Villages Clubs du Soleil acquires Vacancéole: scaling up in French holiday accommodation

Villages Clubs du Soleil, the Marseille-based social tourism operator

Founded in 1960 as a non-profit association and based in Marseille, Villages Clubs du Soleil is a long-standing player in French social tourism — holidays made accessible to families. The commercial subsidiary of two associations, the group owns and runs all-inclusive holiday villages. It operates 17 villages in the mountains, by the sea and in cities, with revenue of EUR 74m and a feature that is rare in the sector: it owns most of its sites. Its strategy is to steer the group through the major climate, social and digital transitions in tourism, scaling up through external growth while staying true to its roots as a social and solidarity economy business.

Vacancéole, one of France's leading holiday residence managers

Founded in 2009 in Savoie by Éric Journiat and Nicolas Braymand, Vacancéole manages, operates and markets holiday residences (résidences de tourisme) on behalf of their owners across every region of France. Its network was built mainly by taking over and turning around struggling leases, plus a handful of new openings. With around a hundred sites and almost 30,000 beds, and revenue of EUR 62m in 2022, the company ranks among France's very largest managers of holiday rental properties. It had strengthened its financial structure in 2020 by opening its capital to two regional institutional investors, Garibaldi Participations and Crédit Agricole Alpes Développement. After the deal, Vacancéole keeps its scope, its identity and its brand: after forty years in tourism, its co-founder chose to back the business with a financially solid partner so that its teams could carry on the work done over almost fifteen years.

What the press said

The deal was announced at the end of July 2023 and widely covered by the French travel trade press. Main articles (in French):

Why this acquisition, and why this target

For Villages Clubs du Soleil, the issue was critical mass and diversification. However solid, an operator of 17 villages remains exposed to the concentration of its estate and formats, while the French holiday market is consolidating around players able to spread the cost of digitalisation, the energy transition of buildings and climate risk over dozens of sites. By taking over Vacancéole, the group almost doubles in size, diversifies its destinations and its range — classic self-catering rentals complementing the all-inclusive offer — and joins France's leading operators. “Sixty years after we were founded as an association, a new chapter is opening,” said Jérôme Pasquet, chairman of the management board, at the time of the announcement — a change of scale achieved without abandoning the social tourism model.

On the target side, Vacancéole had a profile that is rare in this market. In fourteen years, the Savoie-based company rose to the very top tier of French holiday rental managers by building a distinctive skill: taking over struggling operating leases and turning them around, while maintaining a relationship of trust with residence owners — the decisive asset in this business. Its network of around a hundred sites and 30,000 beds, spread across every region, gave the acquirer exactly what it lacked: geographic coverage, a variety of formats and a team experienced in operating on behalf of third parties. In addition, the presence of two regional investors in its capital since 2020 and the co-founder's stated wish to join a stronger group created the succession window that the acquirer was able to seize.

Consolidating French holiday accommodation in the face of its transitions

This deal illustrates a deep-seated trend in French holiday accommodation: a historically fragmented sector — association-run villages, residence managers, independents — consolidating under the combined pressure of digital distribution, the energy renovation of an ageing property stock and climate change, which is already redrawing the map of mid-altitude mountain destinations. Critical mass becomes the condition for investment: pooling booking systems, financing the transition of buildings and smoothing seasonality across sea, mountain and city.

The deal also tells the story of a domestic consolidation with a distinctive face: a social and solidarity economy business, founded as an association in 1960, that changes scale without changing its nature — financed by a publicly disclosed syndicate of banks and institutions, from Caisse d'Epargne CEPAC to Caisse des Dépôts, including the Obligations Relance scheme. The target's brand and teams are preserved, jobs are maintained, and the combined group — around 120 sites and 38,000 beds — carries a distinctly French model: accessible holidays for families, run from the regions.

Collaboration Capital's added value on this mandate

On this deal, Collaboration Capital acted as buy-side adviser. An acquisition in holiday accommodation plays out in four stages, and the nature of the business — operating sites on behalf of third parties, to the rhythm of the seasons — gives each of them a particular technical edge.