She hung up her skis in 1972 and has since struck gold in business. Historically anchored in the mountain equipment rental industry with Skiset, which represents almost half of the activities, the Famose group now manages 1,200 stores in Europe including those in Gourette and La Mongie. The Pyrénéenne is also at the head, with her children David and Sarah Brémond, of a portfolio of 40 establishments, restaurants and luxury hotels established from Saint-Tropez to Megève and from Biarritz to Saint-Barth.
After winning bronze and then silver at the Grenoble Games in 1968, Annie Famose came to greet her admirers in Pau.
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Iconic places on the coast
Their latest? The Chiberta hotel in Anglet. 58 rooms, a restaurant, seven seminar rooms, two swimming pools… A purchase made on impulse because the Famose trio has got into the habit of betting on opportunities, rather than getting involved in long prospecting plans, explains Sarah, who manages the business on the Basque coast, while her brother David develops the group in the South-East.
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“We have developed the hotel business only in the Basque Country”
From the family home in Anglet, the Famose group keeps a keen eye on establishments that have both potential and a remarkable location. Like their very first acquisition in the South-West: the Blue Cargo in Bidart, an emblematic party venue on the Côte. That was in 2013. Another spot since then in their fold: La Petite Plage at Port Vieux in Biarritz discovered in 2017, then the very chic Café de Paris which overlooks the Grande Plage and finally the Radisson Blu in 2023, a hotel rated for its view of the Côte des Basques and its rooftop swimming pool.
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The Café de Paris in Biarritz, Place Bellevue, taken over by the Famose group.
“We have developed the hotel business only in the Basque Country,” says Sarah from Anglet, while her mother lives in her house acquired nearly 50 years ago, 20 kilometers from Paris, ideally located to remain close to the Skiset headquarters.
To Gourette, then Barèges
Annie has been returning to Béarn less frequently since her parents died, but has kept strong ties there, including her nieces who are doctors and dentists in Pau. “I was born in Jurançon, ten days after the landing,” she recalls. “We lived at number 1 on Place du Junqué. It was the Germans who took my mother to give birth at the midwife’s!”
As a child, Annie attended primary school in the town before moving to Billère, where her parents remained their entire lives. Both teachers in sports education, they passed on to her a taste for exercise with weekends that often alternated between the Atlantic and the Pyrenees. “In winter, it was time for Gourette,” remembers Annie. “That’s where I started to master my first turns thanks to the Boule de neige ski lift.” Then the family settled in Barèges to allow the two older brothers to get into competition. Rather promising, the youngest joined the Avalanche club, which is very structured for training young people. “At the age of 14, I then left my family and the Pyrenees to go and train in the Alps. I stayed there almost until I was 30 and I often come back.”
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Annie Famose, world champion in Portillo, Chile in 1966.
When Annie hung up her skis in 1972, it was only logical that she would continue working in the Alps, managing her first ski shops. With her great friend, the skier Isabelle Mir from Saint-Lary, she also developed a new technique for ski training by creating the “Children’s Village”.
The concern for work
Successes that owe nothing to chance. “This success is a lot of work,” she analyzes. “When you do high-level sport, you know that to gain a hundredth, ten hundredths… it’s all in the detail.” A hard worker, ultra-meticulous, David and Sarah followed in her footsteps. “I’m lucky to have two children who work a lot and who have the same attention to detail as me. And then we are agile in the way we work as a family. We think quickly as a threesome, but sometimes we make mistakes… and therefore progress.”
“Sport teaches you to be humble. One day you win, one day you lose.”
No retirement in sight, then, for this champion, now a regular on the golf courses. Still as sharp, she confides that she has kept her sports habits, paying attention to what she eats, drinks and rests. A far cry from a jet-setter life in her luxury establishments. “If you go for bling-bling, then you’re done for,” she smiles. “Sport teaches you to be humble. One day you win, one day you lose. It allows you to learn to analyze things in a simple way.” Inspiring.
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La Petite Plage at Port Vieux in Biarritz is also part of the Famose group.
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The Chiberta Hotel, the latest arrival in the Famose group.
Two major construction sites on the Basque Coast
On the agenda for the coming weeks for the mother-daughter duo, tackling the renovation of the Chiberta hotel with work in two phases: the rooms this year, followed by the restaurant. All in the spirit of the Famose group: “We really want to mark our establishments with an atmosphere and very particular attention to the plate in order to ensure a gastronomic offer that also attracts an external clientele”, underlines Sarah who praises the work of Éric Frechon. The three-star chef brings his experience to the group. “This has truly represented a turning point for the group in terms of quality and rigor in the kitchens. He is one of the people who makes us progress a lot by leaving nothing to chance.”
Sarah and Annie will also oversee the renovation of the Radisson Blu in Biarritz, which will be part of the Accor group’s MGallery. “And we will continue to operate according to opportunities, with an eye now on Paris and Swiss resorts. The common point of our establishments will remain that of finding the number 1 locations, with potential.”
