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Club Med
SAS SAS or Sas may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''SAS'' (novel series), a French book series by Gérard de Villiers * ''Shimmer and Shine'', an American animated children's television series * Southern All Stars, a Japanese rock ba ...
, commonly known as Club Med and previously known as Club Méditerranée SA, is a French travel and tourism operator headquartered in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, specializing in all-inclusive holidays. Founded in 1950, the company has been primarily owned by the Chinese conglomerate
Fosun Fosun International Limited is a Chinese multinational conglomerate holding company. Founded in 1992 by Guo Guangchang and four others, the company is headquartered in Shanghai and was incorporated in Hong Kong in 2004. Its Co-CEOs are Chen ...
Group since 2013. Club Med either wholly owns or operates nearly eighty all-inclusive resort villages in holiday locations around the world.


History


Foundation

The Club was started in 1950 by Belgian entrepreneur Gérard Blitz. Blitz had opened a low-priced summer colony of tents on the Spanish island of
Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...
, then another one in the island of Djerba (Tunisia). Great entertainer, Blitz was however no businessman and he went bankrupt in 1953. The main creditor as the tents supplier, Gilbert Trigano, the French "King of Camping"; Trigano took control of the Club and slowly pushed Blitz aside. The first official Club Med was built the next year in
Palinuro Palinuro is an Italian small town, the most populated civil parish (''frazione'') of Centola, Province of Salerno, in the Campania region. The name of the town is derived from Palinurus, the helmsman of Aeneas, as recorded in the fifth and sixth ...
, Salerno, Italy. The original villages were simple: Members stayed in unlit straw huts on a beachfront, sharing communal washing facilities. Such villages have been replaced with modern blocks or huts with ensuite facilities.


Expansion

Because of reckless spending, the Club was on the verge of bankruptcy in 1961. It was saved by the 35-year-old
Baron Edmond de Rothschild Baron Abraham Edmond Benjamin James de Rothschild (Hebrew: הברון אברהם אדמונד בנימין ג'יימס רוטשילד - ''HaBaron Avraham Edmond Binyamin Ya'akov Rotshield''; 19 August 1845 – 2 November 1934) was a French memb ...
after he had visited a resort and enjoyed his stay. With Rothschild financing, the number of villages increased greatly under Trigano's leadership from 1963 to 1993. Winter villages, providing skiing and winter sports tuition, were introduced in 1956 at
Leysin Leysin is a municipality of the canton of Vaud in the Aigle district of Switzerland. It is first mentioned around 1231–32 as ''Leissins'', in 1352 as ''Leisins''. Located in the Vaud Alps, Leysin is a sunny alpine resort village at the easter ...
, Switzerland. In 1965, the first club outside the
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
was opened in
Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...
. Club Med broadened its reach by opening villages in the
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
and
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
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. Club Méditerranée S.A. had a branch in the USA named Club Méditerranée Inc, with several partners including Crédit Lyonnais and American Express. In 1974 President, Jean Lallemand, one of the first members of the Club and responsible of the large presence of the Club in Italy. He hired as marketing manager the French HEC Jacques Bacon, who made the Club a huge success within 3 years through an aggressive and very efficient promotion; it was he who suggested the name Club Med. The new name was at that time reserved to the North American market, but later became the name of the mother company as well. In the early 1970s the Club had bought from her owner Claude Lelouche the famous revolutionary three-mast sailing boat Vendredi 13, installed 4 berths and a bath-room, and based her at the Buccaneers Creek village in Martinique for one-day to several day cruises. Huge success among members, so, in 1976, it bought the huge sailing boat built by solo sailor Alain Colas, who had just lost the Solo Transatlantic Race Plymouth-Newport to his enemy Eric Tabarly. It renamed it Club Médiderranée and based it in Tahiti for Polynesian cruises. Another huge success, so, the Club built a second one, a monster named Club Med 2. 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. However, each new customer is still charged a membership fee upon joining, and returning customers are charged an annual fee as well.


