Page 103 - Livre Beau Rivage Palace

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GRAND HOTELS AND appeared, bearing such names as the Ritz, Palace, Hilton, Carlton, Waldorf, current website makes no mention of this historic role, although it
Savoy, Metropole, Victoria… They created a world of international luxury, does commemorate the residence of Queen Isabella on her way to
GREAT EVENTS: HISTORY, HERITAGE erecting sumptuous edifices of palatial aspect and taking over the privileged exile in 1868, of Amadeus of Savoy when investigating his chances

AND HOSPITALITY sites of the city.’ As he points out, alongside these metropolitan of becoming King of Spain in 1872 and of the glamorous and
developments we also need to consider the rise of the ‘summer cities’ seductive First World War spy Mata Hari, who was active in San
of international fashion, with casinos and pleasure places aimed at Sebastián at this time, when the resort’s border position in a neutral
distracting and keeping the patronage of international high society state made it a hotbed of espionage. The present hotel has given
for as long as possible, which were also capable of exercising an her name to a luxurious suite.
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important influence on politics and diplomacy, especially in those The English novelist Arnold Bennett brings out such themes
resorts that were also royal residences and summer capitals, such as when writing about his imagined Grand Babylon Hotel, in London’s
San Sebastián and Ostend, or were points of international reunion riverside Embankment district, at the heart of the British Empire
in neutral countries during wartime. and the global political system, at the beginning of the twentieth
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John WALTON
It is, of course, a mistake to regard such places as peacefully century, soon after the death of Queen Victoria: ‘The Grand Babylon
Many grand hotels like to emphasise those aspects of their important events, relationships and personalities from the past, as moored beyond the tides of history. Consider the German spa of was the only hotel in London with a genuine separate entrance for Royal
history and heritage that involve important visitors and significant well as by historic architecture, art, furnishings, decor and design, Bad Ems, where encounters in 1870 between the German Kaiser visitors constantly in use. The Grand Babylon counted that day wasted on
events, especially international gatherings that have enduring an informed and appealing presentation of these aspects of its past and the French ambassador produced the fateful Ems Telegram, which it did not entertain, at the lowest, a German prince or the Maharajah
consequences in the realms of politics and diplomacy, involving can be rendered commercially advantageous in the present. Such which helped to precipitate the Franco-Prussian War. Consider of some Indian State. When Félix Babylon – after whom, and not with
alliances, treaties and the establishment of regulatory or enabling associations become a desirable aspect of a distinctive identity Vichy, probably the most fashionable spa resort in France, with its any reference to London’s nickname, the hotel was christened… founded
organisations. They tend to recognise the commercial value of such or ‘place-myth’, which sets this particular destination apart from associations with the Emperor Napoleon iii, its role as capital of the the hotel in 1869 he had set himself to cater for Royalty, and that was the
celebrations of influence and importance, as well as taking pride in its competitors and reminds potential customers of its traditions unoccupied zone of France during most of the Second World War secret of his triumphant eminence. The son of a rich Swiss hotel proprietor
such associations for their own sake. This is not always the case: perusal of catering for the influential as well as the rich and famous. and site of the dissolution of the Third Republic, its struggle to free and financier, he had contrived to establish a connexion with the officials of
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of the websites of historic hotels shows that acknowledgment of a Imagined associations, where a hotel is identified with characters itself from the unwanted associations with collaboration that this several European courts… Sundry kings and not a few princesses called
distinguished past can sometimes be perfunctory or non-existent, and episodes in famous works of art or fiction, or even with brought in its train, and its position as a social and political centre for him Félix… and Félix had found that this was good for trade. The Grand
with emphasis placed solely on what is new, luxurious or ‘state of glamorous stories or legends that are in the public domain but the Francophile elites of France’s troubled North African colonies Babylon was managed accordingly. The note of its policy was discretion,
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the art’ about their attractions and attributes. This applies especially, cannot be substantiated, can be equally powerful, as we shall see. in the 1950s and 1960s. Consider San Sebastián itself, where the always discretion, and quietude, simplicity, remoteness. The place was like a
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though not inevitably, where ownership has passed into the hands As Pedro Navascués points out in his introduction to a history fashionable Hotel Londres y de Inglaterra played unwitting and palace incognito.’ Not all great international hotels followed this latter
of the kind of international chain whose dominant concerns of the recent renovation of San Sebastián’s Hotel María Cristina unwilling host to a gathering of republican conspirators which led policy, but many of the features highlighted by Bennett had much
lie in meeting assumed global standards, a kind of upmarket (which opened in 1912), a classic (and distinctive) example of to the Pact of San Sebastián in August 1930, thereby furthering the wider currency. And he went on to point out, through a reported
‘McDonaldisation’ that seeks to assure uniformity of experience across the wave of international hotel building on the grand scale that establishment of the Second Republic and, ultimately, paving the conversation between the eponymous Félix Babylon and a New
all branches of the enterprise and discourages the kind of diversity inundated Europe and rippled across the globe during the late way for the Spanish Civil War. The socialist leader Indalecio Prieto, York millionaire, that although such a hotel based its reputation and
that might, on a particular set of standardising assumptions, seem to nineteenth and early twentieth century: ‘It would be difficult to a member of the gathering, later commented, ‘It was impossible success on accommodating ambassadors, financiers and nobles as
threaten the integrity of the brand. 1 understand aspects of modern European and American history and culture to explain how and why the Hotel Londres had been chosen. None of well as statesmen and royalty, this meant that it was also fated to be a
But when a hotel is seeking to appeal to a discerning if bathing resorts and great luxury hotels had not existed.’ He continues, the delegates were staying there and nobody had asked the permission of focus for international intrigue and mystery: ‘For all I know my fourth
international clientele through a shared appreciation of cultural perceptively – if not always with precise accuracy – that during the manager, who observed with alarm the numerous gestures of surprise sub-chef may be an agent of some European government.’
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capital, in ways that lead to recognition of the attractions of this period: ‘In (London) and other cities like Paris, Vienna, Rome, and disgust on the part of the aristocratic clientele on encountering such a Charles Graves, brother of the better-known English poet
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the aura of significance conveyed by authentic association with Venice, Madrid and a long “etcetera”, the names of great hotel chains group of dangerous radicals (jacobinos).’ Fittingly, in a sense, the hotel’s Robert, and himself a prolific travel writer and chronicler of the
Lausanne Conference 1932 – conference room War Reparations Conference, Lausanne 1932. Opening session
at the Beau-Rivage-Palace, Ouchy. Postcard. in the great hall of the Beau-Rivage Palace. On the left, in the centre,
Ramsay MacDonald, Giuseppe Motta and Edouard Herriot.

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