AFP: PARIS — Well-heeled regulars at the Paris Ritz bid au revoir to a dear "Old Lady" on Wednesday as the historic luxury hotel shut for a two-year facelift aimed at matching tough new competition from Asia.
"It's so sad. We've been coming for 20 years," said a bleary-eyed tourist from Hong Kong who gave only her first name, Ray-Heather.
Dressed in an Asian-inspired suit of yellow silk, the elegant blonde in her sixties lingered on in the lobby, embracing the hotel staff, before heading out on to the Place Vendome, beating heart of the Paris luxury quarter.
"The plumbing, electricity -- there's things like that that had to be done," she told AFP. "But as far as the rest of it is concerned, that's the Ritz. It's historical and it's home."
The hotel of choice of Charlie Chaplin, Coco Chanel and Ernest Hemingway, the Ritz is also infamous as the place where Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed dined before their fatal car crash in 1997.
But Paris' best-known luxury hotel has not had a refit since 1979, when it was revamped by its new owner, Al Fayed's tycoon father Mohamed, and even its biggest fans admit it was starting to show its age. » | Karine Albertazzi | Thursday, August 02, 2012
