VSThis is the third delivery of a luxury hotel by the San José group in Arcachon. After the tourist residences, the Suites du port and the Pereire Suites Today, it is the historic Les Vagues hotel which, in the city center, near the Chapelle jetty, is displaying its five stars this Friday, July 26.
VSThis is the third delivery of a luxury hotel by the San José group in Arcachon. After the tourist residences, the Suites du port and the Pereire SuitesToday, it is the historic Les Vagues hotel which, in the city center, near the Chapelle jetty, is displaying its five stars this Friday, July 26.
Les Vagues has 45 rooms including 13 family suites with price ranges between 300 and 1,500 euros per night, a SPA and a restaurant open to the public. A gourmet restaurant is announced for the end of the year. Above all, it is an incomparable view from the terrace which, at 20 meters high, overlooks Arcachon and the Bassin. A unique location for an establishment whose opening was marred by many pitfalls.“A relentlessness”
“The saga lasted four years,” summarizes Christophe San José, the owner, who believes he was the “victim of relentlessness.” As a reminder, the construction site was taken to court by the Association for the Preservation of the Arcachon Site (ASSA), which was dismissed before the Council of State. The case is now before the Bordeaux Administrative Court.
If the form and aesthetics of the building have long been discussed, it is the substance that the project’s detractors are really questioning, in particular its adequacy or otherwise with the Arcachon Local Urban Planning Plan (PLU) which issued the appropriate permits.
In addition, during the construction, two gable walls collapsed onto two neighbouring houses including the former nursing home that Christophe San José ended up buying and which today houses the wing devoted to the hotel’s suites and spa.
“The expertise is in progress,” comments the owner, who consequently holds the companies that were involved at that time responsible. As for the visual aspect of the building, he believes that “everyone knew it as being the ugliest in Arcachon.”
Here, the suites, in the wing which previously housed
“It’s a value judgment… We find solutions to make it more beautiful,” he adds from the “rooftop”, the hotel’s panoramic terrace which alone provides the signature.
A 23 million project
For Christophe San José, the twists and turns are over, whatever the outcome that the administrative court will give in several years. Coupled with Covid, they will have caused a three-year delay in opening and tripled investments, bringing them to a total of 23 million.
“So we’re really looking forward to getting started,” he smiles. “We employ 60 people on permanent contracts, mostly from Arcachon, and we’ll be open all year round.”
At the head of five luxury establishments, the entrepreneur employs nearly 300 people. He will open two other establishments of this type in Saint-Lary-Soulan in the Hautes-Pyrénées and Solférino (there, they will be ecolodges) in the Landes as well as a hotel school, under the aegis of the Lausanne hotel school, in Saint-Raphaël.