Page 82 - Livre Beau Rivage Palace

Fig. 1 Fig. 2

TOURISM AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER: At the same time as building a luxury hotel in Ouchy, these of the Société du Lausanne-Ouchy et des Eaux de Bret, no fewer
banker, sat on several boards of railway companies (table 1, p. 95). director Fernand de Loys. In 1876, two years after the constitution
BEAU-RIVAGE PALACE AND THE CHALLENGES trailblazers were fighting tooth and nail to make Lausanne an than five directors and several major Beau-Rivage shareholders
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OF TECHNICAL PROGRESS important railway centre. And they were successful. In 1864, subscribed to the share capital. Fernand de Loys alone held 315
shares, which made him the second-largest shareholder after
Lausanne became a hub for the British travel agency Thomas
1861-1914 Cook. All its Swiss tours passed through it at least once. It was Jean-Jacques Mercier-Marcel. The sio subscribed to ten shares.
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Despite this financial contribution, Beau-Rivage did not succeed
the start of mass regional tourism.
The Lake Geneva elite was less successful in the race for a in bringing the train close to the hotel, as the cost of the land
railway across the Alps, however. The Gothard tunnel opened in necessary to create this route was considered too high (fig. 3).
1882, beating the Simplon. The Beau-Rivage board of directors The tourism operators had more influence on the company’s
complained bitterly about the effects of this defeat: ‘The opening technological choices. Arguing for safety and profitability, they
of the Gothard tunnel at the beginning of the year has harmed us beyond convinced the company to abandon the pneumatic project in
Cédric HUMAIR
all expectation: while on 1st May 1881, 44 families from Italy were favour of a cable-traction system already tested in Lyon. On 16
‘Once this work has been carried out, we do not, for the moment, connecting Beau-Rivage to effective communications networks, registered at Beau-Rivage, on the same day in 1882, only one family March 1877, Switzerland’s first funicular railway started operating
foresee any substantial extraordinary expenses, except, that is, for the obtaining the water, gas and electricity supplies necessary for the came […] Undoubtedly the Gothard line will divert from our region a between Lausanne and Ouchy (fig. 4).
installation of a lift. This work will have to be carried out as soon as hotel to operate smoothly, offering the guests entertainment and number of the travellers who come to Switzerland every year, and this The dawn of the twentieth century was marked by the arrival
possible – a hotel like ours can no longer manage without one; our lack enhancing the shores of Lake Geneva were all issues the hotel’s diversion will continue until the Simplon tunnel is completed […].’ of new means of transport, both collective and individual, and the
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of one is detrimental to our interests; these days foreign guests no longer directors had to address. Carrying out this programme was not From then on, several of the directors of the sio participated electric tram was introduced in Lausanne in 1896. The operating
want to take the stairs up to a second or third floor, and if they can’t be always easy. There were successes, but also doubts, resistance and in the crusade for the Simplon tunnel. Particular mention should company (which remained private) was run by Ernest Correvon-
hoisted up they leave.’ 1 setbacks. Despite these difficulties, the Beau-Rivage technology be made of Gustave Perdonnet and Marc Morel-Marcel (table 1), Mercier, director and future chairman of the sio (table 1). On 26
These few lines from the 1887 report to the shareholders saga is a testimony to the enormous capacity for adaptation shown both directors of the Simplon Company. It was not until 1906, November 1897, the Beau-Rivage board of directors applied for
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of the Société immobilière d’Ouchy (sio), owners of the hotel by the pioneers of the Swiss hotel industry who, during the belle however, after several company mergers, that Lausanne tourism an extension of the network to Ouchy. Its wish was granted in
Beau-Rivage, illustrate the technical challenges facing luxury époque, were able to keep pace with profound cultural, social and benefited from the tunnel’s opening. 1903, despite the objections of the Société du Lausanne-Ouchy,
hotels towards the end of the nineteenth century. In order to technological changes. The arrival of the railway in Lausanne laid the cornerstone which opposed this unwelcome competition (fig. 5). In 1908, the
remain competitive, these establishments were obliged to satisfy of Beau-Rivage’s transport systems (fig. 1). But to benefit from hotel’s directors decided to modernise the transport service to the
the expectations of an increasingly demanding clientele, with IMPROVING ACCESS TO BEAU-RIVAGE the influx of tourists, the Ouchy establishment needed to develop station by buying a car. Due to the highly technical nature of this
regard to mobility, hygiene and comfort. Consequently, first-class It is probably no exaggeration to say that the Beau-Rivage efficient transport to and from the railway station and the city vehicle, its operation was entrusted to a specialised company.
hotels and tourist resorts in general became high-technology Palace is the happy result of the railway’s arrival in the Lake Geneva centre, where the federal post stagecoaches arrived. At first, the Besides rail and road, Beau-Rivage’s accessibility from the
centres. In certain less industrialised areas such as the Lake region. Opened in 1856, the Lausanne spur to the line connecting horse-drawn omnibuses owned by Jules Perrin, with whom lake was another cause for concern. Built opposite the landing
Geneva region, tourism was the principal driving force behind Morges and Yverdon opened up new prospects for tourism. The several agreements were signed, were the only ones to provide stage used by the steamboat companies, for a long time the hotel
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technology transfer. influx of foreigners was certainly aided by this new mode of this local service (fig. 2). Indeed, the idea of a railway line between benefited from the passing trade this brought (fig. 6). In 1881,
Below we examine how the managers of the Beau-Rivage transport which reduced their travelling expenses and made their Lausanne and Ouchy, mooted back in 1857, met with a number more than a third of the guests arrived by water. After this date,
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Palace faced the challenges of technical modernisation. To satisfy journeys quicker and more comfortable. It is significant that in 1857 of technical hurdles. Since steam trains and horse-drawn trams however, the hotel’s interests were threatened by the Compagnie
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their clientele’s new demands, not only did they have to adapt the the founders of the sio included several prominent figures involved were unable to cope with the 12 per cent gradient, innovative Générale de Navigation, which planned to move the landing stage
hotel’s infrastructure, but they also had to build up an outstanding in the development of the Lausanne railways. Edouard Dapples, technologies were required. In 1868, a committee launched a to opposite Lausanne-Ouchy railway station. Despite a number
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technical and tourism system around it. Improving access to Ouchy, trustee and national councillor, and Émile Bory-Hollard, private pneumatic railway scheme. Beau-Rivage was represented by its of appeals to the authorities, the transfer was completed in 1884
Lausanne and the Hôtel Beaurivage at Ouchy. Engraving drawn by Briquet M. L. Bonnet, Station of the Vaud Cantonal Railway. Engraving, 1856. Fig. 3 >
and son and lithographed by A. Cuvillier, c.1862. According to initial plans, the pneumatic railway between Lausanne
Transport serving the Beau-Rivage: railway, horse-drawn omnibus and steamer. and Ouchy was to run close to the Beau-Rivage.

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