In the world of corporate seminars, the crisis is a distant memory, albeit a painful one. Since the end of sanitary constraints linked to Covid-19, last February, the recovery is really there, with booking levels higher than 2019, the reference year for a market that then generated 9 billion euros, according to the latest data from the French Union of Event Trades . “All companies – regardless of size – now organize seminars and want, despite the prevailing pessimism, create and maintain employee relationships explains Benjamin Abittan, managing director of Châteauform’, the French leader in high-end seminars.
The Parisian company of 1,900 employees has experienced a historic year with a turnover that is expected to reach 245 million euros this year. “More than ten months instead of twelve,” insists the manager.
If the business has recovered well, it is also thanks to the new ways of working (teleworking, flexible office…), that push companies to review their personnel management. The feeling of belonging to an organization tends to disappear, creating a real talent retention problem.
The seminars are thus configured as a solution to flatter the worker and remedy the loss of motivation of the “quiet quissing”, a phenomenon which consists in the strict respect of the employment contract, neither more nor less, without additional responsibilities.
“Companies look for particularly beautiful places with enriching activities to offer to employees,” assures Marie Treppoz, general manager ofHomemania. In this Parisian company of eight employeesborn in 2021, requests for seminars in top-level houses are exploding.
Originally, Homanie was created to offer holiday resorts. But seminars for groups of between 10 and 25 people account for half of TPE’s – undisclosed – turnover.
Short-term market
“Many of our customers are nomadic, homeless start-ups, who wish to meet once a month in the countryside,” describes Sophie Desmazières, co-founder of Homanie. The principle is to offer these small groups large and very nice houses with hotel services involved (cook, coach, hosts) and tailor-made activities according to the region: from visiting the Calanques in Cassis (Bouches du Rhône) to discover the nature reserves on the wild coast of La Seyne-sur-Mer (Var), through oenology in the Médoc (Gironde), skiing in Méribel (Savoie) or golf in Giverny (Eure)…
Since the recovery, the organization’s deadlines have not returned to the pre-crisis pace. From the forty-five average days of 2019, the notice between the booking and the date of the event has risen to twenty-five days. “We are in a very short-term market,” he confirms Delphine Porcherco-founder of Collection seminar. This SME located in Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique) offers its customers a catalog of about fifty houses, mainly in the provinces (one third in Ile-de-France).
“The venue is now as important as the message that the manager wants to convey to his teams,” analyzes Delphine Porcher, who counts among her clients many technology companies, the sector that consumes the most events and has the largest budgets.
While magnificent seaside residences in the summer and mountain chalets in the winter are still popular, companies are more concerned about their carbon footprint and are looking for addresses closer to their headquarters. “There is clearly a desire to shorten transport times by favoring soft mobility, such as the train”, assures Delphine Porcher, who recalls a time, not so far away, when employees arrived by plane from all over France, even from world.
Château Grange Cochard, near Lyon (Rhône), attracts Lyonnais companies for short seminars less than an hour from their headquarters.
It is therefore now in the Beaujolais or near Mâcon (Saône-et-Loire) that the Lyon companies are looking for a haven to bring their teams together. Seminarire Collection mainly receives requests for two nights on average. “Unlike before, when we had many reservations for one day, now the managers prefer to arrive the day before and spend a moment of conviviality and relaxation in the evening around a good meal,” says Delphine Porcher.
With the success of “full remote” (which consists of working from wherever you want without almost ever coming on site), especially in start-ups, companies that have the means no longer hesitate to rent a house for an entire week. On the programme: work in the morning and activities in the afternoon, for prices that can reach around 400 euros per person and day, all inclusive.
Performant Wi-Fi
But in order to offer such services to a business, homes must meet several criteria. An excellent wi-fi connection and a high-performance telephone network, but also a space that can be used as a meeting room with the installation of a screen or video projector. Only 5% of the 2,000 properties listed in the portfolio du Collector an SME of 250 employees who rent luxury villas, meet these criteria.
“Seminars are not our core business. We are specialists in holidays with family or friends, but our goal is to develop further in workshops to help owners face demand”, confides its CEO, Maximus Aniort. Possibility also, for the latter, to rent their residences during off-peak periods.
In an industry where demand also outstrips supply, it is not uncommon to see new players emerge. This is the case with Nabu, specialist in “teleworking stays”, mainly for mailboxes French technology, home enthusiast with green spaces in Perche or Normandy. A sign of the popularity of these events, this small Parisian company created in 2021 would register a 50% growth in its business per month.
In Paris, Comet has created an urban jungle in one of its spaces.
“Green” seminars flourish in Paris.
Anxious to be greener and more economical, more and more Parisian companies are organizing meetings between employees in houses or large apartments in the capital, close to a metro station. The only non-negotiable criterion: the presence of an exterior, whether it’s a terrace, a roof or a garden. “The idea is to offer our customers, who want to get some air but don’t have the time or budget for a seminar outside Paris, to experience a day of meeting with the benefits of the countryside without the travel”, explains Victor Carreau , co -founder and CEO of Comet, the citizen seminar specialist. Next year, ten minutes from La Défense, it will open a new site capable of accommodating up to 400 people on the future Arboretum campus in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine). In a highly competitive sector, the search for atypical locations gives seminar specialists a hard time: view of the Eiffel Tower, pétanque pitch or indoor swimming pool…
