Clever Chamonix… not content just to receive millions of French and foreign tourists every year, coming to admire Mont Blanc and all the other mountain peaks around, the town has also managed to develop into a popular business tourism destination. In order to achieve its aims, Chamonix has firstly concentrated on transforming part of the former luxury hotel, the Majestic, into a conference centre. Then in 1985 a conference department was created to look after the promotion of the centre and of all the hotels in the valley able to handle seminars and meetings. Cathy Méot heads up this office, working with her team to ensure the success of Chamonix’s business tourism market and bringing together all the local suppliers involved in the sector, about 50 in total of which 20 offer decent-sized conference rooms.

We provide 70% of the Majestic’s turnover and it is our main business tool, which is due to be renovated during the second half of 2008, explains Cathy Méot. The renovation will concentrate particularly on the Michel Payot conference room, with capacity for up to 400 people, in order to improve its soundproofing, acoustics, sound system, ventilation and lighting – all of which will make it a more attractive venue. We’re also going to install a pull-down screen in the stage . The Majestic also has nine other meeting rooms, offering capacity for between 15 and 90 people, making it an ideal venue for organisers of conferences, meetings, seminars and other top quality functions.

Unfortunately in Chamonix, demand outstrips availability, says Cathy Méot. In fact there are some periods in the year when we find it very difficult to accommodate groups . Not that this seems to put off conference organisers, with good availability in December, January and March as well as from April to June and from the end of August to mid-November.

Regular users of Cham are the medical and scientific sectors because there’s been a real love story going on between them and Chamonix since 1760 and the first scientific experiments that
date from that time , notes Cathy Méot. The École de Physique des Houches and the research laboratories of ‘ENSA (École Nationale de Ski et d’Alpinisme) are visited by many researchers throughout the year. And there’s also the Festival des Sciences de la Terre et des Hommes which has helped to reinforce this position .

In Chamonix, 75% of the clientele is from France and the UK. However, some conferences attract participants from all over the world. We manage all of the details to do with the event, except for ticketing, explains Cathy Méot. We look after all the logistics, including the transfers from both Lyon Saint-Exupéry and Geneva airports. We can also offer organisers a whole range of fun activities to choose from, working together with the Compagnie des Guides and Évolution 2 .

As well as the Majestic, the conference department can also depend on the professional approach of several hotels equipped with some of the best facilities. Hotels such as those of the Best Mont-Blanc group or Accor (see details elsewhere in newsletter) whilst the Club Méditerranée (272 rooms), which does not have its own conference facilities, is often chosen for its accommodation as it’s ideally situated close to the Majestic. Depending on whether it is a good or bad year, the conference department organises between 50 and 80 events, representing between 5000 and 8000 bed nights. On average, a meeting for 50 people including two nights’ accommodation will cost between 35,000 and 50,000 € depending on what category hotel is chosen. In order to make the organisers’ job easier, the conference department in Chamonix introduced a quality charter last June.

The charter has been signed by about three quarters of our partners, giving a framework aimed at
ensuring that all the services offered are of the same quality , confirms Cathy Méot. She can be especially proud of her team’s hard work in clinching some worthwhile contracts for 2007, including Talents aiguilles for Salomon from 12 to 14 January; the centenary of the Mont-Blanc brand from 29 January to 13 February (400 VIP guests invited); the 14^th Rencontres de Dermatologie (170 participants) on 9 February; the Vétoalp conference (200 participants) from 19 to 22 March; the Conférence Internationale sur la Formation des Structures dans l’Univers (200 people) from 27 May to 1^st June; the INRIA Rhône-Alpes conference (150 participants) from 26 to 30 June, and the Conférence Internationale Alpine NMR (magnetic resonance) from 9 to 13 September (300 people).

Chamonix’s professionals invest
Val d’Isère, seminar territory