My Hotel Geek

As an ex Whistler ski bum, I have to talk about the success of giant resort developer Intrawest even if it’s not a Canadian company anymore.

In August 2006, New-York based Fortress Investment Group, a giant private equity firm, bought Intrawest for 2.8 billion, but the company is still headquartered in Vancouver. Everyone knows that Intrawest is behind ski resorts such as Whistler and Tremblant.

Did you know about Arc 1950 in the French Alps? Intrawest is a partner of the Compagnie des Alpes (CDA), based in Paris, which is the largest ski company in terms of number of skiers (over 13 million per year) and ski lifts. CDA owns interests in the largest European ski resorts including Les Arcs.

Just like Whistler and Tremblant, Arc 1950 is a beautiful alpine village built at 1,950 metres’ altitude and offers 4-star accommodation with hotel services, fine shops and daily events. The first 102 unit-residence, Le Hameau du Glacier, was completed for the 2003-2004 winter ski season and was sold in 8 hours in March 2002 for 25 million euros! The village was built progressively in phases and has 800 residential units, with a total of 3,500 beds.

The luxury residences are managed by both HMC and Radisson SAS. They take care of Le Hameau du Glacier, Le Refuge du Montagnard, Le Prince des Cimes, Le Jardin de la Cascade and Auberge Jerome. All the buildings are right at the foot of the slopes. The latest real estates developments include The Chalet des Lys and Manoir Savoie, great ownership opportunities… Arc1950 is high on my list of places I want to go and I look forward to experiencing our Canadian expertise in France!