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Endpoint: Club Méditerranée



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created on: 5/09/2024
by: bob (9561)
 
 

Brand properties

General info :
Club Méditerranée was the brand name used by Club Med SAS, previously known as Club Méditerranée SA, a French travel and tourism operator headquartered in Paris, specializing in all-inclusive holidays.
Founded in 1950, the company has been primarily owned by the Chinese conglomerate Fosun Group since 2013. Club Med either wholly owns or operates nearly eighty all-inclusive resort villages in holiday locations around the world.

The club was founded in 1950 by Belgian entrepreneur Gérard Blitz. Blitz had opened a low-priced summer colony of tents on the Spanish island of Majorca, followed by another on the island of Djerba (Tunisia). A better entertainer than businessman, Blitz went bankrupt in 1953. His main creditor was his tent 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, 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.

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 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, Switzerland. In 1965, the first club outside the Mediterranean was opened in Tahiti. Club Med broadened its reach by opening villages in the French Caribbean (Guadeloupe and Martinique).

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 SA had a branch in the USA named Club Méditerranée, Inc., with several partners including Crédit Lyonnais and American Express. In 1974, upon his arrival as the new CEO of the club for North America, Jean Lallement, one of the first members of the club and responsible for its large presence in Italy, 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 Buccaneer's 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 Martinique for 2-3-day cruises. Another huge success, so, the club built a second one, a monster named Club Med 2.
Club Med 2, launched in 1992 in Le Havre, France. It is a 5-mast cruise ship with sails automatically deployed by computer control. She is now cruising the Mediterranean, Caribbean and Atlantic

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.

The club fell into a deep loss following the 11 September 2001 attacks in the U.S. In 2002, a new CEO, Henri Giscard d'Estaing, son of the former French President, was appointed. His strategy was to refocus on the holiday villages and attract upmarket vacationers. 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 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 February 2015, Fosun International Ltd.'s Gaillon Invest II and The Silverfern Group finalized a takeover deal of Club Méditerranée SA.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.

Following the takeover, Chairman and President of Club Méditerranée SA, Henri Giscard d'Estaing, was named President of Club Med SAS.
Relations :
Founded by [1950] : Gérard Blitz
This endpoint is new to the database, please check he (it) is not in with a similar endpoint name association (and use the ENA function if necessary).
Brand name used by : Club Med SAS
This endpoint is new to the database, please check he (it) is not in with a similar endpoint name association (and use the ENA function if necessary).
Brand name used by : Club Méditerranée SA
This endpoint is new to the database, please check he (it) is not in with a similar endpoint name association (and use the ENA function if necessary).
Brand name used by : Club Méditerranée, Inc.
This endpoint is new to the database, please check he (it) is not in with a similar endpoint name association (and use the ENA function if necessary).
Brand name used by [2015 -] : Fosun International Ltd.
This endpoint is new to the database, please check he (it) is not in with a similar endpoint name association (and use the ENA function if necessary).
Renamed to : Club Med
This endpoint is new to the database, please check he (it) is not in with a similar endpoint name association (and use the ENA function if necessary).
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Source :
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Item number : 65205

Submitted by : bob (9561)
on : 05/09/2024