While Courchevel, in the French Alps, was in the spotlight during last year’s ski season with the opening of the Barrière group’s first hotel in the mountains, for 2017, the focus is on Megève, with a new luxury establishment in store from Four Seasons and Edmond de Rothschild Heritage.

The Canadian luxury hospitality group and the Rothschild family have joined forces to bring a new very-high-end offer to the Megève hotel scene. With it, Benjamin and Ariane de Rothschild will be boosting the profile of the ski resort in France’s Haute Savoie region, which their family founded in 1920 with the creation of the Société Française des Hôtels de Montagne.

A room with balcony and mountain view at the Four Seasons Hotel Megève. (AFP)

Already heading the resort’s Chalet du Mont d’Arbois (five stars) and the Ferme du Golf, the new generation of the Rothschild family now hopes to bring fresh momentum to the ski resort with the new Four Seasons Hotel Megève. Competition is fierce in the French Alps, where the Haute-Savoie and Savoie regions are going head-to-head in a battle for the luxury market. The Barrière group opened its first ski hotel last year in Courchevel, where the Capezzone family also overhauled its Le Kilimanjaro hotel, which is now the K2 Altitude.

With the support of the Four Seasons group, the Rothschild family intends to ensure Megève is a prime destination for luxury travel with a new 55-room hotel, including 14 suites. This will be the resort’s first hotel to offer direct access to the Mont d’Arbois slopes. In fact, nothing will be too much for the clients of this luxury establishment, which will offer “ski safaris” by helicopter, with links to Courchevel, Val d’Isère, Méribel and Val Thorens. The new establishment hopes to attract an international clientele, with visitors from the USA, Russia, the UK, Switzerland and France.

The pool at the Four Seasons Hotel Megève. (AFP)

The Four Seasons Hôtel Megève will have the largest spa in the French Alps. The 900 sq. m spa will feature ten treatment rooms ready to pamper guests, while the indoor pool will have massage jets and counter-current swimming.

Finally, the luxury establishment also hopes to carve out a place in in the region’s gastronomic microcosm, where Michelin-starred eateries abound. Competitors include Yannick Alléno at the Cheval Blanc (Courchevel), the Meilleur chefs in Saint-Martin-de-Belleville and Emmanuel Renaut’s Flocons de Sel in Megève. For the occasion, the Rothschilds are moving their two-Michelin-starred restaurant “Le 1920” from the Chalet du Mont d’Arbois to the new hotel. Chef Julien Gatillon will stay in command in the kitchen. The Rothschilds will also be shaking up the traditional food scene with the resort’s first-ever Japanese restaurant “Kaito.”