Tailor-made and all-inclusive: first introduced in the mid-90s, the Chateauform seminar concept has earned a solid reputation among companies, particularly those in the CAC 40, who hold a large number of continuing training courses there.
Think global, but meet local: at a time when business agendas are overloaded, companies are reluctant to move away from their home base to organise their seminars. A number of resorts, neither too far nor too close to major cities, are taking advantage of this situation. Resolutely business underneath their leisure exterior, these establishments know how to create a studious yet relaxed atmosphere that fosters cohesion between in-house teams and improved customer relations.
Luxury is space and, unlike their city-dwelling counterparts, these greening specialists have no shortage of it, enabling them to unite participants around fun activities such as sports team-building or cookery classes, the great classic of the moment. In the evening, they offer special moments to chat freely over a drink. When barriers come down and personalities are discovered, bonds are forged that no technology, not even future 3D videoconferencing, can ever claim to create.
"During a seminar organised at a resort, the employee is constantly immersed in a professional world without even realising it.says Agathe Brunel, Sales and Marketing Director of Dolce Chantilly. In the evening, participants continue to talk about work, but in a different way. This is not always the case at a convention held in Paris. Parisians return home in the evening; those who have come from afar slip away for a while to discover the city or to visit friends. A hotel like ours doesn't offer these exits. What's more, companies often organise transfers to and from their headquarters by bus, and participants don't have their own vehicles. However, there's nothing to stop you organising an evening in Paris, especially if you're coming from far away."
Unity of place and action
Place, time and action: as in the best classical theatre, the three-unit rule applies to meetings. Jacques Horovitz designed the Chateauform concept around these principles. "Jacques Horovitz is a company director and founder of Grand Optical. During his career, he has observed that city seminars do not encourage cohesion.explains Pierre-Étienne Caire, the Group's Managing Director for France. On the other hand, traditional resorts, with their mix of leisure and business clientele, were not entirely suited to business events and lacked a friendly atmosphere."
No stubbornness
Closed at weekends, Chateauform's 'seminar houses' are designed exclusively for corporate functions. These charming residences, often with around forty rooms and rarely more than a hundred, offer a setting conducive to strategic thinking, but also leave the mind free to escape for a walk in the woods. Whether at Guermantes, in Seine et Marne, or Bellinglise, in Oise, two of the Group's 38 establishments, executives set off together in search of a shared time out.
Almost unknown to the general public, the brand created in 1996 has made a name for itself with CAC 40 companies, many of whom use it to hold their in-house meetings in an upmarket but unostentatious setting. Building on this success, Chateauform is extending its range with the launch of its 'Campuses', more contemporary establishments housed in new buildings. This more affordable formula was introduced three years ago with the opening of the Berges de Seine near Fontainebleau, and a second Campus is due to open nearby in late 2014 or early 2015. "We go far beyond what two- and three-star hotels can offer when it comes to seminars. For example, our first establishment is set in 19 hectares of parkland with seven tennis courts, a swimming pool and a spa."continues Pierre-Étienne Caire.
20 minutes away An international airport and 40 minutes from a major metropolis: the Dolce group has reproduced a concept that companies love for their studious getaways in Chantilly, near Paris and Roissy Charles de Gaulle.
Like the "seminar houses", the Campuses offer an "all-inclusive" package that is particularly popular with organisers, especially at a time when companies are looking to rationalise their spending on events. Packages that include WiFi, meals, breaks and drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic): the concept is catching on like wildfire. The Renaissance Paris Hippodrome de Saint-Cloud, the Marriott group's latest hotel in the Paris region, in Rueil-Malmaison to be precise, has also made 'all inclusive' its main selling point.
Set in the heart of the Paris Country Club, the hotel is in keeping with the Anglo-Norman style of the site, whose listed building was designed by Léon Berthault, who shortly afterwards designed the legendary Normandy in Deauville. As a racecourse, the hotel makes numerous references to the equestrian theme, with photos of horses all over the corridors and, in the 100 rooms, a leather armchair imitating a horse's saddle. To accentuate the deep, tawny tones, interior designer Jean-Philippe Nuel has sprinkled the interiors with Klein blue furniture.
Nature and culture The Trianon Palace: with its verdant setting and privileged access to the Château de Versailles, the Trianon Palace combines a number of assets to give events a boost, in addition to a high-tech conference centre.
Given its direct proximity to head offices, notably of major pharmaceutical groups, and not far from La Défense either, the facility is primarily intended to host conventions and seminars. What's more, this location offers another advantage: "An executive can join the event for a round table or lunch and then return to head office", explains Gilles Krief, the hotel's Sales and Marketing Director. There are six seminar rooms at the hotel, in addition to the thirty or so at the Paris Country Club. They encapsulate two of the key expectations of organisers: rooms bathed in natural daylight and, above all, less formatted spaces.
