Birds squabbling in the branches, an early-morning breeze, a few blades of grass tucked between the pages of a corporate presentation, and your mind starts to race... All of a sudden, these creative, designer seminar rooms seem very ordinary, just like they are in big-city hotels these days. How far away the towers of La Défense are! Visit soothing properties of a meeting on the grass are still a must when it comes to corporate events. "We recently hosted a major insurance company. And its entire management team, all the way from the United States, was on the lawn,...
Birds squabbling in the branches, an early-morning breeze, a few blades of grass tucked between the pages of a corporate presentation, and your mind starts to race... All of a sudden, these creative, designer seminar rooms seem very ordinary, just like they are in big-city hotels these days. How far away the towers of La Défense are! Visit soothing properties of a meeting on the grass are still a must when it comes to corporate events. "We recently hosted a major insurance company. Its entire management team, all the way from the United States, gathered on the lawn, facing the lake, for some speed dating. It's always much more fun than in a room, squeezed between four white walls.says Jean-François Planteblat, Director of the Barrière d'Enghien-les-Bains resort. When you arrive here, you step out of your comfort zone. You're no longer in a hyper-urban setting, but in an exceptional place. All of which is conducive to disconnectand, by the same token, creativity".
It's a real change of scenery on the outskirts of Paris, as it takes just 15 minutes by train from Gare du Nord to reach the spa town, its casino, its two Barrière group hotels and its Fouquet's, a close cousin of the one on the Champs-Élysées - but, and this is the real difference, with your feet in the water. "While the place exudes a real sense of serenity, it also has all the hallmarks of the city, with its shops, cafés and restaurants.says Jean-François Planteblat. This simple fact reassures many participants."
A studious break
And it's like that almost everywhere around Paris. With, depending on the location, places set up in the deep countryside, others on the banks of a river or still others invested in historic buildings. For example, the Château des Mesnuls, buried in the forest of Rambouillet; a listed building from the XVIIe It has been preserved in its original state, with its period lounges and exceptional wood paintings. It's the ideal place for a studious break. "Many of our customers tell us that they are so much more productive that, in the end, they very quickly make up for the days spent away from their offices."This is one of the twenty or so Chateauform' seminar centres in the Paris region.
Whether they are part of large hotel groups or play on the charm of their independence, the Paris region offers a wide range of hotels. myriad alternatives urban seminars. ChantillyRambouillet, with its royal residence and the Chevreuse valley; Fontainebleau, with its famous rocks and château where Louis XIII made his entrance into the world and Napoleon I bid farewell to the Imperial Guard.
All these destinations, so far so near Marne-la-Vallée, a key tourist centre in Europe thanks to the presence of a large number of tourist attractions, is one of the most attractive locations in the Paris region. Marne-la-Vallée, a key tourist centre in Europe thanks to the presence of Disneyland ParisAll these advantages are available to you. "On the one hand, we are less than an hour from La Défense on the RER A, and on the other, participants coming from the provinces or elsewhere benefit from the national and international service of the TGV station as well as the proximity of Roissysays Vanessa Pereira, MICE Sales Manager at the Radisson Blu Marne-la-Vallée. So it's a good compromise for getting out in the great outdoors."
Even more than the theme park - which is rarely used for meetings, but whose proximity may be attractive for extended leisure activities - the Radisson Blu makes the most of its location, set in the middle of an eight-hectare park with a nine-hole golf course. But, as discretion dictates, "we avoid highlighting it, as pharmaceutical seminars are very closely supervised in terms of leisure activitiesexplains Yves Grardel, General Manager of the hotel. We've also dropped all references to Disneyland Paris from our name, as the organisers felt it was too relaxed."
It would have been a pity to limit the appeal of the venue to the MICE segment, given that it has recently been renovated and is tailor-made for major conventionswith 250 bedrooms and 32 meeting rooms. "This kind of capacity is extremely rare in the Paris region."says Vanessa Pereira. "All the more so as the facility is very well proportionedadds Yves Grardel. Some hotels have lots of rooms but small plenary rooms, or vast meeting spaces but few keys. Nothing like that here. Our strength lies in our ability to offer large-scale privatisations."Last year, the hotel organised around ten such events. But in the past, a car manufacturer went so far as to reserve the hotel for four months, even using the car park to set up temporary tents.
The Barrière d'Enghien resort, with its 141 rooms at the Hôtel du Lac plus the 43 rooms at the Grand Hôtel, is just as suitable for major events. "We often find ourselves privatise the two establishments. What's more, our 184 rooms are sometimes not enoughsays Jean-François Planteblat. We also have the option of dedicating one hotel to one group and the other to another." The regulars include major companies, of course, but also the national football team, for whom the Grand Hôtel is the exclusive host on match nights in Paris.
Entre-soi business
The fact remains, however, that hotels in the Île-de-France region mainly cater for fairly small seminars, with companies taking advantage of a unity of location to bring their teams together for two or three days of business meetings and team-building activities. "Chantilly doesn't attract any major eventsexplains Valentin Salas, General Manager of Destination Chantilly. Like Deauville, we don't have any large-scale establishments or convention centres, even though this is something that hoteliers are asking for these days. As a result, hotels are positioning themselves to cater for events of between 100 and 200 people."
Always a popular destination, it boasts a wide range of facilities, with a dozen hotels ranging from three to five stars. But its appeal to organisers goes much further than that. Regattas in front of the château on dragon boats - a type of Chinese canoe with oars - cultural challenges in the gardens, Olympics, electric mountain bike rallies: the possibilities for incentives are endless. "We can also organise beautiful eventsfor example, gala dinners in the great nave of the stables"says Valentin Salas. And then, of course, there's the prestige associated with the town's equestrian tradition, which is home to the living museum of the horse and hosts the highly prestigious Prix de Diane every year. "Although companies are reluctant to offer introductory riding lessons because of the risk of injury, they can offer free-riding. (Editor's note: horse-drawn buggies or rollerblades) or discover the rules of polo"The general manager of Destination Chantilly is also highlighting a new trend: ethology, the study of animal behaviour and the human-horse relationship from a management perspective.