Diversification

In the 1990s, the Club's fortunes declined because competitors copied its concepts and holidaymakers demanded more sophisticated offerings. Other reasons explain its demise: the arrogance of the Triganos, who were convinced that they could buy any property, even one with a lousy location, put on it the name "Club Med" and it would be a success; they multiplied the villages, so many so fast that they could not find enough good "chefs de village", who make the villages what they are: bad chef = bad village. In 1997, the shareholders finally understood and sacked the two Triganos and replaced them with Philippe Bourguignon, former CEO of Novotel USA. 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 known as Club Med World in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, and commenced a budget resort concept aimed at young adults. Oyyo was the first such resort, opened at Monastir in
Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...
. Thirteen new villages were planned for the new century.


Relaunch

The change in strategy was not successful, and the Club fell into a deep loss following the
11 September 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...
in the U.S. In 2002, a new CEO,
Henri Giscard d'Estaing Henri Marie Edmond Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (born 17 October 1956) is a French businessman and son of former French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. Biography Giscard d'Estaing studied at the Paris Institute of Political Studies and h ...
, son of the former French President, was appointed. His strategy was to refocus on the holiday villages and attract 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 profitability in 2005. In 2004, the hotel group
Accor Accor S.A. is a French multinational hospitality company that owns, manages and franchises hotels, resorts and vacation properties. It is the largest hospitality company in Europe, and the sixth largest hospitality company worldwide. Accor op ...
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 onward, 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 several resorts.


Acquisition

In February 2015,
Fosun International Fosun International Limited is a Chinese multinational conglomerate holding company. Founded in 1992 by Guo Guangchang and four others, the company is headquartered in Shanghai and was incorporated in Hong Kong in 2004. Its Co-CEOs are Chen ...
Ltd.'s Gaillon Invest II and The Silverfern Group finalized a takeover deal of Club Méditerranée S.A. The acquisition culminated a bidding war that began in May 2013, which was conducted by Gaillon, a special investment vehicle used by Fosun, to execute its bidding for Club Med. The two-year-long war boosted the price of the company from the initial €541 million "friendly bid" in 2013 up to the final sale price of €939 million ($1.07 billion). Gaillon Invest's chairman, Jiannong Qian, believes that Chinese ownership of the company is crucial to tap into China's huge population of potential tourists. Following the takeover, Chairman and President of Club Méditerranée SA,
Henri Giscard d'Estaing Henri Marie Edmond Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (born 17 October 1956) is a French businessman and son of former French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. Biography Giscard d'Estaing studied at the Paris Institute of Political Studies and h ...
, was named President of Club Med SAS.


