Page 317 - Livre Beau Rivage Palace

FROM THE GUESTBOOKS… here forever harbours a desire to return. Evoking this setting where The representatives of nobility appear just as they are in person;
most adventurous among them add a brief note, as neutral as possible.
nothing seems to change is to hold both the key to paradise and that
to the eternal return. eternity preserves their formality even in expressions of friendship.
These keys, associated, combined and intermingled in the Musicians, actors and sports players are more effusive. They give full
countless dedications in the guestbooks, give an insight into the very expression to their pleasure at having been there, even if it means
definition of a luxury hotel and (if I may be allowed to use the word) reeling off clichés – but beneath their conventionality, a real emotion
into its ontological status. A luxury hotel is the place where a certain and affection often show through. Some have added a personal touch.
model of temporality is cultivated, a model that could quite easily Pelé drew a goal and a football. One of the members of the Davis
be traced back to the Neolithic revolution, and one that rests on the Cup team produced a refreshing commentary: ‘Une semaine fabuleuse,
infinite need for security that we unhappy humans all experience: a un lit d’enfer, la bouf (sic) trop terrible.’ (‘A wonderful week, a hellish bed,
relationship with time that would exclude the accidents of history, the grub too horrible for words.’) Postmodernity is within our gates.
whose duration could merge into an eternal instant, without life The g8 summit made 2003 a great year. We know that the centre
Denis BERTHOLET
coming to a stop or becoming devoid of meaning. In a word, a luxury of the great political event was Evian. But on the banks of Lake Geneva,
You arrive at the Beau-Rivage Palace, you spend a night, a findings: some people estimate that a large proportion of Beau- hotel is a form of Utopia. every luxury hotel, had their share of media stars. The Beau-Rivage
weekend or a week there and you are captivated. You love the Rivage Palace’s revenue at the beginning of the twentieth century Enough of these musings. The guestbooks are also logbooks. received an impressive bunch of statesmen: Hu Jintao, President of
location and the service, you enjoy the luxury, the tranquillity and the was generated by visits for therapeutic reasons. An assiduous researcher Who has signed its large, bound, somewhat intimidating volumes? the People’s Republic of China, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister
exquisite delight of being in that setting. Then you leave. Your name might conceivably find – with the help of the Palace detective? – that The list for recent years is relatively modest. In 2007, there is a single of India, Mahathir Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia, Prince
will not appear in the guestbook. certain seemingly innocuous names were associated with murders, name, that of Helmut Kohl, the former German chancellor. In 2006, Abdallah of Saudi Arabia (now king), Abd El-Aziz Bouteflika,
Unless, of course, you are a stage or screen star, a minister, king or criminal investigations, trials and convictions. The Mafia are not in there are the signatures of French singer and composer Pierre Perret President of the Republic of Algeria, Abdulaye Wade, President of
famous person. The guestbook records the memorable visits. It does the habit of staying in run-down hotels. and composer conductor Maurice Jarre, football manager Sir Alex the Republic of Senegal, Thabo Mbeki, President of the Republic
not tell us who is a guest at the luxury hotel. It does not yield any The guestbooks tell another story. Here, everything is harmonious. Ferguson and Queen Sonja of Norway; in 2005, Princess Haya Bint of South Africa, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil, and
information that might be of use to a sociologist, still less a statistician; Who would dare to append a critical comment to their signature? Al-Hussein, daughter of King Hussein I, the former president of Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the un. With the exception of the
it does not make it possible to build up a typical guest profile. For that, The signatories sing the praises of the hotel, its management and its Senegal Abdou Diouf and the actor François Berléand; in 2004, former Chinese president, who insisted on signing the guestbook, they put
it would be necessary to study the hotel register day after day and go staff. The eulogy is not an easy genre to revitalise: the decades pass and football god Pelé, the first lady of Lebanon Andrée Émile Lahoud, their signatures followed by a few words of congratulations on loose
through the accounts. What countries do the guests come from, are the commentaries all tend to resemble each other. rock star Rod Stewart, the former German chancellor Gerhard sheets collected in a wallet. None of these figures was at the head of
they alone or with their families, how long do they stay, how do they Browsing through them arouses a particular imperceptible feeling. Schröder, actors Keanu Reeves, Agnès Jaoui and Liselotte Pulver, who a g8 country. The centre of the world was in session on the opposite
spend their time? The constant evocation of a delicious perfection, even if it is merely celebrated her 75th birthday at the Beau-Rivage Palace, the wife of side of the lake. But, at Beau-Rivage Palace, it was the future of the
Unsurprisingly, the study would reveal that the average guests politeness, causes a little phrase to surface from the recesses of one’s Egyptian President Mubarak, the Swiss/French Davis Cup team, and world that held its conference: between them, its guests represented
are well off, come from around the world and are there either for memory. It may not be that of the sonata by Vinteuil, immortalised in Zhang Lichang, member of the Central Committee of the Chinese half of all humanity and the most important emerging powers.
business or for pleasure. It would confirm that a businessman’s stay Proust’s Swann’s Way, but it dates from the same period and draws on Communist Party; in 2003, Paloma Picasso, Ernesto Bertarelli, and the Looking after a group of individuals like that is quite a feat,
is generally short and functional, that the families who stay three or the same sources – the verse by Henri de Régnier that Ravel used yachtsmen Stève Ravussin, Laurent Bourgnon and Franck Cammas. without a doubt. Succeeding in making this effort unobtrusive, almost
four days, or a week, are rich, come from aristocratic, middle- or as an epigraph for his Valses nobles et sentimentales: ‘Le plaisir délicieux This establishes the social categories that add to the hotel’s invisible, satisfying every demand, fulfilling every need silently and
working-class backgrounds and that they either do or do not relax et toujours nouveau d’une occupation inutile’ (‘The delightful and always prestige: political figures and their families, members of royal and discreetly is the exacting task of a luxury hotel and of its management
at the spa or enjoy an Ayurvedic massage or, perhaps, go on the novel pleasure of a useless occupation’). The Beau-Rivage or the Belle princely houses, actors, sports personalities and musicians of every and personnel: nothing remains of all that, except for a few traces
traditional excursion to the mountains or to the Château de Chillon. Époque for ever. Here, far from the world and its troubles, guests lead type. The style and tone of the dedications are also clear. The of ink in the guestbook. In other words, it would be a mistake to
What else? Studies of this type would perhaps produce unexpected a permanently perfect existence. And anyone who has ever stopped politicians take no risks: they add their signature, nothing else. The see this book as a testimony to self-importance and misplaced vanity.

Ouchy – Hotel Beau-Rivage Palace. Postcard, c.1909.
Guests at one hotel write to their friends staying at another, exchanging pictures.

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