The hotel also offers foyers, private areas where participants can meet up, pour themselves a soda or a beer from the fridges, then relax and chat on one of the Chesterfield sofas or, why not, play a game of billiards or table football. In terms of incentives, this suburban resort set alongside the Saint-Cloud racecourse offers a wide choice of sporting challenges, including horse-riding circuits and introductory golf courses with a nine-hole course integrated into the racecourse.
Between the prestige of a palace accustomed to receiving the bigwigs of the world or the spiritual atmosphere of a 12th century abbey, the organisers' hearts were in the balance.
Being just a few kilometres from the centre of Paris and yet already surrounded by greenery is an advantageous location. Close to La Défense and Levallois, the Moevenpick Neuilly showcases the greenery that surrounds it, allowing busy executives to get away from 'business as usual' for a day, or just a few hours. "With our twenty meeting rooms and flexible spaces on two floors with natural daylight, we welcome many companies, particularly from the pharmaceutical sector."says hotel manager Edouard Plaisance.
Growing green
In Versailles, the Trianon Palace, part of the Waldorf Astoria collection, the luxury brand of the Hilton Worldwide group, is equipped for large-scale events with the Pavillon du Trianon Conference Centre, a business centre equipped with the latest technology and comprising 16 meeting rooms. But it's also the Grand Siècle atmosphere of the venue that appeals, as well as the opportunity to explore the château grounds on a segway during meetings.
Culture and greenery: this is the basis on which Chantilly, with its château and sublime stables, has established itself as one of the preferred venues for business meetings near Paris, in competition with the many establishments close to Disneyland Paris, such as the Radisson Blu, on a more leisurely scale. The Very Chantilly brand, created last year to promote the destination, brings together under its wing several of the region's event-oriented hotels, including the prestigious Tiara Mont Royal, the Château de Montvillargene, a classic for business meetings, and the Dolce, a 200-room resort set in 27 hectares around an 18-hole golf course.
This is a constant throughout the world The new Hyatt Regency Chongming: establishments offering both leisure and seminar facilities are springing up near major business centres, whether on the outskirts of Paris or near Shanghai, as shown by the recent opening of the Hyatt Regency Chongming, on an island in the Yangtze River.
Comprising around twenty meeting rooms, the hotel's conference centre will soon be completely refurbished. "The sound and video projectors will be directly integrated and the rooms will offer videoconferencing solutions. High-tech technology is a necessity these days as meetings become increasingly interactive."says Agathe Brunel. In terms of activities, the park and its golf course offer a wide range of possibilities, with the added bonus of a signature incentive, the Dolce Polo Open. Close to the Apremont Polo Club, the hotel organises introductions to this chic sport, followed by an Argentinian dinner prepared by the hotel's chef, Dorian Wicart.
As in Chantilly, the American group's European hotels are each offering a special event. The Dolce Frégate Provence, near Marseille, is organising 'Pétanque, Pastis, Provence' aperitifs, the one in Munich 'Bavarian Olympics', and the one in Bad Nauheim near Frankfurt 'dinner on stage', with tables set up on the stage of an Art Nouveau-style theatre.
Paris, Marseille, Munich, Frankfurt, but also Barcelona, Brussels and Lisbon: at the heart of its development strategy, Dolce has set itself a simple principle, but one that is extremely attractive to companies who want to organise meetings virtually 'at home': never be more than 20 minutes from an international airport and 40 minutes from a major city. In the same way, the proximity of major air and rail hubs argues in favour of Côte d'Azur seminar establishments, with the Croisette in Cannes or Monaco and its princely atmosphere adding a touch of glamour to events.
Not far from both Geneva and Lyon, Evian is easily accessible from both France and Switzerland. But it is above all the beauty of Lake Geneva that attracts so many events to the Hilton or the Evian Resort and its two hotels, the Ermitage and the Hôtel Royal, which reopened its doors last July. As part of the renovation of this legendary luxury hotel by the architect François Champsaur, a new conference centre has been installed on the garden level, comprising 12 rooms that can accommodate between 20 and 220 people. But the hotel is just as much about leisure as it is about business, offering a multitude of activities all in one place, with a casino, thermal baths and a golf academy, all set in the idyllic setting of 19 hectares of eco-certified parkland.
Closer to the office, shorter in time, the seminars go straight to the point, with particular emphasis on the content of the meetings. This does not exclude moments of relaxation, even if only for half a day. Golf, polo, muscle toning, yoga, cookery classes: these activities help to forge closer relationships between internal teams or with the company's customers. A sense of cohesion that can be felt from morning till night. (Photos 1 and 2: Dolce
Chantilly. Photos 3 and 4: Campus les Berges de Seine).
International summits
As in Europe, seminar resorts are also springing up around Asian megacities. Their reception areas reflect the hopes pinned on these up-and-coming cities: immense, in other words. Just 60 km from the centre of Beijing and 45 km from its international airport, the Kempinski Yanqi Lake complex is the largest meeting and convention venue in the country, designed for international summits as well as traditional seminars and even more intimate meetings. The resort has 14,000 m2 dedicated to events, including a conference centre and a Grand Ballroom that can hold 1,400 people. In terms of accommodation, the resort has almost 600 rooms spread across three hotels, managed by Kempinski, which will open their doors in the fourth quarter of 2014: the futuristic Yanqi Lake, the State Guest House, with its architecture inspired by traditional square courtyard houses, and the Yanqi Lake Boutique Hotels, in fact twelve residences with around ten rooms with a focus on design.
