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Club Med
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Club Méditerranée , commonly known as Club Med, is a French corporation of vacation resorts found in many parts of the world, usually in exotic locations. It is seen by many as having started the all-inclusive resort concept (although Frenchman's Cove Resort in Portland, Jamaica is regarded as the world's first all-inclusive resort).
Club was started in 1950 by former Belgian water polo champion, Gérard Blitz.
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Club Méditerranée , commonly known as Club Med, is a French corporation of vacation resorts found in many parts of the world, usually in exotic locations. It is seen by many as having started the all-inclusive resort concept (although Frenchman's Cove Resort in Portland, Jamaica is regarded as the world's first all-inclusive resort).
History
Foundation
The Club was started in 1950 by former Belgian water polo champion, Gérard Blitz. The first village opened on the Spanish island of Mallorca. The original villages were simple with members staying in unlit straw huts on a beachfront, sharing communal washing facilities. Such villages have been replaced with modern blocks or huts with ensuite facilities.
The club joining fee was set at 300 French francs and the cost of a two-week vacation at 15,900 francs.
Expansion
The number of villages increased greatly under the leadership of Gilbert Trigano (Blitz's business partner), from 1963 to 1993. Winter villages, providing skiing and winter sports tuition, were introduced starting in 1956 with the village at Leysin, Switzerland. In 1955 the first club outside the Mediterranean was opened, in Tahiti. The North American market was later entered with an "American Zone" of villages in the Caribbean and Florida where English rather than French was the main language.
Originally attracting mainly singles and young couples, the Club later became primarily a destination for families, with the first Mini Club opening in 1967.
The Club has also ceased to be a club in the legal sense, changing from a not-for-profit association to a for-profit public limited company (French SA) in 1995. The concept of membership has been retained with each customer charged a joining and annual membership fee.
Diversification
In the 1990s, the Club's fortunes declined as competitors copied its concepts and holidaymakers demanded more sophisticated offerings. Serge Trigano took over from his father but was replaced in 1997 by Philippe Bourguignon, former CEO of EuroDisney.
Bourguignon aimed to change the Club "from a holiday village company to a services company". The club took over a chain of French gyms, launched bar/restaurant complexes Club Med World in Paris and Montreal and commenced a budget resort concept aimed at young adults, Oyyo with its first resort at Monastir in Tunisia. Thirteen new villages were planned for the new century.
Relaunch
The change in strategy was not successful and the Club fell deeply into loss in the downturn following the 11 September 2001, attacks in the USA. In 2002 a new CEO, Henri Giscard d'Estaing, was appointed. A new strategy was announced, returning to a focus on the holiday villages and for upmarket vacationers. Oyyo, Club Med World Montreal and many villages, particularly those in North America or with more basic facilities, were closed. The Club returned to profit in 2005.
In 2004, the hotel group Accor became the largest shareholder, but it sold most of its stake in 2006, announcing that it wished to refocus on its core businesses.
From 2001 on, the resort company worked to rebrand itself as upscale and family-oriented.
In 2006 and 2007, Club Med and its partners dedicated a total of $530 million to renovate and revamp the group’s portfolio of offerings. 2006 saw Club Med close five of its more rudimentary resorts and upgrade seven others (Club Med Cancun Yucatan, Mexico; Club Med Caravelle, Guadeloupe; Club Med La Plagne, French Alps; Club Med Opio in Provence, France; and soon Club Med Albion, Mauritius; Club Med Ixtapa Pacific, Mexico; and Club Med Buzios, Brazil). Two of Club Med's oldest resorts have recently gone through a major re-vamp: Club Med Bali, the oldest Club Med outside of France, has recently gone through a 15 million dollar make-over; and Club Med Ria Bintan, with a 10 million dollar make-over.
In 2008 Club Med launched a new advertising campaign “Where Happiness Means the World.” More than 25 million euros were invested in this campaign in 24 countries.
Competitors
Competitors include SuperClubs, Carnival Corporation, Sol Meliá, and Sandals Hotels.
The Club Med experience
Each resort provides a list of services and activities in one single package. This includes lodging, food, use of facilities, sports activities, games, and shows. However, certain items such as alcoholic beverages require the use of beads or tickets as a form of payment. Many villages are now all-inclusive for alcohol and snacks.
