Grandeur and decadence. The Impérial Palace opened in 1913 and was, for a long time, the flagship of Annecy’s hotels. Some of the world’s most important people, and several members of royalty, made the hotel one of their favourite addresses until its decline at the beginning of the 1950s which eventually led to its closure in 1963.

The property was then hit by another unlucky event, a fire that destroyed the building in 1981. But it was said at the time that a monument such as this one could only rise from the ashes, and on 15 December 1990, with great pomp and ceremony, the hotel was re-opened by Annecy’s town authority under the management of the German media group Hopf which also owns another famous hotel in Cologne.

The Impérial Palace quickly reclaimed its prestigious place within the Rhône-Alpes’ tourism sector. It’s worth noting that, as well as its 99 rooms and suites and four restaurants, the hotel offers a casino with traditional games as well as 160 slot machines plus, more importantly, the town’s Centre de Congrès. The Centre has a number of key resources to attract business tourism professionals including
21 conference rooms with capacity for 10 up to 600 people in the largest room, known as the Salle
de l’ Europe. 

All of our rooms, most of which overlook the lake, are
air-conditioned and benefit from natural light, explains Ghislaine Blampey, sales & marketing director at the Impérial. The Rotonde and the Salle de l’Europe are both set up to host fashion shows, musical entertainment, conferences, symposia, conventions, gala evening, exhibitions, auctions and product launches, with the possibility of bringing a motor vehicle on to the stage of the Salle de l’Europe which is also equipped with translation booths. With so many rooms on offer, it’s obvious that business tourism is our main area of activity. We often organise high profile events and our clientele is 65% international, due to the proximity of Geneva airport, including British, Belgians, Dutch, Americans and Swiss, whilst most of our French clients come from the Rhône-Alpes and neighbouring regions .

In total, the Impérial Palace hosts between 800 and 1000 events every year, of which 70% are classified as business tourism. The industry sectors involved are principally computer firms, pharmaceutical laboratories, car manufacturers, components manufacturers, banks and firms from the sports and beauty care sectors. A number of these events come directly from the conference bureau, whilst others are dealt with directly by the hotel which works closely with other establishments to provide accommodation for groups of several hundred delegates.

For 2007, Ghislaine Blampey is noticing a trend of requests coming in later and later, with last minute bookings for seminars. Our busiest periods are from May until the beginning of July and then from the end of August to the beginning of November with the pharmaceutical companies’ autumn seminars. However, we’re also handling more and more events in January and March, involving winter sports activities in the Aravis resorts such as La Clusaz and Le Grand-Bornand which are just half an hour away. Most of the seminars last three days, two nights .

For the fun elements, the Impérial Palace offers several different packages in partnership with three ground agents, Takamaka, Alpes Logistiques Séminaires or LCS, including evenings in a mountain restaurant using snowmobiles to get there, torchlight descents on skis or by paret , a traditional sledge from the region.

As far as rates are concerned, the cost for a study day including room hire (but not including audiovisual material), refreshment breaks and lunch (not including drinks) works out at 75 euros per person, whilst the cost of a single room (group rates, 10+ people) is 180 euros plus breakfast at 25 euros. The Impérial Palace also has a special deal in February and April, offering a single room inclusive of breakfast for 180 euros based on a minimum of 20 rooms.

Bonus : Annecy goes all speed ahead for business tourism