'Personal' jeweller, watchmaker on hand for guests at the Beau-Rivage Palace

For many years, the Beau-Rivage Palace in Lausanne has provided Arab guests with expert and discreet guidance over the selection of private schools, healthcare, and beauty treatment when visiting the Lake Geneva region, a popular destination for Middle East visitors.

Now those with an eye for personally-designed jewellery, and others with valuable timepieces needing a new lease of life, can get help as easily as calling for room service.

The renowned Swiss watchmaker and jewellery, Guillard, which has one of its four Lausanne boutiques at the hotel, is going all out to provide personal attention for Middle East guests.

"All they need to do is pick up the phone and ask for an appointment either in the boutique, or in their own room, or just walk in and see us at any time," said Bernard Metzger, general director of Guillard, which was founded in 1858.

"We can offer great expertise in designing jewellery for any individual, no matter what their taste, or budget. Pearls are a speciality, while we also work in gold, diamonds emeralds and other precious gems, and renovate old jewellery."

Metzger, who inherited his intricate skills from his grandfather, a watchmaker and designer in the early 1900s, added: "We're also telling guests to come forward with any valuable old clocks or watches which are damaged or have stopped working. We can often bring back to life timepieces which their owners had thought were beyond repair."

Bvlgari, Chopard, Cartier, and Patek Phillipe are among the famous brand names on display at the Guillard boutique, in the Beau-Rivage Palace, which has produced items for a host of celebrity hotel guests, including actor Roger Moore and French tennis ace Henri Leconte.

Earlier this year, Metzger and representatives of the Beau-Rivage Palace took part in a two-day exhibition of Swiss products and services in Abu Dhabi at the residence of the Swiss Ambassador, before a specially invited audience of Emirati ladies. Meanwhile, the hotel, recently named No.1 in Switzerland for the third year running, continues to add to its comprehensive dossier on top private schools and clinics in the Lake Geneva region in order to provide special assistance to Middle East guests.

"Many Middle East families are attracted by the Swiss reputation for excellence in education and health care, but they don't always know where to turn to for advice," said the hotel's Middle East consultant, Azouz Mazrouki. "We can offer our guests very discreet assistance in these matters." Middle East travellers can ask for more details by using the hotel's e-mail (info@brp.ch) and telephone (0041.21.613.33.33) hotlines.