Packaged Vacations: Tourism Development in the Spanish Caribbean

2. Conrad Hilton

2 Conrad Hilton Like the Rockefeller brothers, Conrad Hilton viewed hotel development throughout the Caribbean as an undertaking that would generate profits for the parent corporation and at the same time stimulate economic development and cultivate international goodwill in the host nation. In 1956, at the height of the golden age of American tourism in Latin America, Hilton addressed a glittering crowd of Mexican and American cosmopolites at the opening of the Continental Hilton in Mexico City. Built on the Parisian-style Paseo de la Reforma, away from the traditional colonial center of the Mexican capital, the Continental Hilton towered over the wide boulevard as a modern cathedral of comfort beckoning everyone who was anyone to enjoy the trappings of a modern American lifestyle fused with motifs of ancient Mexico. Whereas Mexico City’s elite had converged on the stone-faced Metropolitan Cathedral to see and be seen a century earlier, now they flocked to the glass-covered Continental on a nightly basis to mingle at Belvedere’s nightclub on the hotel’s rooftop. Hilton’s new hotel not only reoriented Mexico City’s cultural geography but also served as a symbol of the growing economic nexus between the two nations. This was more than an extension of Hilton’s effort to assist in the Cold War effort by building hotels in strategic cities. The Continental Hilton was a steel-and-glass metaphor for the future of U.S.-Mexican relations . Speaking in Spanish, Hilton addressed his guests at the hotel’s grand opening in a speech entitled “A Continental Hotel for Continental Unity.” He recounted his own multicultural upbringing in San Antonio, New Mexico, 22 The American Caribbean swimming in the river with his Hispanic playmates. In the intellectual tradition of Pan-American enthusiast Herbert Bolton, Hilton outlined the historical links between the two nations, as well as the cultural high points of Mexico’s pre-Colombian and colonial periods. In his concluding remarks, Hilton stressed, “It is my greatest hope that the Continental Hilton will be for many years a symbol and beacon of the goodwill and true friendship that exists between the Mexican Republic and the United States of America . . . . Mexico and the United States should go forward, and go forward quickly, with a spirit of cooperation and harmony.”1 Origins of the Cathedrals of Comfort Global trends played a large role in setting the stage for Hilton’s establishment of luxury hotels in Latin America. As Europe found itself embroiled in war in the late 1930s, more and more Americans traveled to Latin America for business or pleasure. American affluence in the postwar years, as well as longer vacations, made foreign travel a growing possibility for many Americans . As Fortune magazine editors opined in 1955, “the biggest promise of new leisure expenditure lies in foreign and domestic vacations.” Americans spent approximately $600 million on foreign tourism in 1947, and that amount grew to over $1 billion by 1953.2 More often than not, however, even Latin America’s capital cities lacked quality hotels that catered to the “at home” comforts Americans craved, including warm water for baths, ice water to drink, and private, in-room bathrooms. In the early 1940s, for example , the Colombian government’s hotel guide compared the Niza Hotel in Popayán, Colombia, with “the best in Europe and the United States.” In contrast, travel writer Kathleen Romoli found a hotel comprised of numerous old homes (each centered around an inner patio) with two showers to be shared among all the guests. “My room has good clean sheets,” she recalled, “a most unusual abundance of furniture, insufficiently screened glass sides, and a double door that left a crack by which passers-by commanded an excellent view of the best.” The servants derived pleasure from announcing the comings and goings of guests from the bathrooms. With a hint of sarcasm, Romoli commented, “Incidentally, some of the more luxurious hotels might take a leaf from the Niza in the matter of obliging service.”3 The initial impetus for building hotels abroad came from the U.S. government . Following the American victory in Japan in August 1945, the State Department and Department of Commerce approached Pan American Airways and the Hilton Hotels Corporation and asked them to consider building luxury hotels around the world. The federal government hoped that these 23 Conrad Hilton modern hotels would serve as a boon for developing countries and...