Will Copacabana Palace remain the same after 100 years? – 02/08/2023 – Tourism

One of the challenges of today’s big hotel business is the same as I see in other branches associated with luxury consumption: it is to maintain character and personality (because, yes, expensive and famous things can very well be just standardized, lost in the crowd).

Capitalism has long been heading towards the appropriation of brands in financial conglomerates, including brands historically associated with the name of their craftsmen creators. Corporations tend to swallow and pile up old traditions. It goes for fashion, beverages, automobiles, books.

In the hotel business, its modern principles were established by the Ritz-Escoffier duo. They weren’t brands, they were people: the Swiss hotelier César Ritz (1850-1918) and the French chef Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935). The hotels they created were managed by them, who left their philosophy and their personal stamp on every hanging curtain, on every cup of tea.

Talking a little while ago with a director of the centenary hotel La Mamounia, in Marrakech (always having a state company as its main owner – therefore, under the auspices of the royal family), he said that his previous job, in a large chain, was to implement a new hotel . Inaugurated, he was assigned to a new position in another country, frustrating his desire to keep up with the growth of the work he had done so much to build. He then gave up on the big networks.

I have this habit of scrutinizing restaurants and hotels looking for the “owner’s hand”. I regretted it when I learned that the majestic Crillon, from Paris, no longer belonged to the Taittinger family (the same one, of champagnes). And I was overjoyed when I saw that the Hôtel de Paris, in Montecarlo, which belongs to the company of the Prince of Monaco, after undergoing a multi-million dollar refurbishment, re-emerged renewed, but always maintaining the same standard (of even more discreet elegance, less ostentatious, despite so much futility around).

I am happy to see, even with brands that expand, the hand of a creator, who remains an owner or partner – in the case of Brazil, it happens with chain hotels like Fasano (the most exuberant example), Emiliano, Unique.

I know it’s no use being nostalgic, the machine is voracious and will continue to devour local brands and products. But I find it interesting when the process takes place in small niches – as, in the hotel industry, it happens with small collections of luxury or charming hotels.

That’s what happened with the Copacabana Palace, in Rio de Janeiro, which, upon leaving the founding family’s control, soon became part of a boutique of historic hotels with a clear vision of recovering old jewels of the hotel industry.

Given that the founding family was no longer dedicated to the hotel, that was good news. I’m an old goer, especially because of my work (not my pocket…). I’ve always liked its environment, its building (mere imitation – but over time, it blends into the landscape and wins our affection).

For years I had a credit card only because I accumulated points that could be exchanged for accommodation at the Copa (in a back apartment and without the right to the very expensive breakfast – which I had with the family at the cheap juice bar nearby). Because even though I was this mixed guest, paying with points for a back room and still saving on coffee, I was treated like an habitué (which I actually became): already at check-in I was always presented with a better room, facing to the glorious sea of ​​Copacabana.

With gestures like these, you feel at home: as if you were in an aunt’s family boarding house, if you’ll forgive the certain exaggeration. One of the reasons why I’ve always enjoyed staying there is that, something very rare in a hotel, I invite my Carioca friends for a drink at Pérgula (the restaurant “confined” between the view of the sea and the view of the pool), and they go. It’s like I’m home, and so are they.

Against the standardization of hotels, against the American spirit of exporting a lifestyle that is not the same as the rest of the world, it is great to see a hotel that manages to maintain, even for locals, the role of being a mirror of the city — to the point of even having a nickname that everyone (goers or not) knows.

After being bought by the small group of historic hotels, the Copa is now owned by a giant corporation, LVMH, which has bought the Belmond brand and its charming portfolio. It is the new challenge that arises. Will the hotel, in a decade from now, still be considered by locals as “our thing”? Will I be able to continue to feel the welcome from my aunt’s pension there? Because the best test for a hotel of any size is not offering luxury, but the feeling of welcome.