Club Med Has Big Plans for Growth in All-Inclusive Resorts
The pool at Club Med Miches. Photo: Club Med
Club Med is expanding. The company will debut three all-inclusive mountain resorts in December including Club Med Tignes in the French Alps, Club Med Val d’Isère also in the French Alps, and Club Med Kiroro in Japan. And, Club Med will open the first resort in the U.S. in 20-plus years.
Club Med Val d’Isère will mark the very first Exclusive Collection mountain resort, says Amélie Brouhard, Club Med North America’s VP of Marketing and Sales.
“We’re thrilled to expand our all-inclusive mountain portfolio to continue making ski vacations more accessible and cost-efficient for travelers all around the world. With everything taken care of from lift passes and group ski lessons including kids to unlimited culinary experiences, family-friendly activities, and daily entertainment, there’s truly an activity for everyone.”
The ski resorts are only part of ambitious plans the company has over the next few years, says Brouhard.
“Aligned with our goal to grow and adapt to each market with three-to-five resort openings or renovations per year, we plan to see more than ten new resort openings along with 13 renovations or extensions of existing resorts by 2024, including Club Med Pragelato-Sestriere (Italy), Club Med Gregolimano (Greece), and Club Med Utah—our first resort in the U.S. in more than 20 years as well as our first-ever Exclusive Collection (5-Star) mountain resort in North America.”
By 2023, the Exclusive Collection portfolio will consist of 20 luxurious resorts, spaces, villas and chalets and a sailing yacht around the world.
“We have been seeing more multi-generational families in the past few years, with a 43% increase in multi-gen bookings this year compared to 2019,” says Brouhard. “We expect this momentum will continue in 2023 among our resorts in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Canada. Additionally, we are seeing more affinity group bookings in our resorts.” Brouhard also says the company is seeing a lot of interest in bookings to the Mexico and Caribbean resorts, which are performing 90 percent better over 2019.
And Club Med is particularly mindful of sustainability as part of its expansion plans. “Club Med’s global sustainability program, Happy to Care, features a range of sustainable commitments designed to address the various environmental and social issues that affect our communities,” says Brouhard. “With this program in place, Club Med continually strives to eliminate single-use plastics, constructs BREEAM certified resorts, and implements efforts toward energy conservation.” Club Med resorts in North America and the Caribbean are Green Globe certified.
Also, this summer, Club Med rolled out some of Beyond Meat’s popular plant-based meat products at the eco-chic Club Med Michès Playa Esmeralda resort in the Dominican Republic. And this product will be available across all North American resorts by the end of 2022, says Brouhard.
“More recently, we partnered with Chef Chloe Coscarelli, a renowned vegan chef, to help implement more plant-based products in restaurants,” she says. Chef Chloe led one-on-one training sessions with the F&B teams at Club Med Cancun and Club Med Michès Playa Esmeralda to share insights on vegan cuisine and how to create elevated plant-based dishes.
“Looking ahead, Club Med North America set an objective to source 100% fair trade coffee by 2023 and 100% cage-free eggs by 2025,” says Brouhard.
Club Med has also recently rolled out several travel partner tools. “Last year, we launched Club Med University, which is an educational platform that provides our advisors with the latest details on all Club Med resorts,” says Brouhard. “Once the program has been completed, advisors will be certified as a Club Med Travel Advisor Specialist.”
On that same platform, she says, travel partners will find comprehensive resources and a new booking engine to help facilitate the booking process.
There are more than 70 Club Med all-inclusive resorts around the world.
