UN eyes Montreux for Syria peace conference; watch fair has claimed all the hotel rooms

GENEVA – A U.N. spokeswoman says organizers are weighing moving part of January's Syria peace conference to the other end of Lake Geneva because of insufficient hotel rooms in Geneva itself.

Corinne Momal-Vanian says Montreux — the swank home of the jazz festival — is "certainly a possibility" because Geneva's hotels are fully booked for a luxury watch fair that draws more than 12,000 people each year to the Swiss city that is a global center of watchmaking.

But she told reporters Tuesday that the Syria peace conference will remain "a very Geneva-centered process" because of the presence of the U.N.'s European headquarters.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon set Jan. 22 as the start date for the long-delayed peace conference that follows the first one in June 2012.