Club Med staff are called "GOs", or Gentils Organisateurs (Guest Officers). Clients are "GMs", or Gentils Membres (Guest Members). The resort is known as a village. The resort manager is called the chef de village (Village Chief).
The special feature of Club Med is that the GOs and GMs play, dine, drink, and dance together every day and night. Outdoor buffet dining (usually on tables of eight, mixing GMs and GOs), daytime sport-playing and evening show with extensive audience participation are part of the holiday experience.
A particular institution is the communal dance or crazy signs led by the GOs at varying intervals during the day and evening (the frequency varies by village). The dance steps for each song are standard across the organisation with some new ones introduced each year. The evening shows, often requiring detailed choreography, are also standardised and include both new and established routines.
GOs are moved between villages and many work both winter and summer seasons. All GOs, regardless of their area of specialty (a sport or administrative function), are expected to regularly participate in both the show and "crazy signs". Their work is supplemented by locally-recruited support staff such as cleaners and cooks, known as "GEs" or Gentils Employés (Guest Employees).
The villages are divided into six concepts or "pleasures" such as: "to discover"; " to experience the exceptional"; or "to live life to the fullest". Most villages are designed for families, with villages providing daytime supervised facilities for different ages: the "Baby", "Petit", "Mini", "Junior's" clubs and 12 Passworld facilities worldwide which offer a special hang out space for 11-17 year olds. A minority of villages remain either adults only or open to children but without dedicated children's activities.
The Club's 2006 advertising slogan is: "Discover the new Club Med, refined, exceptional, a la carte".
In 2008 Club Med launched a new worldwide advertising campaign entitled "Where Happiness Means the World".
As of June, 2008 the resort company operates 80 villages, in Europe, Africa, USA, The Caribbean, Brazil, Southern Asia, French Polynesia, and Australia.
Club Med villas
Club Med is constructing and selling 40 Club Med Villas at La Plantation d'Albion on Ile Maurice, Maritius. Ranging from 2-4 bedrooms and priced between 992,000€ and 1,590,000€, each villa comes furnished, with air conditioning and features its own swimming pool. Owners can take part in the amenities and activities in the village. Additionally, owners can allow Club Med to rent out their villas when they are not occupied.
Future villages
On 4 July 2008, Club Med announced their agreement with local villages near the Bay of Kakome in Albania to build a village in the area. The 75 million € project will cover an area of 700,000 square meters and have 700 beds. This future resort is expected to be open six months each year.
Additional villages are planned for the Senegal coast, Buzios (Brazil), Taba (Egypt) reopening Cefalu (Sicily) and in the Sultanate of Oman
Club Med in film
The Club Med style of vacation was satirised in the 1978 film, Les Bronzés (released in English as French Fried Vacation) directed by Patrice Leconte. Sequels Les Bronzés font du ski and Les Bronzés - Amis pour la Vie were released in 1979 and 2006 respectively.
Jim Carrey and Alan Thicke star in 1983's Copper Mountain: A Club Med Experience, set at the now-closed Club Med village in the U.S. ski resort at Copper Mountain, Colorado. The Club Med village is now Employing housing, dubbed The EDGE.
A TV Movie was made by the ABC network in 1986 titled "Club Med". It starred Jack Scalia, Linda Hamilton, and Patrick Macnee. It also featured appearances by Bill Maher, Sinbad, and Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine.
There is a song by Camper Van Beethoven called "Club Med Sucks." The song's fictional narrator is satirized; the title of the song refers to the narrator's parent's decision to go to Club Med.
The famous French comedy Les Bronzés en vacances was about a group of vacationers becoming friends in a Club Med village in Africa.
There is a horror movie titled "Club Dread," a play on the Club Med name.
In the Pink Panther Series, The Pink Panther makes a reference to Club Med in the Episode: Momma's Boy.
In the Simpsons episode "Bart Gets Hit by a Car," one of Dr. Nick Riviera's diplomas reads "Club Med School." In the episode, "Little Big Mom," Bart says that he and Homer, who have been sent to a leper colony in Hawaii due to a since-discovered trick played on them by Lisa, plan to "put our fake sores back on, then jump into Club Med and scare the normals."
Criticism
Club Med was criticised in graffiti during the May 1968 student uprising in Paris as "a cheap holiday in other people's misery."
Ships
Club Med 2
External links
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