The hotel industry and its ‘foreigners’: reception and surveillance of foreigners in Lausanne hotels (1880–1914)

Abstract

Between 1880 and 1914, human mobility across the globe accelerated rapidly thanks to improved means of transport and communication and the creation of new opportunities in terms of employment, training, leisure time or the search for more politically tolerant locations. These circumstances led the political authorities in Switzerland to pay particular attention to the control of migrants, whether students, workers or ordinary travellers. Based on a case study of Lausanne, capital of the Swiss canton of Vaud, this article aims to gain a better understanding of how this city dealt with these issues in terms of police surveillance and the role played by hotel reception facilities. The lack of knowledge about new arrivals at the city’s hotels, their social and cultural origins, their political and ideological convictions, and their standard of living, gave rise to concerns that flowed through all levels of society. These concerns led to the introduction of mechanisms for identifying people deemed suspicious.

KEYWORDS:

• Accommodation
• immigration
• Lausanne
• surveillance
• tourism