In the major cities, industrialisation brings with it noise, pollution and new hardships. The aristocracy and upper middle classes can, from time to time, afford to escape this daily grind. They find respite in the seemingly unspoilt nature and “pure” mountain air.
Their healing springs see the towns of St. Moritz and Scuol-Tarasp develop early into fashionable health resorts – initially in summer, soon in winter too. The mild climate of Meran, situated on the “southern balcony of the Danube Monarchy”, attracts winter visitors. Lech am Arlberg too entices visitors to enjoy its mountain air: tourism here only really takes off later, however.
The Tappeiner Trail, donated by the spa physician Franz Tappeiner, offers views of Meran and the Texel Group
Stadtarchiv Bruneck/Archivio storico della Città di Brunico
From hotel to hotel
It is mainly women who work in the small, family-run hotels and guesthouses of the Alpine region, with many coming from local farms or neighbouring regions. The workforce in the new luxury hotels is on the other hand international, with one member of staff for every guest. Based on the model of the service staff employed in grand aristocratic households, new jobs and roles emerge, many of which are reserved to men.
Position and rank are paramount within the strict staff hierarchy, determining pay, prestige and even meals – yet only a few individuals make the leap up to the next level. Systematic training only comes late: in 1893 in Lausanne, in 1903 in Innsbruck. Anyone wishing to gain promotion must therefore be mobile – moving from one establishment to another each season, often in a different country, acquiring new skills and languages at every stage.
Tabelle Angestellte Waldhaus Vulpera
Staff list for the Grandhotel Waldhaus in Vulpera, Lower Engadin, for the 1897 season
Captions
1. Foto Angestellte Minerva, Meran
The staff at the Hotel Minerva in Meran, which opened in 1907, are mainly from Tyrol. Together with his wife Magdalena, the owner – Michael Honeck from Bisamberg, near Vienna – runs the hotel in Meran in winter. In summer he runs the Hotel Salegg at Seis am Schlern, above Bozen, thus providing his staff with year-round employment.
Sammlung/collezione Christoph Gasser, Völs am Schlern/Fiè allo Sciliar
2. Foto Portiers Meran
A standard feature of a grand hotel is to have its own porter at the station, welcoming guests as they arrive, arranging for carriages and luggage and representing the hotel to the outside world. International experience and good language skills are therefore essential. As a result, the career of a porter will often take him to different countries and seasonal resorts. The group photograph shows hotel porters and a waitress at Meran station around 1905.
Touriseum – Südtiroler Landesmuseum für Tourismus/Museo provinciale del turismo, Meran/o
3.Foto Lech Gasthof Alpenrose
Work is still organised along family lines in smaller accommodation establishments in the Alps. In 1903 the owner’s family, their guests and staff pose together before the Alpenrose inn in Zürs. The staff can be recognised by their clothing and work tools: a cheese harp, ladle, mountain guide’s staff and serving tray.
Raiffeisenbank Lech
4. Foto Köche Palace
Preparing meals for distinguished guests requires many hands and clearly defined responsibilities: from the garde-manger to the saucier and pâtissier. The kitchen departments of grand hotels are correspondingly large – and almost exclusively male, as seen here at Caspar Badrutt’s Palace Hotel in St. Moritz in the summer of 1907.
Archiv culturel d’Engiadin’Ota, Zuoz
Giovanni Battista Gastaldi (1845 Siena – ?)
Giovanni Battista Gastaldi begins his career as an assistant chef: between 1864 and 1895 his work takes him to 20 hotels and 16 different locations.
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