In popular culture

The phrase "Club Med- a cheap holiday in other people's misery" appeared as a
Situationist The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution ...
slogan, written in
graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...
in Paris, May 1968. The phrase was described as a commentary on alienation, domination, and "the false promises of modern life". The slogan was later given a nod to in the opening lyrics of the
Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...
song "
Holidays in the Sun Holiday(s) in the Sun may refer to: * ''Holidays in the Sun'' (album), by Yui * ''Holidays in the Sun'' (EP), by Cornelius * ''Holiday in the Sun'' (film), starring Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen * "Holidays in the Sun" (song), by the Sex Pistols * ...
". The Club Med style of vacation was satirized in the 1978 film, ''
Les bronzés ''French Fried Vacation'' (french: Les Bronzés, link=no, ) is a cult French comedy film directed by Patrice Leconte. The film satirizes life resorts such as Club Med. It is one of many films by the French comedy group Le Splendid. Josiane Bala ...
'' (released in English as ''French Fried Vacation'') directed by
Patrice Leconte Patrice Leconte (; born 12 November 1947) is a French film director, actor, comic strip writer, and screenwriter. Life and career Leconte grew up in Tours, and began making little amateur films at 15. He went to Paris in 1967 and studied at Insti ...
. Sequels ''Les Bronzés font du ski'' and ''Les Bronzés – Amis pour la Vie'' were released in 1979 and 2006 respectively. In
Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as Fran ...
's '
La Chinoise ''La Chinoise, ou plutôt à la Chinoise: un film en train de se faire'' (English: ''The Chinese, or, rather, in the Chinese manner: a film in the making''), commonly referred to simply as ''La Chinoise'', is a 1967 French political film directed b ...
' (1967), the character Guillaume (
Jean-Pierre Léaud Jean-Pierre Léaud, ComM (; born 28 May 1944) is a French actor, known for playing Antoine Doinel in François Truffaut's series of films about that character, beginning with ''The 400 Blows'' (1959). He also worked several times with Jean-Luc God ...
) talks about his father who had fought Germans in the war, now ran Club Med resort working along the lines of concentration camps. In regards with the Situationalist slogan, this scene establishes an image from
Dal In Indian cuisine, ''dal'' (also spelled ''daal'' or ''dhal''; pronunciation: , Hindi: दाल, Urdu: ) are dried, split pulses (e.g., lentils, peas, and beans) that do not require soaking before cooking. India is the largest producer of p ...
lake of
Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...
. The 1983 film '' Copper Mountain: A Club Med Experience'', starring
Jim Carrey James Eugene Carrey (; born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and artist. Known for his energetic slapstick performances, Carrey first gained recognition in 1990, after landing a role in the American sketch comedy te ...
and
Alan Thicke Alan Thicke (born Alan Willis Jeffrey; March 1, 1947December 13, 2016) was a Canadian actor, songwriter, and game and talk show host. He is the father of singer Robin Thicke. In 2013, Thicke was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. Thicke was be ...
, is a quasi-commercial for the now-closed Club Med village in the U.S.
ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North ...
at Copper Mountain,
Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
. The 1986
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
TV movie ''Club Med'' stars
Jack Scalia Jack Scalia (born November 10, 1950) is an American actor. He has had many roles in television series (both as a regular and as a guest-star), television movies, and feature films. He is perhaps best known for his role as Chris Stamp on ''All My ...
and
Linda Hamilton Linda Carroll Hamilton (born September 26, 1956) is an American actress. She played Sarah Connor in the ''Terminator'' film series and Catherine Chandler in the television series ''Beauty and the Beast'' (1987–1990), for which she was nominat ...
as a Club Med manager and guest, respectively, who fall in love. In 2004, a Korean TV drama broadcast by MBC titled ''
First Love of a Royal Prince ''First Love of a Royal Prince'' (; also known as ''A Prince's First Love'') is a 2004 South Korean television series starring Sung Yu-ri, Cha Tae-hyun, Kim Nam-jin and Jin Jae-young. It aired on MBC from June 23 to August 26, 2004 on Wednesdays ...
'' was filmed in Club Med Bali, Sahoro, and
Bora Bora Bora Bora ( French: ''Bora-Bora''; Tahitian: ''Pora Pora'') is an island group in the Leeward Islands. The Leeward Islands comprise the western part of the Society Islands of French Polynesia, which is an overseas collectivity of the Frenc ...
. In the drama, the main actress,
Sung Yu-ri Sung Yu-ri (born March 3, 1981) is a South Korean actress and singer. She made her entertainment debut in 1998 as a member of the now-defunct K-pop group Fin.K.L. Sung turned to acting in 2002, starring in television dramas such as ''Thousand ...
, played Kim Yu Bin, a GO. Within the United States, minimum security prisons can be referred to as ''
Club Fed "Club Fed" is a derisive term used in North America to refer to a prison whose accommodations are seen as less severe than many other prisons. ''Club Fed'' is a pun on the "Club Med" chain of all-inclusive resorts. The 1999 movie ''Office Space' ...
''. In 2004, The American comedy team
Broken Lizard Broken Lizard is an American comedy troupe that comprises Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske. They collaborate on the screen-writing, acting and productions of their films, with Chandrasekhar and He ...
released a comedy slasher film named ''
Club Dread ''Club Dread'' (also known as ''Broken Lizard's Club Dread'') is a 2004 comedy slasher film directed by Jay Chandrasekhar and written by and starring the comedy troupe Broken Lizard, Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, ...
'', where a paradise resort for young people full of sex, drugs and rock and roll become targets of a deranged killer.


Ships


Current ships


Former ships


References


External links


Club Med Official website
{{Authority control French companies established in 1950 Companies based in Paris Transport companies established in 1950 French brands Bundled products or services Fosun International 2013 mergers and acquisitions French subsidiaries of foreign companies Travel and holiday companies of France