Nice to Frankfurt ($10k)
- Lufthansa First Class A330 Frankfurt to Dallas
Hotels:
- Boston
- Beijing
- JW Marriott Beijing, 1 Bedroom Suite ($450 for 5 nights)
- Club King ($250)
- Singapore
- Bali
- Mandapa, Ritz Carlton Reserve 1 Bedroom Rice Paddy View Villa ($600/night)
- Conrad Bali 1 Bedroom Ocean View Suite ($400/night)
- Singapore
- Dubai
- Abu Dhabi
- Cannes, France
- Dallas
- Grand Hyatt DFW ($150
- JW Marriott Beijing, 1 Bedroom Suite ($450 for 5 nights)
Lounges
- Boston
- Hong Kong
- Beijing
- Singapore
- Bali
- Singapore
- Abu Dhabi
- Etihad First Class Lounge
- Etihad Business Class Lounge
- Etihad Shave Experience
- London
- Nice
- Library Lounge
- Frankfurt
- Lufthansa First Class Lounge Frankfurt Terminal A
Afternoon Tea
TIPS:
- When to look for Cathay award space
- How we booked 3 Singapore Suites
- 5 things we loved doing in Singapore that avoided the heat
- Never trust the concierge
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card went through a major refresh in 2026 adding new bonus categories, travel protections, statement credits, and remains one of the best travel starter cards in the market. It earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott. Note that Hyatt is now a 4:3 transfer partner
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Earn
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on gas and EV charging
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on vacation homes at top brands
- Cardmembers will earn 3x points on vacation homes at these top brands: Airbnb, Vrbo, Plu Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa.
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 2x on all other travel
- 1x on everyday purchases
- 5x points on Lyft rides Earn 5x total points on eligible Lyft rides including ride share, bike and scooter rides and subscription and membership products through September 30, 2027.
- 5x total points on Peloton equipment Earn 5x total points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through December 31, 2027.
Benefits and Credits
- $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- NEW: $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS fee credit Cardmembers will receive one statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to the card.
- NEW: Complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is great starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Chase Ink Business Cash® , Chase Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into the Sapphire Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee remains quite low at $95 a year and if you use the $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠ you’ll wipe out that annual fee every year. It has great bonus categories and other useful statement credits to enhance your travel.
One thing that is a bummer is Chase lowered the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3.
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