Hotels in Bordeaux and the vineyards: selling an asset in the Gironde

The Bordeaux market brings together two realities that are read differently. In the city, urban hotels driven by business, tourism and listed heritage, in a centre that high-speed rail has brought closer to Paris. In the vineyards, boutique hotels and guest houses often woven into a wine estate, whose value depends as much on the land, the château’s name and the wine calendar as on the hotel operation. The same buyer is rarely interested in both.

The city: a listed centre, transformed access

Bordeaux is a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the name “Bordeaux, Port of the Moon”, for its 18th-century urban ensemble and its quays. Cleaned stone facades, a reclaimed riverfront and the tram have renewed the city’s image and the number of people who visit it.

Demand has several sources:

• city breaks and wine tourism, with the Cité du Vin as a starting point for the vineyards
• business travel, driven notably by the aerospace and defence industry around Mérignac and Saint-Médard-en-Jalles, by services and by regional administrations
• conferences and trade fairs, at the convention centre and the exhibition park in Bordeaux-Lac
• wine events, including the en primeur week each spring, which brings together négociants, brokers, journalists and buyers from abroad

The opening of the LGV Sud Europe Atlantique high-speed line changed behaviour: shorter business stays, day returns, but also more frequent short leisure breaks. Around Saint-Jean station, the Bordeaux-Euratlantique project is creating an office district and a new hotel supply, often branded. Bordeaux-Mérignac airport completes the picture.

For a city-centre hotel, a buyer looks at two things. Its position relative to the flows: station, tram, quays, historic quarter. And its ability to hold its own against new supply built near the station.

Converting a building within the protected area

Central Bordeaux is covered by a conservation plan (plan de sauvegarde et de mise en valeur), one of the strictest forms of protection in French planning law. Stone facades, joinery, roofs, courtyards and sometimes certain interiors are regulated. The state heritage architect is involved in most works.

Hotels are directly affected:

• an extra room, a lift, a terrace or a new shopfront needs to be checked in advance with an architect who knows these rules.
• converting a townhouse or an office building into a hotel, which is common in historic centres, depends on regulatory feasibility as much as on the purchase price.
• fire safety and accessibility for an ERP, a building open to the public, in an old building sometimes rely on waivers, which must be available to show.

A buyer values what has been authorised, not what is hoped for. Permits obtained, opinions issued, works completed with their invoices: all of this belongs in the data room. The guide CAPEX, compliance and star rating explains how such works affect value.

Wine country: hotels tied to an estate

Around the city, the Médoc, Saint-Émilion, whose jurisdiction is also a World Heritage Site, Pessac-Léognan, the Sauternes area and Entre-deux-Mers are home to boutique hotels, guest houses and converted chartreuses. Many grew out of a wine estate: rooms in an outbuilding, a restaurant next to the cellar, function rooms for seminars and weddings.

These assets raise a question rarely asked in the city: what exactly is being sold?

• The perimeter. The hotel often has to be carved out of the estate: land division, access, utilities, parking, reciprocal easements, shared spaces.
• The name. The château’s name usually belongs to the wine estate. Can the hotel keep it, and on what terms? A licence or a usage agreement is negotiated with the vineyard owner.
• Agricultural land. If the sale includes agricultural plots or buildings, the SAFER, the rural land agency, may in principle hold a right of pre-emption. The notary checks this very early, as it affects the timetable.
• Rural planning rules, which are often restrictive for extensions and new buildings in agricultural or natural zones.

Selling the property and the business together (murs et fonds), the business alone or a company, or keeping the property within the estate and granting a lease to the operator: these options are compared case by case with the lawyer and the notary. The guide Asset deal or share deal sets out the principles.

A year set by the wine calendar

In the vineyards, the year follows the wine calendar: en primeur in spring, tourism in summer, the harvest in autumn, a quieter winter, sometimes with a closure. Seminars, weddings and receptions fill part of the gaps and can weigh heavily in revenue.

A buyer of a boutique country hotel therefore examines:

• the split between rooms, food and beverage and events, with the margin on each
• reliance on private events, their seasonality and the word of mouth that brings them in
• the owner’s role, often the face of the estate, who welcomes, sells and builds loyalty
• capacity, usually small, which makes every room and every booking for a reception count for more
• the technical condition of old buildings, sometimes scattered, costly to maintain and to heat

Towards the ocean, the Arcachon Bay and the Gironde coast add summer demand of their own, subject in principle to the loi Littoral, France’s coastal planning law, and to rules protecting natural areas.

Selling in a world where everyone talks

Bordeaux wine is a network. Owners, négociants, brokers, banks and advisers have known one another for a long time. A rumour that a hotel attached to an estate is for sale can be read as a sign that the estate itself is in difficulty, with effects on its commercial relationships. Discretion then protects two assets at once.

In practice: a teaser that names neither the appellation nor any identifiable landmark, visits scheduled outside the periods when the estate receives many visitors, and the identity disclosed late, at a time chosen by the seller.

How we work

We advise the seller, and only the seller, from valuation to completion: reading the operation before the bricks, choosing the structure, preparing the file, then approaching qualified buyers one at a time, off-market. See our hotel sale advisory service.