Denis and Hubert Batin started out as restaurateurs based in Grignan, but in 2004 they decided to get into the hotel business with the opening of La Bastide de Grignan, a 3* property offering 16 rooms, located next door to their restaurant which they sold in 2007.
“We effectively decided to devote ourselves to the hotel business and to make the most of our meeting room for 20-25 people by developing the seminar market,” explains Denis Batin. “Our hotel boasts 7000 m2 of grounds, as well as an outdoor swimming pool, and we handle on average one seminar per month mostly for companies from the Lyon area or the Drôme, as well as for regular clients such as Gerflor, Sanofi, FMC, which works in the medical training sector, and Imcarvau, specialising in luxury packaging. We would like to develop this side of the business a bit more, which is why we decided to join the CCI in Valence and the “Séminaires de Caractère” association. The latter has about 15 members, and aims to promote the benefits of booking small independently-owned hotels as opposed to chain hotels”.
“Séminaires de Caractère” has created a marketing campaign, something none of its members could have done on their own. “For us, one of the greatest advantages has been the ability to reach Lyon-based companies by participating at “Séminaires & Business” under the association’s umbrella,” adds Denis Batin. “Not only are we based in the famous historic city of Grignan, which is also famed for its beautiful location, but we’re just half an hour from Montelimar’s train station. And we’re not the only tourism professionals who are impatient for the TGV station at Allan to come on line, because that’s just 15 minutes away”.
Pending the arrival of the TGV, La Bastide de Grignan is pleased to receive corporate clients year round although mostly between October and March, enabling the hotel to fill its rooms in the low season.
“They are mostly small meetings for between 10 and 20 people but we can also handle larger groups if we use the space offered by a neighbouring restaurant,” notes the owner. “The programmes we put in place for companies do not tend to include sporting activities, but rather a range of cultural ones such as visiting Grignan’s château or gastronomic activities based on wine and truffles. Most of our business comes from daytime workshops and residential seminars”.
A residential meeting with one night’s accommodation, lunch, dinner, breakfast, room hire and refreshment breaks costs 145 € per person. In the future, the brothers are planning to expand La Bastide de Grignan by adding another nine or ten rooms, as well as an extra meeting room that will enable the property to handle more business.
La Bastide de Grignan, in Grignan (DrĂ´me)
Tel.: 00 33(0)4 75 90 67 09
