Demeures de Campagne seminar business: interview with Arnaud Feucherolles

Has the resumption of seminar business at your hotel, the Château de Maffliers Demeures de Campagne, lived up to your expectations?

Arnaud Feucherolles - We're fairly relaxed about the months ahead, especially as we've been almost overwhelmed by requests since 19 May. I've even had to bring in extra teams to deal with them. Not all of these quotations are successful, but we have a very good success rate. We have a good portfolio between now and the end of the year, mainly with groups of between 15 and 50 people. On the other hand, we haven't yet seen the return of formats for more than 100 people, perhaps next year. Whatever the case, we can really feel our customers' desire to get together, their need to recharge their batteries and get away from it all. There's a a real need for people todayFaced with the limits of teleworking. All this confirms the relevance of the approach taken by the Grape Hospitality group with its Demeures de Campagne.

Can you tell us how the Demeures de Campagne brand came about?

A. F. - In 2016, Grape Hospitality acquired the following companies Accor a portfolio of around a hundred establishments, including the Maffliers estate, which the group had partly bought in 1978 to develop a Novotel. In addition to the hotel, we took over the entire 30-hectare park and its former stables. Hence the idea, which came almost logically, of create a place that responds to the new expectations of customers, their desire to return to nature and to consume locally. As a result, Grape Hospitality has launched its own Demeures de Campagne brand, with a focus on quality accommodation, catering based on local producers and short distribution channels, and a full range of activities for both leisure and business customers.

As well as the Maffliers estate near Chantilly, what are the other Demeures de Campagne estates?

A. F. - At present, we have four Country Housesincluding the Parc du Coudray in Essonne, a facility spread over some twenty hectares of parkland including a country-style hotel, a beautiful spa in a renovated bourgeois house and an accrobranche park. Near Orléans, Les Chemins de Sologne, which includes the Novotel Orléans la Source, is the home of a collector whose second passion is nature and its pleasures. Finally, we also have another, more urban residence this one, The Mercure Château de Fontainebleau Demeure de Campagne is located just 500 metres from the Château de Fontainebleau, in a beautifully restored town house.

we have rolled out B2B offers that include events such as cooking, mixology or oenology workshops.

What advantages do they offer meeting and seminar organisers?

A. F. - Our residences already offer a wide choice of activities These include tennis courts, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, volleyball and badminton nets, petanque courts, as well as scooters and bicycles for guests' use. In addition, we have deployed B2B offers including animations which can punctuate events such as cookery, mixology or oenology workshops. After the event, each home has its own area of differentiation. At Parc du Coudray, it's the spa, the golf practice range and the tree climbing course, while at Fontainebleau, it's the castle and the discovery of its hidden sides or the immense forest that surrounds the estate. Les Chemins de Sologne takes advantage of its proximity to the châteaux of the Loire and local producers, for example by organising treasure hunts in a mehari through the vineyards. Finally, at the Domaine de Maffliers, horses are the key differentiator.

How can horses be integrated into corporate meetings?

A. F. - As part of our seminar programme, we offer not only horse riding, but also a range of other activities, including "horse coachingThis means using the horse as a management tool, without even riding it. All seminars are invited to use the horse as a incentive but above all as part of team-building training. The horse has no filters and reacts to the slightest injunction, whether brutal, barely audible or diverted. The result is a lot about managerial behaviour. We'll look at how the horse reacts to the manager, and then transpose this to its interactions with its professional environment, culminating in a manager identity sheet. This can be done in small groups over two or three hours, but it can also take the form of a whole day of different workshops. During the renovation of the estate, we created brand new stables with 35 horses, while the château's old stables were renovated into meeting and reception roomsas well as seven gîtes.

Can these gîtes also be used for seminars?

A. F. - Absolutely, it's a very popular formula. We have beautiful 180 m² gîtes that companies can use for their meetingsA chef is on hand to prepare meals. Participants can even live there, as all the rooms are single and have en-suite bathrooms. These gîtes complement our existing range, which includesa 99-room hotelThe château is home to a number of suites, as well as two restaurants - a brasserie and a bistro - and former stables housing meeting rooms decorated in a traditional, not at all functional style, with exposed beams, brickwork, wooden tables and Chesterfield armchairs.

Are Demeures de Campagne ready for hybrid meetings?

A. F. - In all our establishments, you will find rooms equipped for meetings in hybrid mode. This will not be our main focus at Maffliers, as we are more geared towards team-building meetings, but we are currently receiving requests in this area. For example, to enable remote meetings between teams based in France and the company's head office based abroad.

Is the Demeures de Campagne brand set to expand?

A. F. - That's the question of the moment. Grape Hospitality's management committee has endorsed the idea of having around twenty Demeures de Campagne, always to the same specifications: a beautiful historic building, a large park, a location that offers hotel accommodation, but also atypical accommodation such as gîtes. And, if possible, less than 1? hours from Paris by car or train, or even by plane.