Jacques and Lauryanne Buttard, hosts

Jacques et Lauryanne Buttard © Hélène Dos Santos – Parc national de Port-Cros

Port-Cros National Park

"We immediately fell in love with the property."

Château Meï-Lésé is first and foremost a love story. Between Jacky Buttard, a Savoyard who fell madly in love at the age of 21 with the sister of a friend, "she radiated...". Lauryanne, a beautiful blonde, also fell in love.

In couple since 1978, they got married in 1999 and are, one as the other, bulimics of work. Singer and butler, Jacky has for a long time led both careers at the same time " I made records, concerts in France and abroad ".

Just like Lauryanne, an acrobatic dancer, who "has worked all over the world". In 1979, they took a business in Morzine. A hotel-bar-restaurant-discotheque that they recovered in a sad state. "We turned it into a paradise". But at the cost of 35 years of hard work. " We didn't go on vacation ten times, even the wedding was postponed for 15 days because we had arrivals!

In the summer, the Buttards don't work much in Morzine, they want the sun and go down to the South with the idea of finding a business "maybe a beach" for the season.

We had thought of Saint-Tropez, but when we arrived at La Croix-Valmer, my wife had stars in her eyes. We saw the hotel that had been closed for 5 years. We asked to visit and we fell in love immediately.

It took them two years to acquire it in 1996. For 17 years, the couple manages both businesses: Meï-Lésé is closed in winter, until 2014 when they sell in Haute-Savoie. With regret... " Morzine was a beautiful place, we lived there happily. But today we live in another paradise. We love people, our vocation is hospitality and the hotel is doing well". A project? "We would like to become a four-star hotel.

For them the brand Esprit Parc National is also important because it is a recognition of quality and commitment to the environment. It's a process that we've started, but it encourages us to go further.

This is what we are doing by opting for ecological products, sorting in the rooms, and making our customers aware of water and energy savings. They also dream of finding the time to "make the circuit of the three Golden Islands and spend a night in each... An accessible dream!