Hotels in Annecy and Haute-Savoie: lakes, ski resorts and Geneva

Haute-Savoie packs two lakes, part of the Mont Blanc massif, several major ski resorts and a border with an international city into a single département. A hotel there may live off summer alone, winter alone, or both. A buyer’s first question is therefore not “how much” but “when”: in which months does the hotel earn its living, and what happens for the rest of the year.

Two seasons, two off-seasons

The lake

Annecy and its lake draw large numbers of leisure guests from May to September: the old town, the lakeshore, water sports, hiking and cycling. The Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June, with its industry market, fills the town. The summer Fête du Lac does the same. On the eastern shore, Talloires, Menthon-Saint-Bernard and Veyrier-du-Lac are home to more upmarket leisure hotels.

To the north, Lake Geneva adds Évian-les-Bains and Thonon-les-Bains, with their spa tradition, their mineral waters and a clientele of seminars and wellness guests.

Outside summer, Annecy keeps a business clientele tied to local companies, to the precision engineering industry of the Arve valley and to the outdoor sports sector. Winter by the lake is quieter.

The ski resorts

Chamonix, Megève, Saint-Gervais, Les Gets, Morzine and Avoriaz, La Clusaz, Le Grand-Bornand, Flaine: each resort has its own crowd, its own international guests and its own price level. Winter brings in most of the revenue. In summer, hiking, mountaineering, mountain biking and sporting events have given several resorts a genuine second season, shorter and less lucrative.

In between, in April-May and October-November, many hotels close. These off-seasons shape everything: payroll, works, and the timetable of any sale.

What a buyer takes from this

A buyer reads the trading accounts season by season. They look at revenue for each period, the number of weeks open, the average daily rate in high and low season, and the share of week-long stays. For a ski resort, they also ask about snow: the altitude of the ski area, snowmaking, the strength of the summer offer. A hotel that depends on a mid-altitude ski area will be looked at more cautiously than one that does not.

Geneva, Swiss guests and cross-border buyers

Geneva airport serves the whole département. The Léman Express links the canton of Geneva with Annemasse, Thonon, Évian and Annecy. Being close to Geneva matters in several ways.

• Demand. International Geneva, with its organisations, banks and companies, generates business and meetings demand that spills over into the French side and into Annecy. Swiss guests come at weekends, with families, for the lake as much as for skiing.
• Staff. The gap with Swiss salaries makes it harder to recruit and keep hotel staff. Staff housing, scarce and expensive, becomes an operating issue. A hotel with its own staff accommodation should make the most of it.
• Buyers. Swiss investors and operators take an interest in assets on the French side. They expect complete documentation, adjusted figures and a clear explanation of French law: deal structure, tax, employment. The guide Asset deal or share deal sets out the basics of that choice.

Three kinds of asset

Family-run resort hotels

Many resort hotels are run by local families, sometimes since the ski area opened. They often have a restaurant, and sometimes a spa or pool added over successive refurbishments. A buyer looks at the owner’s role at reception and in the kitchen, the condition of a building that has weathered decades of winters, and any compliance works that have been put off. Family salaries and mixed expenses need adjusting to show an EBE (the French measure of EBITDA) that a third party would achieve.

Lakeside hotels

On the shores of Lake Annecy and Lake Geneva, land is scarce and buyers price in the view. But planning rules limit the scope to extend. Value is therefore read first in the existing business, and only cautiously in what might be built.

Tourist residences

Tourist residences (résidences de tourisme) are common in ski resorts. Their structure is unusual: the apartments often belong to private investors, each of whom lets their unit to the operator under a commercial lease. Selling the operation of a residence therefore means selling a business that rests on dozens of leases, each with its own expiry date, rent and renewal terms. The buyer audits them one by one. A poorly anticipated renewal schedule can weigh on value.

Mountains and lakes: what the law governs

In mountain areas, the loi Montagne in principle requires new development to be continuous with existing towns and hamlets, and subjects large tourism projects to a specific authorisation procedure (unités touristiques nouvelles). Any extension or new building should be checked before it is highlighted in a sale file.

The shores of the large lakes, including Lake Annecy and Lake Geneva, also fall in principle under the loi Littoral. Both regimes can apply at once.

Natural hazards such as avalanches, rockfalls and torrential floods are covered by prevention plans that restrict building rights and form part of the information given to the buyer.

On all these points, the notaire, a planning lawyer and the municipality will give the answer that applies at the date of the transaction. Works required by the star rating or by the rules for buildings open to the public (ERP) come on top. The guide CAPEX, compliance and star rating explains their effect on price.

Selling in a ski resort: a matter of timing

A sale badly placed in the year can cost a season. A few principles:

• prepare during the season, present in the off-season. The accounts of the season just ended are the strongest argument. They should be ready and readable when buyers receive the file.
• visit when the hotel is quiet, or closed, with no contact with staff. A visit in the middle of winter gets noticed.
• protect the next season. Seasonal recruitment and group bookings are settled months ahead. A rumour at the wrong moment can cost you a chef or a manager who will not come back.
• aim to sign out of season, so that the handover happens before opening rather than in mid-winter.

In a valley or a resort, hoteliers, ski instructors, equipment hire shops and retailers all know each other. A listing, even an anonymous one, is quickly matched to a specific hotel. Nothing circulates without an NDA, the teaser is tested by someone who knows the resort, and the hotel’s identity is only revealed at the visit or the letter of intent when staff must not know.

How we work

We advise the seller only, under an exclusive mandate, and present the hotel off-market to qualified buyers in our Circle: groups, operators and family offices whose criteria match the asset. The Selling a hotel page describes our approach.