Compagnie Internationale des Grands Hotels

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The Compagnie Internationale des Grands Hôtels (CIGH) was founded on 11 April 1894 as a subsidiary of the railway company Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL). This hotel chain was established to provide the customers of CIWL with high quality accommodation before or after their train journey.

History[edit]

Georges Nagelmackers created the Compagnie Internationale des Grands Hotels to develop and operate luxury hotels throughout its trains' routes.[1] Three hotels already operated by CIWL before 1894 were integrated in the hotel chain.

The CIGH operated most of King Ismail's palaces in Egypt before his abdication in 1879. It then remodeled the Gezirah Palace and opened it in 1894.[2] The CIGH's instant expansion throughout Europe made it the first international hotel chain.[3]

The CIGH had operated successfully for twenty years when World War I heavily affected the hotel business. CIGH had to sell or close many hotels and at the end of World War I only four hotels were operated by CIGH. After World War I the CIGH wasn't regarded as a core business and it wasn't until after World War II that the hotel business was revived.

Properties[edit]

Details and changes are in the article regarding the hotel.

Hotel Place Country Management by CIGH
Avenida Palace Lisbon  Portugal 1891
Le Bosphorus Summer Palace Therapia  Turkey 1894
Buffet de Lyon Lyon  France 1900
Buffet Terminus Oran  Algeria 1914
Chateau Royal d'Ardenne Dinant  Belgium 1900
Elysée Palace Paris  France 1896
Gezirah Palace Cairo  Egypt 1894
Grand Hotel des Bains Cherbourg  France 1901
Grand Hotel International Brindisi  Italy 1893
Grand Hotel des Wagons-Lits Beijing  China 1904
Hotels et Bains de Hongrie Csorba  Hungary 1903
Maloja Palace Maloja  Switzerland 1895
Pavillon de Bellevue Meudon  France 1899
Pera Palace Constantinople  Turkey 1894
Hôtel de la Plage Ostend  Belgium 1895
Quarnero Abbazia  Austria 1898
Riviera Palace Nice  France 1893
Riviera Palace Monte Carlo (Beausoleil, Alpes-Maritimes)  Monaco 1899
Hôtel Royal Palace Ostend  Belgium 1899
Shepheard's Hotel Cairo  Egypt 1897
Hotel Terminus Bordeaux  France 1897
Hotel Terminus et Buffet Marseille  France 1900
Hotel Terminus Maritime Ostend  Belgium 1913
Tunisia Palace Tunis  Tunisia 1902
Victoria Hotel Ismailia  Egypt 1898

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  • A. Mühl, 125 Jahre/Ans/Years CIWL, Freiburg 1998
  1. ^ Mark Tungate (2017). The Escape Industry: How Iconic and Innovative Brands Built the Travel Business. Kogan Page Publishers. ISBN 9780749473518.
  2. ^ "Panorama of the past". Grandhotelsegypt.com. 20 March 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
  3. ^ Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle (13 August 2014). "The Luxurious Orient Express Train Rolls Into Paris In A One-Of-A-Kind Exhibition". Forbes.com. Retrieved 30 September 2017.