In 2007, it ventured into property sales offering villas at its resort on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. At the time, the company was talking of developing holiday homes attached to resorts in Asia and Australia, but in the end it has chosen France for its second property offering: a series of chalet apartments in Valmorel.
Located at 1,400 metres in the Savoie region, Valmorel sits on the north side of the mountain and while this means less chance of skiing with the sun in your face, it also guarantees better snow and of the two elements, snow is certainly more important.
This year Valmorel has reported seven metres of the white stuff. There are 150km of pisted runs as well as a huge amount of off piste skiing.
The quiet little French town attracts many locals and has a good family vibe. There are no raucous pubs and if your idea of fun is going on a bar crawl, the resort would not appeal. Nestling between the pine trees overlooking the picturesque town and its existing Club Med resort, the view from the new complex of ski in/ski out chalets is incredible. So far, two phases of a projected four-phase development have been built.
There will be 80 units when all is finished, each with its own entrance directly out on to the slopes and a private terrace. The chalet apartments are sold fully furnished and all have log fi res, private ski lockers, high-tech equipment and wi-fi.
The interiors have a traditional mountain village feel, with a four poster bed in the master bedrooms and sliding doors in the bathroom so residents can enjoy the spectacular mountains while soaking in the bath with a glass of champagne.
The properties also come with an owner?s area which allows buyers to lock up and leave their personal items and ski equipment when away or renting out their property.
Prices for the furnished chalet apartments start from ?465,000 (546,000 euros) for two bedrooms, rising to ?626,000 (735,000 euros) for three bedrooms and to ?1,039,000 (1,220,000 euros) for four bedrooms, exclusive of taxes. Sizes range from 83 square metres to 192 square metres.
Current purchases are structured under the French leaseback laws, allowing owners three weeks use per year, including one week at high season. All properties must be put in a rental pool for the remainder of the year for a minimum of nine years. Rental yield assuming 60 per cent occupancy will be three per cent. Leaseback contracts allow buyers to recover 19.6 per cent VAT.
Owners? weeks come with complimentary use of the resort restaurants and bars, leisure facilities such as the indoor pool, activities including ski passes and ski lessons, and daily entertainment.
Owners also enjoy an in-house butler service, providing breakfast and apr?s ski treats. The butler will arrange for skis and shoes to be delivered to the door.
One or all of their holiday weeks can be exchanged for a stay at one of five other Club Med resorts around the world.
?Buying a Club Med chalet-apartment as a second home is a completely stress-free investment,? says Veronique Bertrand, president of chalets and villas for Club Med.
?Your visits will be relaxing from the very start. A private car will pick you up from the airport and when you reach your home, a dedicated butler will be there to welcome you. And when you are away, Club Med will take care of your property and maintain it all year round.?
Any doubts about the property venture have vanished, she adds, as the projects have been delivered: ?At first people were very sceptical of the idea of Club Med selling real estate.
Now, they are like: ?Wow, it?s a brilliant idea.??
In typically French style, she describes the chalets at Valmorel as ?la cr?me de la cr?me? and with good reason.
Club Med uses the ?trident? instead of star as a rating and at Valmorel the chalets are considered at the top, above five tridents, which is the highest any Club Med resort can achieve.
The personal butler service is a really superb touch, the only problem is you get out of the habit of doing things for yourself.
In phase four, the apartments may be bought outright, which is expected to appeal more to French buyers who live within close distance of Valmorel and are able to visit at weekends more easily.
A major plus point of this type of ski property purchase is safety: Club Med, which has just celebrated its 60th birthday, has a huge and well-established following that includes loyal customers from its early days who are now grown up and go on Club Med holidays with their own children.
A similar blend of family friendliness, safety and luxury is on offer at Club Med?s Albion Plantation on Mauritius, the first property venture.
Launched in 2007 by the amiable CEO, Henri Giscard d?Estaing, son of former French president Valery Giscard d?Estaing, the villas are located in front of the thatched Indonesian-style resort buildings.
The 44 villas form a horseshoe-shaped complex facing the sea and have arguably one of the best locations on the island, with direct access to silver-sand beaches strewn with jet-black rocks. The lack of neighbours gives the villas exceptional privacy.
These cost from ?1,562,000 (1,829,000 euros) before tax, rising to ?1,838,000 (2,152,000 euros) before tax for a four-bedroom villa under the lease management programme. Five are under construction with delivery expected by the end of summer. Designed by Mauritian architect Jena-Michel D?Unienville, each single storey villa has a landscaped garden, verandah and a private infinity swimming pool.
Internally the villas have been decorated with local materials such as rough wood tiles, lava stone and traditional textured rendering, a blend that pays homage to the cultural mix of Mauritius where Europeans, Africans, Asians and Indians all appear to co-exist in a harmony that is increasingly rare.
Source: http://www.express.co.uk/news/property/386613/Love-a-ski-chalet-home-Join-Club-Med
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