Since the beginning, many villages have been referenced in the many tridents. Some villages have left their mark on the history of Club Méditerranée. Alcudia, Golfo di Baratti, Montenegro, Marina di Campo were famous because they were those of the early days. Let us also think of Leysin, Fort Royal, Al Hoceima, Assinie and Bear Valley in the USA were those of the first establishments. (first snow village, first Moroccan village, first in the Antilles ...). Over time and history, they have disappeared from the catalog for various reasons (concession expiring, fires or closures due to unprofitability).
Nowadays, we can find some of these old villages under other labels such as Porto Petro, Magic Haïti (Lookéa), Les Restanques (Pierre & Vacances), Les Ménuires and Les Bergers (MMV) or have been transformed (the Belvédère and Mont Blanc de Leysin have become an international luxury hotel school, Dieulefit a residence for the elderly, Pompadour bought by a Lebanese to make it a first-rate equestrian center). In other words, it is a second life for them.
Other villages have not been so lucky. These villages, which one could say have been abandoned by everyone, for lack of honest buyers, are slowly dying in oblivion under vegetation, brambles, graffiti and all kinds of damage, whereas a few years ago they were legendary villages. Think of Ipsos Corfu, Malabata, Caprera… the list is long, the photos circulating are distressing.
But maybe you've forgotten, or don't know, that some towns or winter sports resorts have had Club Méditerranée villages.
Everyone knows Tignes Val Claret, of course, but the first Tignes village was called Super Tignes. There was also a village in Val d'Isère that has nothing to do with the look of the village we know today.
In Serre Chevalier, the current village is in a place called Le Bez, but the original village was built in Le Monetier. Depending on the Tridents, it appeared under the names Altitude, Le Monetier, or Serre Chevalier. It was the club's first snow village to open in France. That was in 1957. Today, Altitude still exists and is easily recognizable. Its operator is the EDF works council.
What can we also say about the Manial Palace in Cairo, Caesarea in Israel, Paléo in Greece, Hawaii, the village of Reunion and the hundred other villages known by some, forgotten by others which made the history of the club.
For my Parisian friends, the club also had the Club House on rue Thérèse opened on February 1, 1957 as well as a hotel opened in the 1970s in Neuilly sur Seine between Porte Maillot and La Défense (58 Avenue Victor Hugo). Today this hotel has become the Marriot Neuilly.
These villages have also made Club Méditerranée's history. The Village page of the website allows you to revisit them for a few moments.
THE current CLUB (Chinese I know...) should reopen a village (luxury) like in the good old days for us 60/70 year olds.... nostalgia nostalgia... ONE VILLAGE THE CLUB MED 50... that would be so cool I don't like the Club anymore as it has become a luxury summer camp for spoiled kids
Hello,
As a former "GO" and STILL a "GO" at heart, I am looking for an address where I could get, in particular, two or three white cotton Bermuda shorts, old "GO" outfits...
L'Did.
Good evening, former GO of the 70s, today nothing more to do with the old villages. I regret the disappearance of all these villages. I did years of club, and I cry to see all this, I think of my first village in Cadaques (Spain), in Palinuro, Donoratico, and my last village / hotel the Charleston in Leysin (Switzerland) It was a real GO life not today as J.Pierre Batard says former CDV
Hello you – Me too ex GO –
My 1st village = Monetier-les-bains with the late G.Roussel,
then the Restantes, with S.Gorsse (G.Colard animator),
then back to Monétier, with S.Gorsse again,
then Corfou Ipsos with P.Baquéri (I don't know the spelling of his name and Puce for animation),
then Vald'Isère with the late JP Batard and still Puce animator
and there I stopped, to become an actor in Switzerland.
There you go friend GO - Wonderful memories and many regrets of what these clubs have become (Corfu in particular, a disaster) - I became GM to have good times again, but I also stopped, the atmosphere was no longer there - After Cadaques, Croatia, Tunisia, seeing village chiefs moping because "Paris" no longer gave them the attention they deserved, that the GOs no longer enjoyed working like us, hours without counting and with joy, because the GMs were more and more demanding, friends disrespectful of the work provided and the GO teams, it was very bad for morale and for a lot of money too and so; I did not come back at all and I found other clubs, cheaper and just as good, with animation teams as good as those of the CM
There you go, you know everything and those who will read my comment, perhaps will find themselves there.
Take care everyone and always remember to have fun wherever you go on holiday, that's the secret to having a great time.
Jef
Monnetier les Bains, village chief Gérard Roussel. I spent a season there at the bar...
It's a long time ago...
HURP GO
I agree with you, I discovered the Club in 1976 in Al Hoceima.
I still go back, but rarely and more out of atavism than taste...
I would like to know the exact address of the location of the Montalivet Club Med where I spent unforgettable holidays when I was a child in the years 68-70
Former GO of the 60s/70s, only regrets for the disappearance of many villages, a very good memory of my first village "les restanques" on the outskirts of Saint-Tropez, and my last Leysin (charleston) with the memorable JP BATARD and then others (Villars, ST.Moritz, Cadaquès, Djerba la douce, Agadir …….etc
Child of the mini club, on multiple holidays in Pompadour, Villars, Chamonix, Marbella (San Miguel) Al Hoceima, and many others.
The rise in range was accompanied by the inevitable austerity of the atmosphere.
And the impossibility for the teams to let the spontaneity of a gag or situational joke speak for the benefit of a festive and delirious atmosphere. No days off at the time: all the GOs were "on full blast"
Today, fear of a misplaced joke which would immediately turn into customer criticism sent back to Paris and which would come down without delay against the CDV or team with loss and crash.
We now remain politically correct with a hypocritically festive atmosphere.
However, I go back there today (as long as I can in relation to my means, but it will not last) for the quality of the service and the assurance of a largely mastered organization. And a little out of nostalgia….
Today, many GMs go there as a figurehead, out of a need for recognition from those around them, but no longer really out of a love of sport and community celebrations... without filters...
Hoping for a village of huts again? It's hard to believe, senior management would be too afraid that the image would be damaged, while on the contrary, it would be perpetuated, in this world in search of nostalgia...