NEW ORLEANS-A boutique hotel in the French Quarter has reopened after a $7.5 million renovation and name change to reflect its transformation. The Hotel Le Marais, formerly the St. Anne Hotel, is aiming for a four diamond/four star status, according to Marc Becker, area director of sales and marketing for the New Orleans Hotel Collection.

Located one-half block from Bourbon and Royal Streets at 717 Conti St., Hotel Le Marais is part of the New Orleans Hotel Collection, a group of seven hotels in the New Orleans metropolitan region owned by local investors. Becker tells GlobeSt.com this is the first renovation the 66-room hotel has received since it opened in the 1970s.

“The hotel was in dire need of a renovation, and it has been completely transformed,” Becker says, pointing out that the interior was gutted to the studs to make way for the new contemporary d