Page 116 - Livre Beau Rivage Palace
P. 116

Fig. 1

                         MAKING HISTORY: LUXURY HOTELS                                                                                                   exceptional events.  The Beau-Rivage Palace was one of the select   possibilities and limitations. To grasp this, we need to look closely
                                                                                                                                                                        1
                                                                                                                                                         few, having hosted a number of diplomatic peace talks: in 1912,  at the event itself and its specific historical context: the diplomatic
             AND DIPLOMACY. THE BEAU-RIVAGE PALACE                                                                                                       it was here that a treaty between Italy and Turkey was agreed;   manoeuvring which followed the First World War, marked by the

                      AND THE CONFERENCE OF LAUSANNE,                                                                                                    both countries returned to Lausanne ten years later to participate   successive revisions to the Treaty of Versailles; the critical state of
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 the  hotel  industry  after  the  collapse  of  luxury  tourism,  which
                                                                                                                                                         in the negotiations which concluded on 24 July 1923 with an
                                                       1922-23                                                                                           agreement between Turkey and the Allied nations. There followed   brought about a financial crisis and, most crucially, an image
                                                                                                                                                         the international conference on Germany’s war reparations (June-
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 crisis; and the changing face of international diplomacy with the
                                                                                                                                                         July 1932) and the Conventions on Palestine (1949) and Libya   emergence of the ‘new diplomacy’, whose aim was to create a new
                                                                                                                                                         (1984), to name only the most important events.         world order founded on new  principles of  conflict prevention
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 and resolution. Understanding the relationship between the
                                                                                                                                                         LUXURY HOTELS, DIPLOMACY AND HISTORIC EVENTS            hotel industry and the diplomatic world thus entails exploring
                                                                                                                                                             The  frequency  of  these  events  would  seem  to  indicate  a   two interrelated histories by focusing on the unusual event that
                                                          Bertrand MÜLLER
                                                                                                                                                        ‘special relationship’ between the hotel industry and the diplomatic   constitutes a diplomatic conference.
               There are some hotels on the continent which, in addition   grand hotels were social microcosms where the privileged few                  world, a relationship regularly emphasised in the brochures and   The 1922-23 Conference of Lausanne is a specific example
             to being renowned luxury holiday establishments, also have a   would come to rest, convalesce and, increasingly (in Lausanne and            promotional  literature  of the Beau-Rivage  Palace  as  one of its   of an ‘event’ which brought together these different dimensions.
             reputation for hosting historic diplomatic conferences. This is   elsewhere), use the spa facilities, all far from the madding crowd.       defining elements. The  link between  hotels and  diplomacy  is   The peace talks, attended by some ten countries, opened on 20
           notably the case for the Hôtel des Indes in The Hague, and the   Although they rubbed shoulders with each other, the great and the            tenuous, none the less: after all, conferences have not always taken   November  1922 and  continued for  almost  eight months. The
             Hôtel des Reservoirs at Versailles. The Beau-Rivage Palace in   good were able to escape the rest of the world, while maintaining           place in hotels. The hotel industry and the diplomatic world tend   Beau-Rivage Palace had already presided over the signing of
                                 Ouchy-Lausanne is another example.  their luxurious lifestyles or preferred pastimes. Members of the                    to meet only under exceptional circumstances; this is particularly   a peace treaty in 1912, between Italy and Turkey. The scope of
            The Caterer and Hotel-Keeper’s Gazette, 15 February 1923, p. 73  old European monarchies, such as the Prince of Wales (the future            true after the First World War, when venues purpose-designed for   this event had been much more limited, however: the parties
                                                                  King George v), the Duke and Duchess of Kent, and the Spanish                          international diplomacy were increasingly used, such as the Palais   used an outmoded form of diplomacy and their negotiations
                                  ‘The event illuminates its own past.’  and Portuguese aristocracy, took relaxing breaks in these grand                 des Nations in Geneva, originally home to the League of Nations   had been kept so confidential that the authorities had not taken
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     2
                                                  Hannah Arendt   hotels, which were oases of calm during difficult periods.                             and later to the  un. The specific role of a hotel also should be   any particular measures.  The scope and context of the 1922-23
                                   The Nature of Totalitarianism, 1954  The developing hotel industry was largely involved in these                      clarified, on two counts: on the one hand, the hotel is essentially a   conference were entirely different. The Allied powers who had
                                                                  activities until the First World War, which put an abrupt stop to the                  residential establishment and not necessarily the main venue for the   won the First World War (Great Britain, France and Italy) came to
              During its extraordinary period of growth in the nineteenth   concept of luxury tourism in Europe in general and Switzerland               negotiations, even if certain meetings and events might take place   Lausanne hoping to settle the question of the partitioning of the
          century, the luxury hotel industry encouraged guests to book for   in particular. At the outbreak of war the hotels quickly emptied,           in its rooms and private suites; on the other hand, it is equally rare   Ottoman Empire to their own mutual advantage, by engineering
          extended stays. These holidaymakers liked to indulge in a variety   only to see a fraction of their clientele return later as refugees.        for only one hotel to be involved in a conference, since countries   a peace treaty between Greece and Turkey. Instead, they witnessed
          of entertainment-based activities: concerts, balls and tea dances   The war forced hotels to take on some rather unexpected, and               at war will not always agree to stay under one roof.    the birth of a nation. Earlier negotiations, which had resulted in
         were arranged for the (very) rich, and often idle, clientele, who   sometimes unwanted, duties, such as accommodating refugees or                   Despite publicity claims which make much of the close links   the Treaty of Sèvres in 1920, had divided the spoils of the Empire
         were kept amused by a retinue of artists, musicians and writers.  military personnel.                                                           between the hotel industry and the diplomatic world, in reality   between Great Britain, France and Italy. The Conference of
         The Beau-Rivage Palace also organised these kinds of events: it   But  a few  hotels were assigned  other  roles,  setting  them                the association is quite circumstantial, or to be more precise, event   Lausanne completely nullified the first treaty, particularly on the
          even formed its own chamber orchestra (fig. 1). Wealthy local and   apart from the competition and enhancing their reputation: they            based. We hope to examine some of the aspects of this event-based   issue of borders and ‘the minority peoples’, dashing Armenian and
          international companies started holding their annual gala evenings   were chosen as venues for diplomatic conferences. The fact that           connection, because it is not purely due to circumstance: it is the   Kurdish hopes for independence.
          or anniversary celebrations in the ballrooms of these great palaces,  a hotel could count princes and sovereigns among its previous            product of the meeting of two universes – the hotel industry’s and   Exploring the relationship between the hotel industry and
         which began to resemble moored cruise liners lost in time. The   guests was no guarantee that it would be picked for these rather               the diplomatic world’s – each of which has its own characteristics,  the  diplomatic world  takes us  into  different  areas of  research,

          The Beau-Rivage Palace Orchestra. Anonymous photograph, c.1930.




          116                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       117
   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121