Another 30 degrees at 5 p.m. Geneva, overwhelmed by the heat, awaits the storm. In this scorching end of June, the wind freshens up in gusts and makes Lake Geneva tremble. From the terrace of the Hôtel des Bergues, guests watch the lightning that electrifies the Alps in the distance. At the bar, Saudi princesses cool off in pastel veils, branded bags piled on stools. A security guard with a headset and a dark suit is glued to the lobby wall, bolt upright. Slumped on a sofa, an American businessman is waiting for the taxi that is supposed to take him to the airport.
The city’s oldest palace, inaugurated in 1834, is like most five-star hotels on the right bank of the Rhône. The Left Bank is fancier, more snobbish. But to be able to enjoy the view of Mont Blanc, you have to be on the right bank. The huge six-story neoclassical building, which has a swimming pool and spa and whose panoramic roof houses a Japanese restaurant, overlooks the small Rousseau Island surrounded by clear water on which swans glide. If you cross the Pont des Bergues, a small pedestrian bridge at the foot of the hotel, you will immediately find yourself in the city center and its business district.
Decor for Joel Dicker
From the terrace, nestled between the Breitling and Rolex watchmaker signs, you can see the district of banks, diamond dealers and the headquarters of multinationals: Hublot, Deutsch Bank, Boucheron, Société Générale, Indosuez… One can imagine the black windows of the building housing the headquarters of Socar, the national Azerbaijani oil company. A veritable moneymaker in the service of autocratic President Ilham Aliyev, his name appears on the sidelines of a Maltese corruption case investigated by journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia before his assassination in 2017. The Hôtel des Bergues has always been a smug witness to the successes and secrets of the city.
Born on the shores of Lake Geneva, the writer Joël Dicker planted part of the decoration for The Enigma of Room 622 (Editions de Fallois, 2020) there. “A very discreet establishment, from where you can arrive from the train station, from the platforms, from the embassy district…” he notes with amusement. An exciting confluence. There, in one of the palace’s forty-five suites – 515 – Joël Dicker installed Lev Levovitch, a multimillionaire banker in love with the very depressed Anastasia.
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He describes the cozy comfort of the hall, the starred restaurant, but also, in a key scene, the dizzying central staircase, at the foot of which, under his pen, cup in hand, “the dinner guests of the Geneva cooperative bankers” come to life, where the gratins of the city’s private bankers cavort. Dicker spoke about it so well that the Four Seasons group (owned by Saudi Prince Al-Walid Ben Talal Ben Abdel Aziz Al Saud and Bill Gates), who bought the house in 2002, entrusted him with writing part of the presentation booklet for the house last year castle. Restore the most romantic Geneva hotel to its former glory.
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