Other older hotels are also undertaking major renovations.
The king went on a building spree, undertaking extravagant renovations at Fontainebleau, Trianon, Choisy and Compiègne.
The school was undertaking major renovations, including brickwork to its facade, Ms. Fink said, but none of the renovations involved elevators.
The regulations require that power plants, refineries and other sites that generate air pollution receive permits -- and potentially agree to install pollution controls -- before undertaking major renovations.
To compete for top rents, some landlords are undertaking expensive apartment renovations in older rental buildings.
Assuming that £1m was spent undertaking renovations, the Rhys Joneses have seen their property rise in value by around £4.5m.
One night, Susan and David Synnott, an expatriate couple near their sixties, invited me to dinner at the Seigneurie, where Beaumont has allowed them to live, free of charge for ten years, in exchange for undertaking renovations.
With few exceptions, Mr. Ferrara said, tenants are prohibited from removing their fixtures or appliances or from undertaking renovations, other than those that are purely cosmetic, without the owner's consent.
The tiny, oil-rich country of Brunei has been a quiet steward of the Beverly Hills Hotel and Hotel Bel-Air, undertaking multimillion-dollar renovations of the landmarks.
Sales were strong enough that it is now undertaking a renovation of its Beverly Hills store along the same lines.
