Page 71 - Livre Beau Rivage Palace

Fig. 3

English lord, followed by his chaste daughters, would muse for weeks at a We should however avoid exaggeration. Although the Beau- instances too, the company’s financial robustness safeguarded families who felt they could not adapt to the new living space that has
time in the “Bosquet de Julie”. Today the traveller sets himself a precise Rivage Palace made economies, although it was in financial its immediate future and it did not need to resort to loans. The been assigned to them. We know a few cases where families desiring to
target for his journey, travels there and back by the shortest route, even difficulties and although it demonstrated great prudence, it knew reserves built up during the pre-war period kept the hotel out stay at the Beau-Rivage Palace offered to deposit even considerable sums
trying to beat his previous speed record for a leg of the journey, and he no how to entertain, improve and renew. It also knew how take of difficulty from 1914. The decision taken by the management of money in the bank, enough to guarantee their upkeep for a long time.
longer takes his time, as he is obliged to tailor his whims to those of the advantage of circumstances. The signing of the peace treaties in to pay off all its debts and therefore to increase its share capital They were refused a residence permit. We regret this, without going so far
stock exchange.’ 20 1923 saw an influx, albeit momentary, of clients. In 1936, too, further strengthened its position when the Second World War as to criticise decisions whose real motives we do not know.’ 27
If the customer had to economise, so too did the management. France’s Popular Front government drove many French people to broke out, ensuring financial independence for the hotel at a Clearly the war led to a series of misfortunes, acts of
Economising – the word was continually repeated and dwelled find a temporary refuge in Switzerland, to the benefit of the first- time when most Swiss hotels were struggling to operate properly compassion, but also of cowardice. The hotel management was
on: economising on personnel, on supplies, on spending: ‘It is class hotels. ‘What is certain is that the numerous social and economic and were short on liquid assets. faced with a multitude of problems: staff being called up, their
obviously important to attract the foreign visitor to Switzerland, and measures taken, particularly in France by the present government, have It is legitimate to ask who still came to the hotels during continual replacement, complications with the police regarding
to keep him there, but in the meantime we need to balance our budgets resulted in a sudden and considerable rise in the cost of living, and have those troubled times and why. The question is an important one, the guests, the ‘excessive harassments’ of the unemployment office,
by reducing our outgoings rather than hope for an unlikely increase in caused a sufficiently serious general malaise there that many, trying to because it is easy to conclude that all the guests hastened their obtaining supplies, ‘the ridiculous questions continually asked by an
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revenues.’ Everything was an excuse for economising, but that escape from it, have come to Switzerland hoping to find here a less departure, anxious to return to their countries and their families. anxious clientele avid for information’. 28
too had its limits, because, unlike a commercial sector devoid of troubled atmosphere. In Switzerland we enjoy, for the moment at least, This was certainly true for many people. However, for others, the The hotel was dependent on the measures taken by the
any strong symbolic value, luxury hotels have their own rules the privilege of security and tranquillity that we must maintain at all costs, hotel became a refuge at a time when fighting was transforming federal authorities, while at the same time attempting to keep
that mean that visibility is a crucial factor for an establishment’s as much for ourselves as for our guests.’ 25 the countries at war into cemeteries. ‘In Switzerland today we can things running smoothly. ‘Besides the difficulties of obtaining fresh
reputation: ‘All this naturally while taking great care to preserve the Alarmed by the socialist and Communist threats, the French no longer depend on anyone except ourselves. For hotels of the calibre of supplies, of days without meat and the market without fish, it is not
upkeep and the reputation of Beau-Rivage. Neither the property, nor middle class and aristocrats who began to make up the majority the Beau-Rivage Palace, the situation is difficult. We have some regular always easy to apply the orders and rulings. While those of our guests who
the furniture, nor the visible life of the hotel must exude that odour of of the hotel’s guests had the necessary wealth to spend their lives clients whose financial resources still permit them to stay with us, on have done their own housekeeping understand the restrictions and are
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economy that drives everyone away.’ These restrictions also affected in the plush lounges of the Swiss hotels. What’s more, even if it condition, clearly, that they reduce to a minimum all their outgoings on happy to submit to them, those who have always lived in international
the personnel, too numerous compared with the number of was not always possible to avoid economic fluctuations in a hostile luxuries and pleasure. Others have had to leave us to move into more grand hotels have had difficulty adapting to wartime demands in a
guests. But the management was opposed to acting from a purely environment, it was easier to resist political measures. The Beau- modest houses, since Swiss hotels are classified by category. Each of these country that is not itself at war.’ 29
economic point of view, because ‘we do not want to dismiss men Rivage Palace protected its clientele, firstly by maintaining its has a minimum boarding price.’ 26 Between 1914 and 1945, Beau-Rivage Palace lived through
and women who have worked devotedly for the hotel for fifteen, twenty prices at a time when second-class hotels and guesthouses were During the Second World War, 75 per cent of the occupancy the upheavals caused by international events without ever truly
or twenty-five years.’ 23 continually raising theirs due to the rising cost of living. It also came from a clientele of sixty to seventy guests who were finding itself on the edge of the precipice. Even though the
Another delicate aspect proved to be the relationship with vehemently attacked the Confederation’s policies, particularly its permanent residents in the hotel. They were French, English, deficits announced to the shareholders reflected real management
innovation, which was an important issue for this category of refusal to devalue the currency. By maintaining a strong franc, the Americans, Italians and Romanians, as well as a few Swiss people difficulties, the operating accounts all showed positive balances.
hotel. Cédric Humair demonstrates its peculiarities up to the Federal Council deprived Beau-Rivage Palace of a means of easing who had returned from abroad. But no Germans. They were Dipping into the reserves made it possible to maintain a precarious
time of the First World War. The caution with which the Beau- the burden of its high prices for its foreign clientele, which makes grouped together in the original hotel building. The west wing balance, and curbing investments also reduced outgoings. The
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Rivage Palace approached innovations was multiplied tenfold by the hotel’s refusal to raise its rates all the more understandable. was closed due to its high fuel consumption. The other 25 per strategy was entirely one of cautiousness, mindful of the slightest
the uncertainty that reigned from as early as 1914 right up to The outbreaks of the two world wars hit the Swiss hotel cent came from passing trade, mostly Swiss, and the length of murmur. Although there were some good years, the interwar
1945. Its management acknowledged that this attitude contrasted industry very hard, unlike other economic sectors that benefited these clients’ stays varied from a weekend to two or three weeks. years were a period of stagnation for the hotel. The hotel schools
sharply with that of many other hotels, which continued with from the new situation. In both instances, the Beau-Rivage Palace, The search for this type of establishment during the Second were beginning to teach hotel management and operation, which
their innovative fervour in defiance of the economic climate. But like other establishments of its type, saw its guests disappear and World War took on tragic overtones, however, for the populations universities were slowly beginning to see as scientific disciplines
defining the boundaries that nevertheless had to be crossed was its rooms empty. But, in both cases, it was able to hold out, and persecuted on the basis of their origin. ‘Some harsh measures have in their own right, but their training was of little use in the face
dictated by the increasing demands of the clientele. in fact considered itself better off than its competitors. In both been taken by our authorities vis-à-vis the influx into Switzerland of of political, military and economic onslaughts.

The winter garden at the Palace. The handwritten message on the back of the postcard Beau-Rivage Football Club. Anonymous photograph, 1920.
testifies to the town’s building boom. ‘Vernand, 19 September 1910. There are lots
of places where one is tempted to enjoy a siesta: which would you prefer? More
and more grand hotels are going up in Lausanne and Ouchy and ordinary houses are
becoming quite rare.’
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