La Cure is a village located some 20 kilometres (15 mi) northwest of Lake Geneva, straddling the Franco-Swiss border.

France and Switzerland had previously disputed possession of the strategically important Vallée des Dappes, which was controlled by the latter until in 1862, the Swiss accepted an offer to exchange that territory for another piece just to the north and east; the new boundary was drawn directly through La Cure.

According to the Treaty of Dappes, which formalized the swap, any buildings existing at the time that the new line was demarcated were not to be disturbed, even if the boundary bisected them.

Taking advantage of the delay between negotiation of the treaty and its final ratification by the Swiss Parliament, a local businessman named Ponthus constructed a new structure in 1863 on the new borderline.

[7] The hotel was chosen in 1962 for negotiation of the Évian Accords between France and Algeria, which resulted in the independence of the latter.