Traveling for pleasure: The first grand hotel opened 250 years ago
Published: Saturday, Jan 20th 2024, 11:20
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Lice, bedbugs and green food: Until the end of the 18th century, traveling in Europe was a hassle. This changed in 1774 with the first grand hotel in London. The idea of luxury still exists today.
A warm brick in a comforter and a bowl of fragrant water in the room: for travelers in Europe at the end of the 18th century, this was pure luxury. The wigmaker David Low, who opened a "Grand Hotel" in London 250 years ago on Thursday (January 25), was one of the inventors of this feeling of well-being. The hotel on King Street in Covent Garden is considered to be the first luxury hotel under this name.
According to legend, Low came up with his business idea while doing the hair of his wealthy clientele, who complained about lice, bedbugs and smelly lavatories in inns. Back then, Low was probably what we would call a trendsetter today: around 1800, an era began in Europe in which traveling was slowly becoming a pleasure again - albeit not for everyone.
"All the world is traveling," noted the writer Theodor Fontane a century after David Low. "As certain as weather entertainment was in the old days, travel entertainment certainly is now."
It is a passage that makes sociologist and historian Hasse Spode smile. "'Alle Welt' was of course only appropriate for Fontane's own upper-class circles," says the director of the Berlin Historical Archive on tourism. Nevertheless, Fontane's travel chatter is an indication of the speed at which pleasure trips became popular among the middle classes in the 19th century, following the "Grand Tour" of the aristocracy - a kind of educational obligation befitting their status. Spode estimates that travelers made up no more than ten percent of the population until the time of the Weimar Republic.
Traveling was uncomfortable and dangerous
For a long time, traveling was not as natural as it is today. "Those who didn't have to travel preferred not to," adds Spode. He assumes that, especially in the Middle Ages, less than one percent of the population traveled voluntarily. This is because the once excellent transport infrastructure collapsed with the fall of the Roman Empire. "There were hardly any paved roads, even fewer bridges and no more spring-loaded carriages," he adds.
Travel was also dangerous back then. In the forest, there are robbers - this was neither a joke nor a fairy tale until the late 17th century. "It wasn't until around 1800 that more peaceful times dawned in Europe," reports Spode. Stagecoaches ran regularly and soon, as in Roman times, there was an inn every 30 to 50 kilometers for changing horses with overnight accommodation.
The simple accommodation and shared meals with the common people were not to the taste of the wealthy travelers. "They were advised to arm themselves and take padlocks for their rooms," says Spode. He considers it credible that David Low invented the term grand hotel in this atmosphere at the end of the 18th century. At that time, more and more unfortified aristocratic palaces with large windows, known as "hôtel" in French, were being built in the cities. Low rented such a house, had it converted and probably got himself into too much debt. Despite his good business idea, he is said to have died in poverty.
The heyday of the grand hotels
The London palace still stands today and is currently home to a luxury cosmetics brand and wickedly expensive apartments. Low's neologism for luxury accommodation also survives. Grandhotel - this term quickly came to stand for new buildings with a certain grandeur. In Switzerland, the Hotel Schweizerhof, opened in 1845, is considered one of the first grand hotels. It represented the beginning of the tourist and economic development of the town on Lake Lucerne. The Belle Époque is considered the heyday of grand hotels.
Modeled on palatial buildings, the grand hotels stood out from conventional hotels due to their size and opulence and were reminiscent of the residences of the aristocracy. Their features included façades with lavish decorations, high window openings and wide balconies, elaborately designed roofs in Gothic or Baroque style and monumental staircases. Modern passenger elevators allowed buildings to reach five floors or higher.
The amenities at that time also included a gourmet kitchen, hot and cold running water in the rooms for the first time and sometimes a private bathroom and toilet. That was more comfort than in many castles of the time.
Experts also regard grand hotels as the site of a small revolution in the hierarchically structured estate-based society. This is because it was here that the class barriers opened up and the nobility and well-heeled bourgeoisie stayed together. Grand hotels with their ballrooms, baths and gardens became a center of upscale social life, a place for business, seeing and being seen, gossip and the occasional criminal act. The hotel as a fascinating stage soon leaves its mark on literature - in the hotel novel. Cinema films and TV series followed in the 20th century.
Travel offer has changed little
Tourism researcher Spode is well placed to describe how grand hotels still perform a skilful balancing act today: "Even with hundreds of rooms, they manage to feign individuality and care for the guest - in reality, it is an industrialized operation like a factory." Technicians, chefs and chambermaids often remain hidden. Spode calls the wealthy travelers of the 18th and 19th centuries the "tourist class". With new infrastructure such as the railroad, a different rhythm of life emerged for them - with summer retreats and winter quarters. The offer has largely remained the same to this day: Beach or mountains, adventure or relaxation, and the occasional art show. Although there are other places to stay than a grand hotel.
The First World War was an abrupt turning point in this world of experience. Grand hotels seem to have fallen out of time. The idea of a "vacation" is slowly gaining acceptance in broader sections of society.
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