Eric Dardé, President & CEO, Beaumier Hotels & Resorts

Posted in People on 14 December, 2023

Beaumier hotels are beautiful inside and out. Combining his passions for nature and hospitality, Eric Dardé discusses the complexities of creating a brand, staying close to your team, and the importance of a room with a view.

Words: Emma Kennedy

Shying away from generic properties in well-trodden cities, French hotel group Beaumier take its locations seriously. With a connection to nature at the heart of its properties – stretching from the snowy peaks of the French Alps to the chic shores of the Côte d’Azur – they are about to venture outside France with the opening of a ski resort in Wengen, Switzerland followed by a discreet hideaway in Ibiza, next summer.

Le Brasserie, Le Val Thorens

Currently dividing his time between the UK, France, Switzerland, and Ibiza, I caught up with Dardé from his home in Devon and start by asking him how it all began. “How long have you got?” he quipped, before giving me a potted history. Growing up in Versailles, he left school at 16 with no qualifications.  After several false starts, he finally found his métier as a sommelier at his uncle’s wine bar in Paris. “This I enjoyed!” he laughs. More bars, restaurants, and hotel work followed in quick succession before accepting a job with Accor where he stayed for 20 years. Rising through the ranks, from waiter to operations manager, ultimately responsible for the operations of 24 hotels across the UK, he learnt the industry inside out. “I was like a sponge, I absorbed everything I was taught – and I had some great teachers and leaders,” he tells me.

Walking away from the security of a career with an industry giant is never a simple move, and I wonder if it was always the plan to be more independent. He pauses to consider his answer. “When you work for a large company, and you are good at what you do, they promote you which is great. But for me there was suddenly a point when I felt so far away from my guests, my team, and my hotels, that it just didn’t make sense anymore, and I felt enough was enough.”

Opening the first hotel in 2011 high in the French Alps, under the original brand name Les Hôtels d’en Haut, one soon became three with the acquisition of two more. Taking the time to fine-tune and establish exactly the style of hospitality he wanted to offer his guests, when the opportunity arose in 2015 to acquire Les Roches Rouges, a 46-room hotel on the Côte d’Azur, the group headed south and began a lengthy refurbishment. Built in 1950, the original hotel was an unassuming three-star property, perched on the water’s edge in Saint Raphael. Staying true to its modernist roots, the exterior was restored to its former glory, and the interiors were given a cool, contemporary facelift. Before long, it became a much-celebrated destination for design conscious travellers in search of sunshine and art. Winning numerous awards and appearing regularly in travel features, it brought some much-needed old school glamour to the Riviera, and industry recognition.

Clockwise from top: La Bastide, Capelongue; Detail, Le Val Thorens/Benoit Linero; Les Roches Rouge reception

The success of Les Roches Rouges was enough to convince Dardé to do more, and next stop was Provence. Taking up residence in an old oil mill, Le Moulin in Lourmarin, soon followed. Described as ‘countrified and cool’, the property underwent a major but sensitive refurbishment, transforming the former mill into a 36-key hotel, before opening its doors in May 2021.

Joining forces with KSL Capital Partners at the beginning of the project in 2019, Dardé explains why this was really the turning point for the brand. “KSL are quite unique as they only invest in tourism and leisure, which means they have a deep understanding of the industry. Suddenly I was working with people who shared my vision, and it was then we took the decision to rebrand as Beaumier.”

The literal translation of Hôtels d’en Haut is ‘Hotels up High’, which works well for hotels in an alpine setting. “Obviously the name didn’t make sense once we had opened properties in the south,” he smiles before adding, “But also, I never truly considered Hôtels d’en Haut as a brand. Until Les Roches Rouges, I was still understanding what it was I wanted to create.”

With so many competitors, I ask Dardé what he believes differentiates Beaumier from the rest. “There are many things, but firstly I think it’s the consistency of the locations. We are only in areas surrounded by nature, so when you open your windows, it is only sea, mountains, or countryside. It is also the way we tell our stories, which are always sincere and crafted. We work with a talented collective of artist, designers and locals, to bring a contemporary aesthetic to our hotels. The simple way to work would be to always use the same designer, but we don’t. We only work with designers who are totally connected to the environment we want to create and the guests we want to attract.”

His next observation comes as a surprise. “All our interior designers are residential designers, and we love this as we see their approach the design from a guest’s point of view. It means we all work together. The head chef will be involved in the design of the kitchen, the head barman the bar area, and so on. Sometimes the debates are lively, but often it means we do things a little differently which we like. It works well.”

Le Bistrot de L’Alpaga

Whilst the properties all have their own identity – intrinsically linked to each location – there is an aesthetic thread that runs through all Beaumier hotels. Best described as laid-back luxury, they all appear cool, calm and collected.  Mid-century furniture sits alongside contemporary classics, well curated modern artworks hang from whitewashed walls, and an emphasis on natural materials reinforce its connection to the environment it inhabits. They share a timeless elegance, without being showy.

Obviously comfortable with its not-so-new identity, I ask if there any such thing as a typical Beaumier guest? “No,” is the short answer, “but I strongly believe we design our hotels for people who share our views on life – who want to reconnect with the essentials of life. They enjoy nature, the countryside, the mountains, and sea. Wellbeing is also important to us. We encourage outdoor sport – bring your trainers, take a hike, swim in the sea, or ski in the mountains. Our guests are hedonistic at heart and enjoy having a good time.”

Looking to the future, I ask Dardé about Beaumier’s next project following the 2022 acquisition of three hotels in Switzerland’s, Wengen. Visibly excited he tells me; “It is going to be beautiful. It is our biggest refurbishment to date, and we hope to be fully open in June 2024. We are also working on renovations of Petunia, Ibiza as well as more work to Capelongue, (an existing property in Provence). I’m also hoping to close deals in other European destinations, but I can’t say more as nothing is done till it’s done. There’s a lot going on!”

As the interview draws to a close, we discuss Beaumier’s long term plans. “The bigger ambition is to grow to 15 – 20 hotels, in Spain, Italy and Northern Europe – we would love to do something in the UK,” he adds. “Right now, we have 11 hotels, but I know that when you grow too big it’s not the same. We only do boutique hotels because we want to stay close to our guests and our teams – and when you get too big, it can be challenging.” Then as a telling afterthought, in true entrepreneurial style he adds, “Having said that, once we really succeed in Europe, ‘could we open another five outside?’…Yes definitely.”