Page 76 - Livre Beau Rivage Palace

CONCLUSION 1. Laurent Tissot, ‘L’hôtellerie de luxe à Genève (1830-2000). De ses espaces à ses
usages’, in: Entreprises et Histoire. N° sur Le luxe, 2007 (46), pp. 17-33.
The social and economic history of Beau-Rivage between 2. ABR 022, report to the assembly of the citizens of Ouchy, 3 February 1853.
1861 and 1976 is made up of profound changes. Phases of great 3. ABR 092, report by Tschumi to the board of directors; date not given, but probably 1897.
4. ABR, minutes of the board of directors, 22 February 1870.
prosperity alternate with downturns of varying severity. But the 5. ABR 092, report by Tschumi to the board of directors; date not given, but probably 1897.
6. ABR, report to shareholders, 7 January 1884. The committee, which included, among others,
hotel avoided becoming dependent. The Beau-Rivage Palace has Ami Chessex, a hotelier in Montreux, was appointed following the request of a shareholder.
7. Philippe Gindraux, L’art et la manière. L’Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, Lausanne, Payot, 1993.
always been able to maintain some room for manoeuvre, thus 8. ABR, report by the board of directors to the shareholders, 13 April 1886.
9. ABR 003, report by Tschumi to the board of directors, 1897.
keeping its options open while safeguarding its future from 10. Laurent Tissot, ‘Hôtels, pensions, pensionnats et cliniques: fondements pour une
uncontrollable shifts. This is because the hotel has always been histoire de “l’industrie des étrangers” à Lausanne, 1850-1920’, in: Le passé du présent.
Mélanges offerts à André Lasserre, Lausanne, 1999, p.85.
aware of its environment – both the immediate and the broader 11. ABR 092, report by Tschumi to the board of directors; date not given, but probably 1897.
12. ABR 059, report on the project of renting the new Château Mercier, 14 October 1891.
– and maintained a course governed by its own will and its own 13. ABR 092. Report by F. de Crousaz, managing director, to the board of directors on the

construction of an annexe, 24 August 1897.
vision of the profession. 14. Ibidem.
15. ABR, report by the board of directors, 19 April 1909.
The company’s policies are greatly influenced by the nature 16. Cf. for a few examples Laurent Tissot, Hôtels, pensions, pensionnats et cliniques:
fondements pour une histoire de “l’industrie des étrangers” à Lausanne, 1850-1920,
of its clientele. But, even if the customer is king, the hotel has op. cit., p.73.
never seen itself as a mere subject. It made a smooth adaptation 17. ABR, report by the board of directors, 26 April 1923.
18. Idem, 14 March 1938.
from the European aristocracy that filled its lounges in the initial 19. Idem, 13 March 1939.
20. Idem, 4 March 1935.
years to the middle-class clientele – who had left the ranks of 21. Idem, 29 January 1934.
22. Idem, 4 March 1935.
the upper classes but were still equally wealthy – of the closing 23. Idem, 8 April 1943.
24. See Cédric Humair’s contribution in this book, p. 82.
decades of the nineteenth century. Caught up in the turmoil 25. ABR, report by the board of directors, 10 March 1937.
26. Idem, 12 March 1941.
of the two world wars and the recessions of the first half of the 27. Idem, 11 March 1940.
twentieth century, this clientele transformed itself profoundly 28. Ibidem.
29. Ibidem.
under the prosperity of the post-war boom. The changes brought 30. Idem, 14 March 1951.
31. Idem, 24 March 1953.
about by new forms of travel and rising living standards compelled 32. Idem, 23 March 1948.
33. ABR 141, correspondence of Walter O. Schnyder, 1 April 1958.
the Beau-Rivage Palace to diversify its offer and to take into 34. Idem, 24 March 1953.
35. ABR 153, letter from the manager Walter O. Schnyder, 3 January 1962.
account specific needs that did not always overlap. But here, too, 36. ABR 065, report by the board of directors, 19 March 1964.
37. ABR 153, letter from the manager Walter O. Schnyder, 25 January 1963.
the hotel’s strategy was not completely unilateral. It coupled the 38. ABR 153, letter from the manager Walter O. Schnyder, 3 January 1962.
new ideas with a prudent determination to incorporate them 39. Report by the board of directors, 29 April 1965.
40. Idem, 27 March 1958.
into a continuum. In this respect, maintaining a balance between
modernity and tradition is the secret of its lasting appeal.

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