The Lobby-bar at the Hotel International au Lac Lugano

A Belle Époque–style hotel offers its guests spaces dedicated to social life, places for meeting and sharing. In 1906, Hotel International au Lac had an entrance on the ground floor that, via lift or staircase, led to the refined first floor, the so-called Bel Étage. This arrangement separated guests from the outside world, giving them a sense of intimacy and hospitality, almost like being at home.

The Bel Étage is a legacy of 17th- and 18th-century aristocratic society, when the ground floor housed entrances for horses and carriages, stables, kitchens and cellars. A wide staircase, sometimes double, led up to the first floor, separated from street dust, servants and the risk of flooding. Belle Époque hotels adopted this architectural concept, offering guests the best rooms on the first floor, the piano nobile.

According to the original 1906 plans, the hotel’s current lounge was called the “Vestibule”, a term derived from Latin meaning “antechamber behind the entrance door”, thus a transitional space. Here, nine rattan seating groups for two to six people offered guests the possibility to gather or sit quietly in a kind of no man’s land, a neutral space in which to wait for check-in, show off a new outfit or, at tea time, watch who entered and left the hotel.

When the hotel opened in spring 1906, room number 9, with balcony and lake view, still occupied the front side of the lounge. The wall separating it from the “Vestibule” was richly decorated, probably with a large framed mirror positioned to reflect the light from the fireplace opposite. A few oriental carpets adorned the marble floor, making the room warmer and more welcoming.

In February 1929, Alice Disler, the 23-year-old daughter of the hotel’s founder, married wine merchant Otto Schmid and immediately took over the management of the hotel. The young couple at once began a series of renovation works. In October 1930, the corner room with lake view was sacrificed to enlarge the lounge. Photographs from the time show a large iron beam being brought in through the church-side window. A wooden wall acted as a partition and as protection against draughts coming from the lift door.

In April 1930, a large oriental carpet was purchased for the lounge and, according to invoices from the time, from 1931 onwards numerous antique furnishings for the public areas and private rooms were acquired from Ullmann’s shop in Lugano. Among them is the gilded sofa on which one can still sit today.

With the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, managing the hotel became more difficult: correspondence shows that the owner was often called up for military service, leaving his wife to run the hotel with the staff and their young son during the summer season.

In January 1943, the lounge’s current furnishings were purchased from the Willimann company in Lucerne and, over the years, were restored several times while retaining their original style. Still today, with refreshed upholstery, they welcome the hotel’s guests.

The massive, imposing furniture in the Louis XIII and Louis XIV style was considered a modern Heimatstil between the two wars and in the early 1950s, just before being replaced by the Scandinavian minimalism of the 1960s. Spacious and comfortable, the lounge’s armchairs and sofas still invite guests to immerse themselves in an atmosphere of bygone days.

In 1999, at the initiative of Beatrice Schmid-Mollinet, a bar counter was installed in the lounge, designed and crafted by the Roncoroni couple, owners of the furniture firm of the same name in Cantù. Thanks to the many dedications by artists from all over the world, but mainly by musicians of the Blues-to-Bop Festival, the bar took the name “Blues Bar”. Harmoniously integrated into the historic setting, it offered guests a new space for conviviality.

During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, due to strict restrictions imposed by the authorities to limit gatherings and contact between people, the bar was closed and replaced by a small self-service selection, designed for in-room consumption. As health measures were eased, social life in the lobby resumed, and Roberto Schmid, building on the positive feedback from guests, developed the Honesty Bar concept, where guests could help themselves and record their drinks in a logbook, based on trust.

Since 2023, the Honesty Bar concept has been implemented on a permanent basis, with the counter on the lake side, just as we see it today. On the same occasion, the lounge was enhanced with fine parquet panels and all the furnishings were restored and refreshed. This space, while preserving its warm and refined character, continues to be a meeting place for hotel guests, in keeping with both tradition and the evolving nature of hospitality.

The lounge: tradition evolving with guests’ needs

In 1999, on the initiative of Beatrice Schmid-Mollinet, a bar counter was installed in the lounge and named the “Blues Bar” thanks to the dedications left by artists and musicians staying at the hotel during the Blues-to-Bop Festival. Harmoniously integrated into the historic setting, it offered guests a new space for conviviality.

During the pandemic between 2020 and 2022, the bar was closed to limit personal contact and replaced by a small self-service station designed for in-room consumption. With the return to normality, Roberto Schmid developed the Honesty Bar concept, based on self-service and guests’ trust.

Since 2023, the concept has been permanently adopted, accompanied by a new counter facing the lake. At the same time, parquet and furnishings were restored, preserving the warm and welcoming atmosphere of the lounge.