A warm duvet and a bowl of scented water in the room: such amenities were considered the definition of luxury for those traveling in Europe in the late 18th century – and they were provided by the wig maker David Lowe, the man who 250 years agoon January 25, opened a “Grand Hotel”, the first luxury hotel.

Lowe’s Grand Hotel is on King Street, Covent Garden. It was a business idea that came to Lowe as he welcomed affluent clients into his salon and heard their complaints about lice, bedbugs and filthy hotel toilets of the time.

Lowe was probably what we would call today trendsetter: around 1800 one rises in Europe a time when people once again took pleasure trips. “The whole world travels”, notes the German writer Theodor Fontane a century later. Of course, with the phrase “the whole world” was meant “only the circle of good society to which Fontane belonged”as the sociologist and historian observes Hasse Sponde, director of the Historical Archive for Tourism in Berlin.

Despite all this, what Fontane wrote is an indication of the how quickly travel became popular for the 19th century bourgeoisie, which followed the example of good society. Until the time of the Weimar Republic only 10% of the population traveledaccording to Sponte.
Problems and dangers for travelers

Hotel Adlon, Berlin

For a long time, traveling was not something taken for granted, as it is today. “Those who didn’t have to travel preferred not to,” says Sponte, adding that during the Middle Ages no more than 1% of the population traveled. Because with the fall of the Roman Empire, the once excellent road infrastructure also collapsed. “Almost none of the roads were in good condition, and so were the bridges and carriages.”. In addition, travel was dangerous and bandits patrolled the wooded areas.

It wasn’t until around 1800 that things started to settle down in Europe. Carriages now traveled regularly and soon there was an inn every 30 to 50 kilometers where one could change horses and spend the night. Wealthy travelers, however, did not like simple accommodations, nor did they like dining with the common people. “The admonition was to travel armed, as well as have a lock for your room,” Sponde recounts.

The historian believes that indeed Low must have been the one who invented the term “Grand Hotel” at the end of the 18th century. Besides, at that time, aristocratic palaces began to be built without fences, which were called “hôtel” in French. Then Lowe decides to rent such a building, which he renovates. Despite his good business idea, he sinks into debt and eventually dies penniless.
The Grand Hotels of the Belle Époque

The luxury hotel in London still exists today – houses a luxury cosmetics brand and various expensive apartments. Lowe’s neologism has also survived: the term “Grand Hotel” has become established for newly built, grand buildings.

Such a building opened its doors in Germany in 1807: this is the Badischer Hof in Baden-Baden. During the Belle Epoque of the German Empire Grand Hotels flourished. “They were buildings that reflected the luxury and aesthetics of their time with their architecture,” explains Tobias Warnecke, head of the German Hotel Association (IHA).

But for Varneke these hotels also brought a small social revolution: in these the class divisions were not so sharp, as the aristocracy and the wealthy townspeople lived together. With their luxurious ballrooms, baths and gardens, hotels became for high society a center of meetings, exchange of business ideas, but also gossip and all kinds of socializing or even a place of crime. Hotels also left their mark on literature, where a new genre emerged: hotel novels. And in the 20th century they were the main theme in movies and TV series.

How have grand hotels changed?

Sponte describes how the big hotels still skillfully manage to this day “pretend that every guest in the hundreds of rooms is special and receives special treatment – while in fact it is an industrialized service that operates like a factory”. At the same time the technicians, cooks and room staff are often invisible.

World War I was a turning point: the big luxury hotels seemed to be out of date and more and more people from all walks of life started going on ‘holidays’. After World War II, around half of German citizens traveled – a percentage that today approaches 80% of the population.

In modern times the term “Grand Hotel” does not seem to have survived: in Germany there are 119 certified 5-star luxury hotels, however very few of them are still called Grand Hotels.

Karina Anzos, director of Berlin’s Adlon Kempinski Hotel, says the concept of luxury has changed today, with the provision of personalized services becoming more important: now “the greatest art is to fulfill the wishes of the guests, before they even formulate them”. At Adlon there are also occupations that are increasingly rare today, such as butlers, car attendants and grooms.

Prominent personalities staying at the hotel are treated differently – but every visitor is a king, assures Anzos. And today it’s not just the wealthy who can afford a night at Adlon. Sponte, of course, sees things from a completely different point of view. For him the 250 years since the first Grand Hotel is in a way the story of the democratization of the travel experience.

Edited by: Giorgos Passas
Ulrike von Leczynski, dpa

Source: dw.com