Founded 70 years ago, Club Med is all about family reconnection, being exposed to new cultures and making new friends. With that in mind, CEO for East and South Asia and Pacific markets Rachael Harding speaks about the future of Club Med and the long-awaited reopening of Club Med Phuket
Rachael Harding greets us at the door with a warm hug at the Club Med office in Singapore and hands out lollies from her home country Syd- ney, Australia. She is the CEO for East and South Asia and Pacific markets at the popular all-inclusive holiday club concept. Her effervescent personality is part of Club Med’s DNA where you shed your inhibitions and plunge into a few days of unadulterated fun. This is a concept that never changed in the last 70 years.
Even so, Harding notes that consumer tastes have changed and “we continue to evolve with what the consumer needs are. Some key trends in the last 10 years have been around wellness, sustainability and how the company can include that within the brand, plus bring in local culture.” Incidentally, she had her first experience at Club Med in New Caledonia when she was six years old on a family holiday.
Club Med encourages people to try new things, be happy and reconnect with themselves or their families. Harding says, “I’m not saying this because I work for Club Med but what I love about it is when I travel with my family ... While my husband and I love each other, we don’t want to be with each other all the time. It’s this combination of being able to have ‘me’ time, but also having ‘we’ time.” She cites an example on her recent trip to Club Med Maldives where her husband would go diving, while she enjoyed her morning Pilates and her son was at the Kids Club. But at every lunch time, they regrouped and shared the morning they had.
This was probably what Gérard Blitz had in mind when he founded Club Med in 1950. He wanted to provide an all-inclusive holiday club concept, adding in activities, especially for children with the creation of the Mini Club in 1967. Today, Club Med operates nearly 70 resorts, of which 85% are rated Premium and Exclusive Collection. They are present in 30 countries around the world with more than 23,000 staff representing 110 nationalities.