24 January 2023 | NEWS
Do you want to rest, relax and restore your energy levels in a completely natural setting or experience an unusual stay somewhere? The Whitepod, the eco-luxury hotel nestled at an altitude of 1400 metres above Monthey and just below the Dents du Midi, ticks all the boxes when it comes to a unique experience!
The tone is set on arrival: you will not be given the key to your room (a tent has no lock...!), but a backpack containing a headlamp, binoculars and a pair of snowshoes depending on the season. All you have to do is climb the 800 metres to your pod. Your luggage will follow by snowmobile or electric Land Rover (the only one in Switzerland). When you reach the top, are you feeling the results of the happiness hormone produced by the physical effort you have just made or the breathtaking view of the Rhone valley which seems to flow into Lake Geneva? Either way, you'll be blown away! And rest assured, it’s not just the view that will leave you speechless, but also the level of comfort in your tent and the quality of the hotel service.
AN ECO-FRIENDLY AND COMFORTABLE ADVENTURE... LOGICAL!
The Whitepod adventure started in 2004 in Villars-sur-Ollon, with only three small pods (dome-shaped tents) without electricity or water. The concept won the Responsible Tourism Award. Since then, the hotel has moved to Les Giettes in the Valais region and now has 18 pods offering all the comforts of a top-of-the-range hotel room, equipped with a wood-burning stove, excellent Swiss bedding (Elite), a bathroom and a large terrace with a breathtaking view of the Alps. The restaurant Les Cerniers, located next to the reception, offers 100% home-made cuisine with all ingredients sourced within a 50 km radius. The guests, immersed in nature, are encouraged to think differently and are made aware of their consumption. For example, lighting is limited in order to reduce visual pollution and make it possible to rediscover the stars. Everything is done to consume minimum water and electricity. Regional purchases are preferred and waste is minimised and recycled. The staff live nearby and walk to work. Motorised transport is also limited.
In the hands of Patrick Delarive, who bought it in 2008, Whitepod has become a new reference: an eco-luxury hotel that has grown from 500 visitors a year to 15,000 guests today. The establishment even shrugged off the health crisis, with an occupancy rate during this period of 92%: staggering figures compared to the Swiss hotel market.
Why did you get into the eco-hotel business in 2008 ?
I was touched by the concept and the couple who started it. At that time, I became more aware: I was in the process of rehabilitating an industrial site in Vevey (Les Moulins de la Veveyse) to build 400 ecological housing units. I felt that we had to change the way we built. When I discovered this new way approach to eco-tourism, I knew intuitively that it could only be successful. My modus operandi, which I apply to each of my projects, is to add "value", to make it "meaningful" and also "fun". We were there at the crossroads of the three.
Do the customers who come here do so for these environmental considerations ?
No, I think it's about everything we offer: our guests come first and foremost to have an extraordinary experience and we do everything we can to ensure that they come face to face with surprise effects throughout their stay. The view, the comfort, the attention to detail and level of service, and even the St. Bernard are part of it! However, there has been a real sense of increased awareness on the part of travellers in recent years: they want their stay to have meaning. The hotel team strives every day to set an example and to explain why it is important to opt for short, local supply chains in preference. The locally produced bar of soap that avoids plastic packaging is one such product. Not offering orange juice for breakfast, but replacing it with locally-grown apricot juice is another. Even the fact of not having champagne or rosé from Provence because of their geographical distance is well accepted once the reason behind it has been explained.
Do you think eco-tourism will have a real impact on the environment ?
I don’t think that laws and taxes are a good way to raise awareness and change behaviour. This type of micro-initiative has an exemplary role to play. Today's luxury clientèle is tired of moving from a 5-star hotel in Paris to one in New York where they will have an identical experience. Coming here and hearing the sounds of the animals in the middle of the night is a great way to fill up on emotions and memories. When you wake up in one of the pods in the middle of winter, it's like being in Lapland. You are in the middle of nowhere, completely cut off from your daily life, discovering and feeling something really new. This concept has prompted us to set up a new hotel group, which will be presented shortly, in order to create similar amazing experiences, which our customers are so fond of, elsewhere in Switzerland. The D Hotel Group will provide this "Definitely Different" welcome.
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