Anyone can send you a listing. The difference on a six- or seven-figure stay is everything that happens around the house — and that is the part a listing site does not touch.
Beyond the listing
We work from villas we (or our partners) know first-hand: the real view, the real noise, the staff, the state of the property this season. We match the house to how you actually travel — family, a group, or a quiet week — rather than to the photos.
Staff, security and provisioning
The stays that work come fully run: private chef and household staff, discreet security and close protection where needed, the fridge stocked to your brief before you land, and a single contact on the ground. We arrange it all and stay on call.
Transfers and the wider trip
We pair the villa with the jet, helicopter or chauffeured ground, plus yacht days and tables nearby — one team for the whole stay.
Where
Saint-Tropez, Cannes, the Cap d'Antibes and the wider Riviera; Ibiza and Mykonos; the Italian coast; and chalet stays in Courchevel, Gstaad, Verbier and Saint-Moritz for the winter.
How we book it
Tell us where, when, how many bedrooms and the feel you want. We shortlist houses that genuinely fit and handle staff, security and provisioning end to end. Villa stays sit within membership; see villas & private resorts.
Getting to the house: airfields, altiports and the last mile
The best house in a resort can be the hardest to reach on the day you arrive. In the mountains especially, the airfield decides more than the address.
Courchevel
Courchevel's altiport has a runway of only 537 metres, climbing at a gradient of about 18.6 per cent. It sits at 2,008 metres above sea level.
There is no instrument approach and no runway lighting. Mountains rule out a go-around, so a pilot who starts an approach has to land.
Only small turboprops such as the Pilatus PC-12 and Cessna Caravan, and helicopters, use it. In fog or low cloud, flights divert to Chambéry.
A Courchevel chalet stay therefore needs a fallback. We plan a car or helicopter from Geneva or Chambéry alongside the altiport flight, so a weather day does not cost an evening. See Geneva to Courchevel by helicopter and Courchevel chalets.
Gstaad
Gstaad is easier. Saanen airfield, just outside the village, has a 1,400-metre asphalt runway and no scheduled flights, but extensive private aviation.
Light jets and turboprops can land within minutes of the chalet. Local noise rules mean most aircraft approach from one direction, which can add a few minutes in the air. See Gstaad chalets.
The Riviera and the islands
On the coast the constraint is the road, not the runway. In high summer the coast road into Saint-Tropez is slow.
A short helicopter hop removes it. See Nice to Saint-Tropez by helicopter.
On the Costa Smeralda, Olbia airport is about 18 nautical miles from Porto Cervo. A house near the marina can be reached by car or by boat from the airport side.
Why it belongs in the villa brief
We look at arrival before we shortlist houses. A slightly less dramatic chalet with a reliable transfer often makes the better week. That is particularly true when children or older guests are travelling.