Page 11 - Livre Beau Rivage Palace

Fig. 1 Fig. 2

INTRODUCTION accommodation from private lodgings to a structured hotel indeed, affairs of the heart), the hotels became legendary in their
own right, enhancing their cachet.
system. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, people were
becoming more concerned with the practicalities of travel and Bertrand Müller’s discussion links in with this theme
travel literature responded accordingly; this ‘change’ – both a by recalling that the Beau-Rivage Palace provided the setting
cause and effect of supply and demand – accompanied and, to for numerous diplomatic events, notably the Lausanne peace
a certain extent, helped to bring about the shift from the Grand negotiations of 1922-23 between the countries of the Entente
Tour towards a more modern concept of tourism. Cordiale (Great Britain, France and Italy), modern Turkey and
Cédric Humair’s complementary study discusses how a number of other stakeholders. As yet, there were no dedicated
the directors of the Beau-Rivage Palace faced the challenges venues for the ‘new diplomacy’ – spearheaded by the League of
of technological modernisation. In order to respond to the Nations – which had emerged after the First World War, and the
new demands of their clientele (demands fostered by the luxury hotel industry was able to offer a suitable environment and
travel guides), they not only had to update the hotel’s facilities, facilities. Müller shows how the 1922-23 Treaty of Lausanne was
Nadja MAILLARD
but also to create a competitive environment geared towards also at the intersection of two interrelated histories, the meeting
After its opening in 1861, the Beau-Rivage hotel became the phenomenon of the burgeoning travel, tourism and hotel modern tourism; this involved facilitating access to Ouchy, point of the new diplomacy and a hotel industry which was in
an exquisite landmark for all those who sailed through its doors, industries; the second focuses on the different phases of its connecting the Beau-Rivage Palace with efficient modes of the process of restructuring itself after the First World War.
a safe and comfortable mooring for the thousands of travellers construction both inside and out, and the people who made it transport, installing plumbing, gas and electricity systems to help Marc de Ferrière le Vayer takes us on a gastronomic journey
who came to take holidays or seek refuge, to appear on its world happen; and the third provides a glimpse into the life of the hotel the hotel function smoothly, providing entertainment for the as he traces the evolution of catering and restaurants within the
stage or disappear in its oasis-like calm. Its very name – the ‘Beau- through the eyes of a variety of characters, both real and fictional. guests, and making the hotel’s surroundings more attractive. This luxury hotel industry from the mid-nineteenth century to the
Rivage’, or ‘beautiful shore’ – evoked the scenic surroundings: a Each chapter is enlivened with the personal recollections of modernisation programme met with enthusiasm and resistance, present day. Hotels began by offering relatively basic catering
great hotel for a spectacular shoreside. In 1908, however, the different people, some famous, others not, all of whom provide success and failure, and was an ongoing saga at the Beau-Rivage options, and as a rule guests ate either in the hotel dining room or
Beau-Rivage acquired a luxurious suffix (and extension), giving fascinating new insights into their experience of Ouchy and the Palace which more generally reveals how hoteliers of the belle in their own private rooms. As competition increased – fuelled by
it a whole new resonance: ‘Palace’. While the name ‘Beau-Rivage Beau-Rivage Palace. époque reacted to profound technological, social and cultural the guidebook reviews – hotel catering became not just a means
Palace’ exuded the spirit of the belle époque, in certain ways it was Joëlle Neuenschwander Feihl traces Ouchy’s transformation changes, and in some cases even led the way. Books about luxury to attract more clients, but a matter of survival, and by the turn of
quite an encumbrance: in the 1950s the hotel’s board of directors from industrial village to holiday resort to Lausanne suburb, at hotels are quick to point out that the first public building in the twentieth century, the restaurants of luxury hotels were run
even considered dropping it to avoid the constant confusion with the same time pinpointing a moment in Lausanne’s own urban Switzerland to install electric lighting – a pure expression of by top-flight restaurateurs. This trend was mirrored by suitably
its rival the Lausanne Palace, which had strongly objected to an expansion towards the lake following the arrival of the railway modernity – was a hotel, the Badrutt in Saint-Moritz; in Vicki lavish restaurant architecture and table decoration. The second
advertising slogan proclaiming the ‘Beau-Rivage, l’élite des palaces around 1850 (fig. 1). Laurent Tissot continues by showing how Baum’s Grand Hotel, the new technology is omnipresent and half of the twentieth century saw a substantial decline in luxury
et le palace de l’élite’. the luxury hotel industry developed within a wider economic, reaches dazzling heights of luxury (fig. 2). hotel catering, corresponding to the change in clientele, but from
1
To celebrate the double anniversary of this flagship hotel, we social and symbolic context, into which the Beau-Rivage Palace John Walton’s essay looks beyond the history of the Beau- the 1980s hotel restaurants began to experience a renaissance.
have produced an in-depth account that is not only the history fitted perfectly. Basing his argument on a detailed study of the Rivage Palace to the wider context: the growth of the luxury Having discussed the development of Ouchy into a first-class
of the building itself, but which places it within its geographical, hotel archives, he explains why it was built and how it managed hotel industry, principally during the ‘age of the railway’, within holiday resort, Joëlle Neuenschwander Feihl turns her attention to
economic and cultural setting. The table of contents underlines to move with the times, achieve success and establish the world- a rapidly developing Europe. With the help of numerous case the construction of the Beau-Rivage itself, from the architectural
the concept and structure: divided into three themed sections, this class reputation it enjoys to this day. studies, the author examines to what degree luxury hotels created competition to its inauguration. Dave Lüthi follows on by relating
book is a kaleidoscope of different approaches and viewpoints Meanwhile, Ariane Devanthéry looks at travel guides (and benefited from) the aura surrounding the famous political, the history of the new Palace building, pointing out that from the
on the hotel, from informative essays to personal memoirs. produced between the late eighteenth century and the early diplomatic and cultural events they hosted. He also analyses 1890s onwards, the enlargement of the Beau-Rivage became a
The first section discusses the hotel’s location and context, and twentieth century to investigate the changing trends in travellers’ how, through their association with these international affairs (or, burning issue for the hotel’s board of directors. Following a first

The title of this photograph – Hôtel Beau-Rivage, Ouchy – taken by A. Garcin some time An advertisement for the hotel poetically proclaims the technical benefits
between 1865 and 1890, hides the foreground of the picture which shows workers of electric light. Postcard, 1926.
unloading stone blocks brought from Meillerie in the Haute-Savoie region of France
to the site aboard a Lake Geneva sail boat. At that time, activities in the bay of
Ouchy were divided between industry and tourism.
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