hospitalitytoday.com | 19
minute spa treatment, and have a 6 night
minimum stay in the main winter periods
(10 nights over Christmas and New Year).
The winter season starts in early December
and ends in mid April, the main season
being from Christmas week to mid-March.
Then in 2011, the Rochedys invested
nearly 7 million Euros in a huge
transformation, removing the ski slope
in front of the hotel and creating a new
1800 sq m complex underneath, before
putting the slope back as before.
They now had a new 1100 sq m spa
and pool (below left), and a new ‘gourmet
bistro’ restaurant, Le Chabotté.
The transformed Le Chabichou joined
‘Relais et Chateaux’ in 2012. The result
of all this investment is that they can
charge room rates between €780 and
€2,080 (most typically €1,150) in winter
high season, and typically €150 for a 50
Not only has the hotel changed over the
years, but so has Courchevel itself, from a
Savoyard village with a growing ski business,
to the Alpine equivalent today of Monaco
or St Tropez. The main street now includes
Louis Vuitton, Graaf, Christian Dior and
Dolce e Gabbana, and don’t be surprised
to pay €7 for an espresso and glass of
water on the ski slopes, or restaurant main
courses starting at €28 for risotto.
The traditional clientele of French and
English tourists have now been joined
by high-spending Russians, and Le
Chabichou’s guests have over the years
included showbiz celebrities like Elton
John, Gérard Depardieu and (inevitably)
Johnny Halliday - though the week before
Christmas, the hotel seemed to be full of
British families with children, many of
whom were clearly regulars.