The name of Saint-Galmier might not mean very much to you, but in fact it’s the place in the Loire where the renowned Badoit water comes from, one of Danone’s flagship products. Saint-Galmier is also where La Charpinière hotel restaurant is to be found, an attractive property that is part of the Relais du Silence network and which is putting all its efforts into developing the business tourism market.

Listed as a 3-star hotel, it offers 46 rooms and three suites, 14 of which can be considered as superior standard. It is situated in the middle of 3.8 hectares of private grounds and boasts a swimming pool as well as a fitness centre, a tennis court and a games room.

For us, business tourism has been an essential part of our activity since we took over the property in 1986, explains Annick Mazenod, the owner. It’s why we created seven meeting rooms, ranging from 20 m² to 100 m² , giving us the capacity to take groups of 90 people theatre-style and 45
in U-shape. Our decision to get into this side of the business, which represents about 50% of our activity, was based partly on the fact that I used to work in the training department of a medical firm and, in that job, had to organise regular seminars .

Outside of the school holiday periods, La Charpinière is sought after throughout the year by both French and foreign companies and has a number of loyal clients such as SNF, OI, Freudenberg, Erico, Badoit Évian, Zannier, Leroy Merlin, Auchan, Desjoyaux, France Télécom, La Poste, Nexity, IFG, Cetelem, April, Gan, Groupama, Wurth, DHL, Peugeot and Citroà«n. Other regulars include various pharmaceutical laboratories (Mérieux, Ducray, Astra Zeneca, Sanofi, Henkel) and banks (CIC, Société Générale, Banque Populaire Loire Lyonnais, Crédit Agricole).

The events that take place here – and we handled 250 in 2006 – have on average 15 or so participants over a two day period, including one overnight, continues Annick Mazenod. It’s mostly for study days, seminars and incentives as our facilities were made with that in mind. For such events we call upon the services of specialist agencies like 3A Compétition, Aventure Quad 42, JD Location and La Valise à Spectacles. Most of our clients come to us because they’ve heard about the property by word of mouth as, to be honest, we do very little sales activity apart from a direct mail campaign and follow-up telephone calls. That said, this year we did go along to Séminaires & Business and we’re thinking seriously about taking space at one of the future shows in Lyon .

La Charpinière is also well known in the sporting world. Members of the Saint-Étienne football team stay here on a regular basis and visiting clubs often use this as their base. Similarly for the Tour de France, when several of the teams stay at the hotel, as well as for the Paris-Nice or the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré when the races pass through that part of the region. And this year the hotel is going to be home to the Samoan rugby team during the Rugby World Cup.

Located just a few minutes from Saint-Étienne, the La Charpinière hotel-restaurant offers a study day including room hire, two refreshment breaks and lunch for between 45 and 50 euros per person, depending on the season. For a residential meeting, with an overnight stay, dinner and two lunches, the cost is between 190 and 200 euros. In the near future, La Charpinière is planning to build another 40 m² meeting room, as well as a fourth small private restaurant and is also going to enlarge its lobby.