At the beginning of the year, in addition to the resumption of the Dolce Chantilly - a major name in meeting hotels - by the Mercure brand, the range has been enhanced by the opening of a Hyatt Regency. Nestling in a 17-hectare park with the River Nonette running through it, the hotel has been reborn as a former paper factory, with 211 rooms, a 1,500 m2 and a vast spa. "The location is ideal for both weekend getaways and meetings in the countryside in a top-of-the-range setting."says Michel Morauw, Director of France for the American group.
Catering for both business customers during the week and city dwellers in search of chlorophyll at the weekend means that there are facilities to suit all tastes. a great place to unwind and do some team building. Twenty kilometres from Chantilly, the Domaine des Vanneaux opened its doors in July in the heart of the L'Isle-Adam golf course. Designed by Jean-Michel Wilmotte, like the golf clubhouse ten years earlier, the establishment boasts 67 bedrooms, five meeting rooms with large picture windows overlooking the golf course or the interior garden, as well as a gourmet restaurant, La Plume, and a bar called Le Piaf. "Birds are everywhere on the estate, and it is these lapwings that have given the hotel its name.says Yohan Amiot, vice-president in charge of managing the Mgallery brand, of which the hotel is a part. The whole 'storytelling' of the place is based on this exchange between the hotel and nature."
Meeting on the grass
Nature... Organisers and companies like to turn to nature to escape the stresses and strains of everyday life. verdant setting. "We create all the right conditions for participants to take the time to reflect and exchange ideas in a calm and enchanting setting.The Château des Mesnuls is an ideal venue for all kinds of events", explains the director of the Château des Mesnuls. For more than ten years, the château has welcomed CAC 40 companies as well as smaller businesses, for board meetings, team-building seminars and training courses. "As part of our welcome, we tell them about the history of the château, introduce the team who will be welcoming them as if they were their own family, and of course the chef and his entire brigade, who will be cooking up delicious dishes using local produce.says the host. We tell them to make themselves at home, to help themselves, to walk around and to enjoy all the activities, whether it's board games, table football or billiards indoors, or ping-pong tables and petanque courts outside. They love it. No one stays in their room, especially as, according to the Chateauform' concept, they have no television."
At the end of the day, people who have never met before get to know each other over the course of their stay and forge strong links that will be reflected in the quality of their work together. "I like to think that participants leave saying to themselves: we'll remember in ten years' time the seminar held in Enghienadmits Jean-François Planteblat. And that's for a combination of reasons: because they were welcomed on the lawn, because of the original activities organised on the lake, and because in the end, we improved the company's specifications by creating better communication between the participants. Our house signature is MICE for pleasure. We look for what's original: a meeting on the grass, a sailing or pedal boat competition."
Among the events, theescape gamewhich is very popular with the general public, is making a name for itself at corporate events. "It's very fashionable"confirms Jean-François Planteblat, from the Barrière resort in Enghien. For its part, the Radisson Blu Marne-La-Vallée has been offering a game developed in-house with the help of a specialist agency since September. "It's a sort of Cluedo revisited, with participants projecting themselves into the hotel to solve a riddle."says Vanessa Pereira. Emmanuel Schottdirector of the Tiara Château Mont-Royal in Chantilly, explained in this column last year that " What organisers mainly ask for is things that are easy to set up and directly accessible from the hotel. That's why we've added an escape game, a pétanque pitch and a Chantilly cream challenge to our range.."
In fact, more and more companies are not hesitating to let real free time to their employees outside of work sessions. "They have understood the importance of these moments of relaxation and are adjusting their diaries to ensure that there is no frustration among participants and that they can do sport or go for a walk alongside the meetings."says the host of the Château des Mesnuls. To take disconnection even further, this Chateauform' Seminar House has a hidden spot at the end of the grounds, a former 13th-century cloister.e converted into a wellness centre with swimming pool, hammam and hydromassage beds.
Today, wellbeing is becoming an integral part of events to relieve the stress of everyday life. At the Étangs de Corot, a four-star hotel in Ville-d'Avray, for example, the spa is open until 9pm on Thursdays to help you relax after a long day of meetings. "Yoga classes are very popular. I think about myself and my body, and recharge my batteries before work."says Jean-François Planteblat.
Despite all the benefits of going green, companies don't always want to get away from their urban habits. And yet they can afford to a little escape without losing sight of their business priorities. "In Versailles, just a stone's throw from the château, the Louis has a town hall feel, but away from the hustle and bustle of Paris."says Yohan Amiot. This former Sofitel, then Pullman, became an MGallery last year after a renovation by two Russian designers who reinterpreted the spirit of the Grand Siècle in the hotel, with the lobby carpet depicting the French gardens designed by Le Nôtre. With 150 rooms and eight meeting rooms, the hotel takes advantage of its proximity to the château to organise private tours for its guests, particularly of rooms not open to the public. This always makes a big impression on employees who have travelled from afar, giving them a chance to immerse themselves in French history.
In Paris itself, another establishment in the MGallery collection, theMolitor Hotelcombines a green side - The Bois de Boulogne is nearby - and the glamour of seaside resorts with its huge outdoor swimming pool, even adding a contemporary spirit with works by street artists in each of the meeting rooms. "All rooms face the poolsays Yohan Amiot. You may think you're a long way from Paris, but you're only five minutes from Porte d'Auteuil station.." The beach under the cobbles.