Opened at the beginning of the year on an island at the mouth of the Yangtze, the Hyatt Regency Chongming takes advantage of its proximity to Shanghai - a 90-minute drive from the Bund and Pudong - but also of the new generation of fun and creative seminar centres that are beginning to spring up here and there. In this lifestyle resort, the American brand has introduced its The Campus concept, reminding nostalgics of their student days. With its university-style amphitheatre, three classrooms, six 'song & games' lounges and a cafeteria for socialising, there's an old-school feel to the whole place, counterbalanced by high-tech facilities with electronic whiteboards and large flat screens for connecting PCs.
Not far from Beijing, The Yanqi Lake Kempinski surprises with its futuristic architecture, a kind of glass sunrise set alongside a lake in a huge complex dedicated to professional events.
While companies are tending to organise their major meetings closer to their head offices for reasons of scheduling, the world's pantheon of leisure destinations is still a big hit. Especially when it comes to saluting the efforts of in-house teams or receiving clients and prospects in flattering surroundings. Whether in Pukhet, Bali or Sanya in Asia, on the Mayan Riviera or the beaches of the Caribbean in Latin America, in Marrakech, Andalusia or Greece, a plethora of enchanting resorts add an extra touch of soul to business events.
Aimed primarily at a leisure clientele, almost all of these establishments have top-of-the-range meeting rooms, as this activity is essential to liven up the low seasons. This also explains the efforts made in terms of pricing, which means that, including flights, these hotels remain competitive. "While the trend is towards local events, when it comes to invitations to tender on the international market, we are competing with destinations such as Prague, Greece and Croatia."says Agathe Brunel.
Working ranges
Among the major chains, there are countless resorts that are part leisure, part MICE: Pullman Danang Beach Resort or Timi Ama in Sardinia, InterContinental Bali or Mar Menor in Spain, Radisson Blu Dubrovnik or Djerba, Hilton Bodrum in Turkey or Vilamoura in the Algarve, to name but a few. Apart from the time devoted to work - pure incentives are becoming increasingly rare - these establishments all promise a dose of escapism, whether it be thrilling water sports activities, visits to the region's historical heritage or, from an eco-responsible point of view, involvement in projects with local communities... Some luxury resorts set out to forge unforgettable memories in the minds of participants. Four Seasons, for example, organises cruises aboard caiques on the Bosphorus in Istanbul for very VIP groups, a dinner in the middle of the savannah in the Serengeti or, in a much sportier style, a flight over the ocean equipped with a James Bond-style jet engine on Koh Samui.
1 - Overlooking the Andaman SeaThe Pullman Phuket Arcadia enjoys direct access to Naithon Beach, one of the most beautiful beaches in Phuket.
A strong argument for attracting incentives, as well as a separate seminar area within the resort.
2 - Between Luberon and Haute ProvenceThe Couvent des Minimes has become a venue for exclusive events. The recently renovated church of this Relais & Châteaux can accommodate 200 people for top-of-the-range cocktails.
However, moving away from major cities and tourist hubs can give events a more exclusive feel. There, charming establishments, most of them members of voluntary chains, focus on hosting meetings, primarily for executive committees. While Châteaux et Hôtels Collection is positioning itself on the business tourism market with its Seminars & Events guide, Relais & Châteaux has grouped its offer around its "exceptional seminars". On the programme: art of living, cookery classes with multi-starred chefs and unusual meeting rooms. A timeless demonstration of the adage "small is beautiful".
Groups of hôteliers - Winning concepts
Creative Meetings at Le Méridien, Business Playground at Pullman, Inspired Meetings at Sofitel, "NH Meetings: inspire. create. enjoy. the names given by the big names in the hotel industry to their new meeting concepts reflect a desire to give their offering a creative tone in both their city-centre hotels and their resorts.
Through its Experience Meetings, Radisson Blu is formalising its proposition around three fundamentals that organisers will be able to find everywhere: Brain Food, i.e. healthy food based on local products; Brain Box, a workshop room designed to unleash creativity; and an essential basic, free Internet. Hotel groups are also seeking to simplify the organisation of events through technological tools. At the end of last year, Hilton launched its Meetings Simplified programme to make it easier to plan small events, with fewer than 25 people, in the group's hotels, with a booking site systematising calls for tender and, above all, 'all-inclusive' rates per participant.
For its part, Marriott has launched Meetings Imagined, an online platform for better preparation of events. With advice, the latest trends, room layouts and break presentations, the site makes suggestions based on the ultimate objectives of each meeting: decision-making, training, networking, celebrating an event, etc. At the same time, the group has set up a virtual concierge service, Red Coat Direct. Thanks to this application, organisers can ask to change the room temperature or order a coffee from their mobile or tablet, without having to leave the meeting.
