Even if La Clusaz cannot boast a dedicated conference centre, local hotel-owner Gaston Pollet-Villard has decided to make up for this lack of facilities by focusing on business tourism in his two 3* hotels, the Alpen Roc and the Beauregard, whilst planning the opening of a 4* property Au Cœur du Village in October 2009, which will be the first one of its kind in the Aravis area and will offer 48 suites, 14 rooms, a large Spa, a flexible 240 m² meeting room with capacity for 150 people, four break-out rooms, a restaurant and a terrace with panoramic views over the Crêt du Merle ski area. The project will cost 18 millions euros, and it’s clear that such a venue will boost the destination’s success on the conference and incentive market.

In the meantime, both the Alpen Roc, which is part of the Best Western chain, and the Beauregard will continue happily exploiting this sought after market. The Alpen Roc has 108 rooms, 100 free covered parking spaces, a restaurant, a panoramic bar, a Spa equipped with sauna, steam room, swimming pool, weights room and beauty treatment rooms that can be booked in advance, plus three meeting rooms with capacity for between 25 and 90 people and six break-out rooms offering space for 15 people each.

Located right at the foot of the Bossonnet slopes, its sister property, the Beauregard, is a superior 3* hotel. It offers 95 rooms, a restaurant, a bar, a South-facing terrace, a partially covered car park with 100 spaces, a fitness area with large swimming pool, Jacuzzi, sauna and steam room, plus a meeting room for 100 people which can be split into two if required, a 30-space room and six break-out rooms with capacity for 12 people each.

We’ve been working on the conference and incentive market for a number of years now and all the specialist agencies know us, confirms Régis Duffes, General Manager of both hotels. In January and March, 85% of the Alpen Roc’s clients are business tourists and 75% of the Beauregard’s clients are from the same source. We don’t handle any conference business throughout February, during the Christmas holidays or between 15 July and 15 August. However during the rest of the year we’re very active on that market with, for example, 65% hotel bookings from the conference sector at the Beauregard during October! The Beauregard is open year round whilst the Alpen Roc is only open for the four winter months and the four summer months. But if necessary we can always open the hotel if, for example, we need more hotel space , adds Régis Duffes.

He is a true professional who is satisfied with his positioning on the market sector, with seminar business representing respectively 46% and 38% of the turnover for the Alpen Roc and the Beauregard. The majority of his clientele comes from the area around Paris followed closely by local business from the Rhône-Alpes region, whilst foreign companies, in particular British and Scandinavian, represent 12% of the business.

In our experience, our groups stay for on average two nights and three days, and comprise between 30 and 80 people, notes Régis Duffes. But we also have lots of events over four nights/five days from Monday to Friday. The participants work in the morning from 8.30 am through to midday, have a quick 25-minute lunch break and then ski from 1 pm to 4 pm in the afternoon before having a coffee/tea break and starting work again until 7.30 or 8 pm. One of our strong points is that we’re always on hand for our clients. And if we use the resort’s main function room, we can even handle conferences for between 200 and 250 people .

In January and March a residential seminar works out at 285 euros per day at the Alpen Roc and 310 euros at the Beauregard, which also includes room hire, refreshment breaks, single rooms, breakfast, lunch and dinner. The two hotels also offer other options such as dinner at the Chalet du Praz, various sporting activities organised by specialist agencies such as Alter Ego and Oxygène as well as conferences on the theme of the similarities between top level sport and business life, presented by Edgar Grospiron. A range of services that are appreciated by companies such as Procter and Gamble, who are bringing 330 people to La Clusaz at the end of January – with the work sessions taking place at the Grand Bo venue in Grand Bornand -, Sanofi, L’Oréal, Renault Trucks, Vachette, Laurent Perrier, Manitowok, Century 21, Rolex, EDF, Seb, Dynastar as well as Salomon.