Hotel Geneve

HISTORY

Hotel Geneve first opened its doors in Mexico City in 1907. From the beginning it has been a tireless innovator in the touristic area: it was the first hotel to welcome women travelling alone, offering them caring lodging; it was also the first in the country to offer taxi service, a telephone switchboard, dry cleaning, a travel agency, elevators, a tennis court, and a beauty salon, in addition to telephones and bathrooms in every room, all novel services at that time which attracted the attention of the entire city. In 1910 the Geneve served the first sandwich in Mexico. Its cuisine was so famous and its prestige such that on the day on which the Mexican Revolution began, November 20, 1910, President Porfirio Díaz decided to dine there with this family.

The Geneve has at all times demonstrated its hospitality with its doors always open; during the Mexican Revolution it was declared a neutral zone, hosting ambassadors and their families, not to mention some revolutionaries.

During its 100 years in existence it has played host to illustrious national and international figures in the realms of politics, economics, and culture, among which were President Porfirio Díaz; Virginia Fábregas, a Mexican actress famous worldwide; the Russian Alejandra Kollontay, the first woman in the world to be an ambassador; the U.S. magnate William Randolph Hearst; as well as British Prime Minister and Nobel-prizewinner Sir Winston Churchill. Also to be mentioned are Antonieta Rivas Mercado, the very important promoter of Mexican art; Charles Lindbergh, the first pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean; as well as one of the most extraordinary actors of all time, Marlon Brando. Also, the hotel has welcomed Paul Newman, Jack Palance, Miroslava, Gabriel García Márquez, Julio Cortázar, Luis Barragán, Franz Mayer, and the distinguished historian and chronicler of Mexico City, Don José Iturriaga, among many others.

For decades the hotel has been visited by all the presidents of Mexico, and recently it has received former presidents Felipe González (Spain), Ricardo Lagos (Chile), Romano Prodi (Italy), Fernando Enrique Cardoso (Brazil), and Julio María Sanguinetti (Uruguay). Among various others, the hotel has welcomed the Nobel Peace-Prize winner of 2006, Muhammed Yunus; the New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, A-ROD; David LaChapelle, one of the ten best contemporary photographers; several times world-boxing champion Evander Holyfield; and Filippa Giordano, considered currently to have one of the best voices in the world.

However, for the Hotel Geneve it is not only the personalities above who are beloved, but also we are honored by all those guests and visitors who for more than a century have come with their luggage and their personal stories through the Geneve’s doors.