Hôtel des Dromonts | Avoriaz, France
A 1960s architectural experiment that helped define the modern Alpine resort
Why DNA Hotels Loves It
● One of Avoriaz’s original buildings, designed by architect Jacques Labro as part of the radical new ski resort that emerged in the 1960s.
● Its extraordinary cedar-shingled, pyramid-like architecture transformed Le Corbusier-inspired ideas about compact vertical living into something unmistakably Alpine.
● A sensitive renovation preserved the building’s protected architecture while reviving its playful 1960s spirit through colour, texture and original details.
The Hotel That Helped Shape Avoriaz
When Hôtel des Dromonts opened in 1966, Avoriaz itself was barely more than an audacious idea. Architect Jacques Labro was helping create an entirely new kind of mountain resort: purpose-built, dramatically modern and designed around skiing rather than the conventions of the traditional Alpine village. Hôtel des Dromonts became one of its defining buildings. Its steep, irregular silhouette has been compared to both a pine cone and a truncated pyramid. Cedar shingles wrap angular façades that appear to grow from the mountainside, while sloping floors, arches and carefully positioned windows maximise views from within. Behind the unconventional form lay ideas influenced by Le Corbusier’s experiments in high-density living. Here, however, the urban model of the compact dwelling was transplanted into the mountains, helping establish an architectural language that would influence purpose-built ski resorts across the French Alps.
A Protected Piece of the 1960s
For decades, Hôtel des Dromonts was not simply a place to sleep but Avoriaz’s social centre. During the resort’s glamorous “Saint-Tropez de Neige” years, its restaurant, bar and discotheque drew the fashionable ski crowd. From 1973 to 1993, Avoriaz’s film festival added another layer of cultural mythology, bringing cinema and celebrity into this strange modernist settlement in the snow. Eventually, the architecture itself received official recognition through France’s 20th-century heritage classification. That made its later transformation particularly challenging. When the Sibuet family renovated the hotel, the protected structure meant the existing interior walls had to remain. Instead of fighting Labro’s architecture, designer Jocelyne Sibuet worked within it. The original compact “skier cells” became 34 rooms and suites, still intimate in scale but considerably more comfortable.
Retro, Rather Than Recreated
The renovation wisely avoids turning Hôtel des Dromonts into a 1960s museum. Original arches and cedar-lined walls remain, while locally sourced Morzine slate, textured fabrics and contemporary bathrooms bring the rooms forward. References to the hotel’s original mandarin, violet, turquoise and mauve palette survive in a more restrained form, alongside softer greys and silvers. The unusual geometry does much of the work. Curving walls, changing levels and cocoon-like spaces constantly remind you that this was never intended to be a conventional chalet. Downstairs, that character becomes more theatrical. Rough white concrete arches and cowhide surfaces define Le Festival Bar, while vintage photographs recall Avoriaz’s wilder years — including the extraordinary images of a skier plotting a route straight down the steep exterior of the hotel.
Skiing from an Architectural Landmark
There is nothing nostalgic about the location. Hôtel des Dromonts sits directly within the Portes du Soleil ski domain, with genuine ski-in, ski-out access and the lifts only moments from the boot room. France and Switzerland unfold in either direction, with Morzine, Les Gets, Les Crosets and Champéry all part of the wider network. Afterwards, the hotel becomes its own little world again: fireplaces, après-ski drinks, classic French cooking and the Pure Altitude spa hidden beneath the building. The rooms may still be compact. That is part of the architecture rather than something to disguise.
Why It Works
Hôtel des Dromonts matters because it captures a moment when the Alps became a laboratory for architectural experimentation. Jacques Labro rejected the picturesque chalet and imagined something radically different: dense, sculptural and futuristic, yet clad in a material that would weather naturally into the mountain landscape. Nearly sixty years later, its odd angles and cedar skin still look unmistakable. Many hotels borrow the visual language of the 1960s. Hôtel des Dromonts actually lived it.
