The company’s recent efforts to beef up the calibre of its services appear to be paying off. The recession doesn’t seem to affect their clients, who count themselves among a typically wealthy group.
Club Med has re-classified many of its services to 4 and 5 triads. This grading scale replaces the generally-used star system for rating the quality of services.
Despite the recession, the higher category has, for the first time, surpassed the 2 and 3 triads that have fallen victim to the current global economic crisis. In all, the company recorded a total loss of 53 million Euros during the last fiscal period ending October 31st of this year. This is, in part, due to a restructuring process which required significant investment.
The next step is to open several new villages in China, one of which will be centered around skiing in 2010. Others will follow, approximately one per year, until 2015. At that time, Club Med will review its growth in that country. The construction of these villages will likely be in joint partnerships and the French company believes this is a vital new direction for them.