A stylish new luxury destination from the Ricard family is coming to the south of France
(Bloomberg) — When French spirits entrepreneur Paul Ricard (of Pernod Ricard SA) purchased Île de Bendor—off the coast of rosé capital Bandol—in the 1950s, it was just an empty piece of land. He transformed the stony island into a hot spot where people like Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, actor Mireille Darc and artist Salvador Dalí would come for a sun-soaked stay on the Mediterranean Sea.
Now the Ricard family is teaming up with luxury hospitality group Zannier Hotels to turn the 15-acre Íle de Bendor into a vacation destination on the French Riviera, with a planned opening of Zannier Bendor in 2026. The island will include a 93-key hotel, three restaurants, a beach club, a diving center, a wellness and spa area and an artisan village.
“The island’s not just an old town, but it’s a home for us, the roots of the Ricard family,” says Marc de Jouffroy, a board member of Société Paul Ricard, in charge of the project. “My great-grandfather was very proud of being from the South of France.”
Ricard turned the island into a Provençal hamlet with—among other things—family homes, two hotels and even a zoo, making it a playground for the glamorous jet-set crowd of the 1960s and ’70s. But de Jouffroy, who spent summers on the island growing up, and got married there, knew the much-beloved place needed redevelopment to put it on the map for the modern world and restore it to its former glory.
That’s where the partnership with Zannier came in. The Bendor property will be the sixth and largest opening for the small, high-end collection of resorts that are beloved by A-listers. Angelina Jolie stayed for more than three months at Zannier Hotels Phum Baitang in Cambodia, where each of the 45 rooms is like a traditional Khmer farmhouse on stilts, with the addition of private pools. The company also has two safari lodges in Namibia, one of which features spectacular reinterpretations of Ovambo-style clay-and-thatch huts on a 13,800-acre private reserve.
Arnaud Zannier, chief executive officer of Zannier Hotels, says it was easy to imagine the future of Île de Bendor by looking back at its storied past and getting inspiration from the location.
“The South of France is a beautiful place, but there aren’t many private islands,” Zannier says. “The isolation from the mainland will give our guests an experience that they couldn’t have if they were staying at a typical hotel.”
“We want to keep this small-island feel, where you can go explore the place while you stay,” he adds. “You can go for breakfast and have a croissant in a village cafe, but then go diving on one part of the island or go to the beach on the other, then bring a friend for a drink at a bar where you can see an incredible sunset.”
De Jouffroy chimes in when the bar is brought up. “We are coming from the spirit world,” he says, “so we will be creating a very immersive experience with mixology, with product that’s not easy to find, bringing the best of this world here.” With Pernod Ricard being one of the world’s biggest producers of spirits and wine, you can expect the shelves of the bars and beach clubs to be expansive.
De Jouffroy and Zannier also say the island won’t just be for hotel guests and the Ricard family. The local community and visitors will be invited to the “village” that’s just 300 meters—less than a thousand feet—from the town of Bandol, famous for its rosé wines. The ferry takes roughly five minutes.
“People in this region have known the island since forever, and they will still be welcome,” de Jouffroy says. “It won’t just be an island for the family or the very privileged from around the world.”
As for the cost, room rates haven’t been established yet, since the resort isn’t scheduled to open until 2026. But Zannier says it will be on the same level as the five-star hotels that line the coast from Monaco to Marseilles. The glamorous Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, for instance, has rooms in September starting from €1,500 ($1,650).
“The first thing my great-grandfather said when he bought the island was that he couldn’t keep it to himself, because it was so beautiful,” says de Jouffroy. “Now the world can come back.”
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