The Folie Douce brand which brings together a wide range of cuisine, an apres ski atmosphere and its signature slopeside cabaret show is expanding in to the hotel market.
In recent years the group, which began with its original on mountain restaurants at Val d'Isere, has added more big on mountain venues at top resorts across the French Alps and this season will unveil the first La Folie Douce hotel in Chamonix.
However this appears to be just the start with the announcement that a huge 1,500 guest bed complex will shortly begin construction in Serre Chevalier for opening from 2020, or possibly 2021, depending on how things go. This will have its own access lift and include the first Folie Douce ski school.
The Chamonix hotel will open on December 22nd within the Grand Palace of Savoy building which has watched over town and mountains since 1904.
The fully renovated hotel will be a new trendy spot in Chamonix and offer direct access to the slopes, three restaurants, live entertainment, Spa, fitness and well-being, kids' club, sports shop… all within a stone's throw of the pedestrian centre.
Guests will have the choice between the 4 star premium accommodation (141 rooms for 2 to 4 persons) and the 3 star « hostel » accommodation (107 rooms for 2 to 6 persons).
The Folie Douce hotel announced for Serre Chevalier will in contrast be purpose built and also three times bigger in terms of the number of beds – but it will have the same 4 star hotel or 3 star 'hostel' bed mix with a range of accommodation from the standard room 'hostel' (from €25 per night) to the more luxury accommodation (up to €335 per night). Located in the resort's Villeneuve ski area it will have restaurants, après-ski, swimming pools and spa plus the Folie Douce ski school in partnership with a local ski school.
There will be a space dedicated to 'young people' with indoor play areas and "La Folie Tricks Academy", a space to practise skiing and snowboarding jumps, a climbing wall, a video games room, a cinema and a children's hut for the little ones.
The basement of the complex will include areas for parking, ensuring cars are not visible, while also serving as space for clubs, kitchens, theatres, spas, etc.
Meanwhile adults will enjoy the famous après-ski experience which has made La Folie Douce famous in bars and clubs, but only from 17h to 21h, to avoid nuisance noise, a resort statement says.
Common areas will not be reserved just for the resort's clientele, but are intended instead to be spaces for meeting and exchange between visitors and locals on the one hand, between generations and also between customers, the resort statement adds.