Page 119 - Livre Beau Rivage Palace

Fig. 2

starting with the history of the hotel industry (in particular luxury ‘scientific’ (by drawing on the advice of different experts to tackle street, and not captioned save for numbers which were probably points to another major change: the transparency demanded by
hotels) which remains largely the preserve of art and architectural specific issues); it favoured new negotiation methods (round- added to help identify them; and a press dossier with reports of the the new diplomacy brought it into the public arena, and therefore
historians whose work relies for the most part on material kept in table forums) and called for debates to be publicised (via the press proceedings and news articles commenting on the negotiations as created new security issues.
archives and libraries (equally helpful to economic and financial and the publication of verbal proceedings). The new diplomacy they took place (fig. 2). The gaping holes in the archives indicate
historians). The archives cannot paint the whole picture, however, required new kinds of venues: dedicated, permanent buildings for that the hotel considered this to be a one-off event at the time LAUSANNE: DIPLOMATIC CHOICES
although historians have shown a questionable reluctance to pursue professional diplomacy such as Geneva’s Palais des Nations, and (although subsequently, it has almost always drawn attention to this AND THE HOTEL SET-UP
other lines of enquiry which may actually prove to be extremely non-dedicated venues, such as the grand hotels, which had the type of event in its promotional literature and commemorative The Lausanne negotiations, which began in November 1922,
illuminating. While hotels do not ‘produce’, in the strictest sense facilities needed to organise occasional ‘round-table’ negotiations. brochures). were international in scope. The partitioning of the Ottoman
of the term, they belong to a wider network of service industries Conferences effectively provided the opportunity for the For their own part, the diplomatic archives scarcely mention Empire had been settled by the Treaty of Sèvres (10 August 1920),
whose activities form a complex economic and social microcosm. hotel industry and the diplomatic world to meet, united by the role of the hotel industry in the negotiations: reports published which outlined the territories to be divided between France, Great
Whether family-run or owned by an anonymous conglomerate, space, timing and specific activities which help us to understand after the conference only feature documents relating to the work Britain and Greece. The different nations invited to Lausanne were
4
hotels are big business: they bring together a range of different the ‘events’ themselves. Yet these events are seldom referred to of the delegations and commissions themselves. Here again, the anxious to create stability in the Balkans. However, the situation
jobs and services, often employ a large number of people, and have in hotel archives, day books or board meeting minutes, which scant documentary evidence of the relationship between the gradually deteriorated in 1922, and in the autumn of that year the
a high financial turnover. Of course, the hotel industry cannot be in itself suggests that they were considered ‘exceptional’ by the hotel industry and the diplomatic community shows that it was Turkish nationalists won a complete military victory over Greece,
considered as a homogenous whole, since it is hierarchical by its hotels themselves. Indeed, conferences have little to do with the not deemed important enough to warrant a permanent record. In leading to political crises in Greece and Britain and also serious
very nature. Furthermore, during the period we are discussing, the day-to-day running of hotels, their business development, the short, if we were to rely on the evidence kept by the hotel’s and repercussions in France. The new Turkish leader, Mustafa Kemal
industry was still fragmentary and diverse. Luxury hotels, like the maintenance and restructuring of their buildings, or the upgrading diplomatic archives alone, the present discussion would remain Atatürk, sought to capitalise on his military advantage and exploit
‘luxury industry’ they are part and parcel of, are not so much driven and improvement of their facilities, all issues which are discussed, largely speculative and incomplete. the Allies’ disunity by rushing them into negotiating an armistice
by competition, but operate in a complex world where subtle planned and accounted for during board meetings. The Beau- Fortunately, we can draw on other sources: firstly, the press, (at Mudanya on 11 October 1922) and then demanding that new
categories and distinctions define a particular hotel’s core identity. Rivage Palace’s own board meeting minutes contain just a few which played a crucial role in diplomatic affairs by ‘publicising’ the peace talks be opened.
The volatile global situation makes it difficult for grand hotels short entries about the Conference of Lausanne, relating to the conference, providing daily coverage on the negotiations them- Lausanne was chosen as the venue by process of elimination.
to devise concrete business strategies and make accurate financial money the hotel made from the event. The hotel’s guest book, selves, and (often) the gossip surrounding them. The media The Turks had wanted the conference to take place in Smyrna,
predictions. On the other hand, hosting diplomatic events can add which was started in 1939, has a handful of comments from clients effectively became ‘partners’ with the conference organisers: which they had just liberated from the Greek army, but this was
3
to the prestige and ‘unique selling proposition’ of a particular hotel, and families who remembered the event. The most consistent members of the press not only stayed on site, but were given their out of the question. London and Paris were also excluded, since
although historians of tourism and hotel architecture have paid record of the conference is provided by the guest arrivals register: own dedicated area in one of the hotels. Journalists, particularly Britain and France had widely diverging views on the issues to be
little attention to this specific role, probably because it is regarded conference attendees are described as ‘delegation members’ and there those working for the regional newspapers, often embellished discussed. Venice was ruled out as it would have given Italy’s new
as the exception rather than the rule. is little distinction made between them and the hotel’s regular their news reports with titbits or anecdotes about the hotel or the dictator Mussolini a golden opportunity to act as chair. Although
In the field of international relations, the new diplomatic clients (of whom there were few that November). Unfortunately, progress of the talks, which are invaluable in tracing the relationship Geneva was home to the League of Nations, it was vetoed by
blueprint proposed by us president Woodrow Wilson in his there is no trace of any correspondence between the hotel between the hotel industry and the diplomatic world. the Americans and Russians, powerful political observers of the
fourteen-point programme for world peace of 1918 (which management and the local, regional or federal government, or The conference did not just attract the attention of the negotiations. Britain’s proposal of Lausanne was weakly contested
subsequently led to the creation of the League of Nations in the delegations themselves, which might have provided more press; it was also followed closely by the police, who provided by the Turks, who proposed Lugano maybe because they had
Geneva), has been the subject of much analysis by historians. As information on the way they interacted or on how the conference the security. In the archives of the Vaudois police in Switzerland bad memories of the city (they had been made to concede
they have pointed out, the ‘new diplomacy’ was designed to be was organised. (responsible for the Lausanne area) are five boxes of important their rights to Tripoli in an earlier Treaty of Lausanne of 1912).
more transparent (in other words, less secretive), more politically A few documents have survived, notably a briefcase documents relating to the Conference of Lausanne, offering However, this precedent was, conversely, cited by the British
orientated (by involving politicians in the process more directly, containing numerous caricatures sketched during the conference; a different perspective on the relationship between the hotel foreign secretary Lord Curzon as a point in favour of holding
even if that meant flying in the face of classic diplomacy) and more an album of photographs of the delegates, mostly taken in the industry and the diplomatic world. The way security was handled the conference in Lausanne, along with a number of other points:

Series of photographs showing delegates to the 1923 Lausanne Conference
in the grounds of the Château d’Ouchy.

118 119