Club Med recorded more than $2 billion in sales for the first time in its history, just ahead of the company celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. It said it has completed a 20-year transformation to an entirely premium and luxury portfolio and has significantly expanded its mountain resort footprint. Hotels editor Christina Jelski spoke with Carolyne Doyon, CEO of Club Med North America and the Caribbean, to get an update on what's next for the all-inclusive pioneer.
Carolyne Doyon
Q: Following last year's strong performance, how is Club Med faring so far this year?
A: We had record results in 2024 ($2.38 billion in sales). This happened despite being compared against very strong post-Covid years, when we had what we called revenge travel. And we have a very loyal base of clients: Around 45% of our clients worldwide come back to Club Med. We also just closed our first semester [Q1 and Q2], which was positive compared to last year, and we had record Q1 results worldwide.
Q: How has Club Med differentiated itself in the mountain resort space?
A: There's no other [all-inclusive product] bundling airfare, transfers, ski lessons, child care, dining, entertainment and all other activities in one price tag. Once you factor in flights, your condo, your ticket for your ski lift, lessons and so on at a non-all-inclusive resort, and you compare that side by side [with Club Med], the value is tremendous. And the skier of today is not the same as before. Now, these are families where not everyone skis, or skis at the same level. At Club Med, one parent can ski while the other does snowshoeing or yoga.
Q: How do you handle the seasonality of mountain resorts?
A: Some of our mountain resorts, we open them for two seasons a year, the ski season and summer season. We have 17 resorts in the French Alps, for example; out of those, we open usually five or six again from June to September. In North America, we do open Club Med Charlevoix almost all year round; we do two seasonal closures of four or five weeks each time between the seasons. We also look at complementary markets, because it helps us to maintain a good occupancy rate throughout the year. Sometimes for North Americans, there's a dip in travel [when kids head] back to school or after Christmas and New Year in January. In our mountain resorts in Europe, there's also a dip just after New Year. So, what we have [focused on is building] the South American market, because for Brazilians, it's their summer vacation. So we are full the entire ski season, with different nationalities. And our Brazilian guests ski maybe three to four hours a day, then they want to discover, shop, eat and enjoy life, which is exactly what Club Med excels at.
Q: Are there expansion projects in the pipeline?
A: We're looking to open a ski resort every year or every two years. We have San Sicario in the Italian Alps, and that should be [opening in] December 2028. We're also [exploring the possibility of] a second resort in Quebec. And there's something we're looking at in the U.S. We're looking at opening our South Africa resort next summer, and that's going to be our first surf-and-beach safari resort. We also have a second Malaysian resort, which will be in Borneo, on our road map.
The client we're catering to is affluent or very affluent and looking for a hassle-free vacation, where things are taken care of for them. They also want to get out of the normal all-inclusive geography, so that's why we're pushing to continue to develop the mountain product, because it's a very strong differentiator, and continue to develop our worldwide footprint, looking at destinations like Oman, or new destinations in Asia and so on.