Marianne Estène-Chauvin, guardian of the Belles Rives keeping Fitzgerald’s spirit alive in Juan-les-Pins

Chief executive of the Belles Rives group, she took over the family hotel in 2001 and created a literary prize in 2011. The 15th Prix Fitzgerald has just been awarded to Julian Barnes.

On Friday evening, by the water, the Prix Fitzgerald jury honoured the British writer Julian Barnes for his novel Départ(s), published by Stock in January, Le Journal des Palaces reported. It was the fifteenth edition of a prize born at the Belles Rives, the Juan-les-Pins hotel run by Marianne Estène-Chauvin.

The hotel has belonged to the same family since the 1930s, and history is everywhere: the American writer Francis Scott Fitzgerald stayed in this villa, and the hotel’s piano bar bears his name. Marianne Estène-Chauvin joined to assist her uncle before taking over its management.

The takeover in 2001 was no formality. According to the account she gave to the firm Grant Thornton, she had to convince financiers in order to take over the hotel, then led its renovation. A few years later she brought a second hotel into the family fold, the Hôtel Juana in Juan-les-Pins.

The Belles Rives group now comprises two five-star hotels, three restaurants including one with a Michelin star, two bars, a private beach and a water sports club, according to Le Journal des Palaces. Its fine dining restaurant, La Passagère, has earned a Michelin star. True to the tradition of seaside hotels, the Belles Rives opens from March to early winter, and its beach from April to October.

Its chief executive chose literature to raise the hotel’s profile. In 2011 she created the Prix Fitzgerald, whose academy she chairs. The prize has since honoured authors and film-makers alike: Quentin Tarantino is among its winners.

The hotel has also opened up to charity and cultural evenings. The Belles Rives hosts the Bal des Rêves, whose fifth edition is scheduled for 12 September, and its chief executive co-founded the Greenlight art initiative.

The model has its fragilities, though. A seasonal hotel, closed in winter, depends heavily on international guests and the ups and downs of tourism. Independence comes at a price against groups able to invest heavily and fill their rooms through their networks. The literary prize, finally, is as much a patron’s gesture as an image tool: an elegant way of reminding the world that Fitzgerald’s hotel is still there.

In a luxury hotel sector increasingly dominated by large groups, the Belles Rives remains an independent family house, where the fourth generation is now involved in management. It is a model Marianne Estène-Chauvin defends by relying on what chains cannot buy: a history.