What’s the new Club Med Tignes really like

The official opening of the new Club Med in Tignes was last weekend and two of our Directors, Angus and Sarah attended the opening party. Here’s what they thought…

As soon as you enter this new hotel, you realise that you’ve booked a luxury stay. Contemporary in its design, Club Med Tignes is the latest creation of Frances luxury biggest all-inclusive travel brand, Club Med.

The New Club Med Tignes is ski in ski out

As with all the latest alpine Club Med hotels, the convenience of a ski in ski out location is a given. Tignes is located within 50m of the Tichot chair and just a further short 100m from the funicular giving access to the glacier at Tignes Val Claret.

Just last winter one of the prime locations in Tignes Val Claret was just a huge car park located beside the piste with very easy access to the glacier. This was the site chosen by Club Med for its latest offering to skiers.

The hotel boasts 430 guest rooms, (+200 staff rooms) two restaurants, plus a fantastic spacious swimming pool and spa, which all take full advantage of the mountain peak views.

From the moment you enter, the striking brightly coloured art pieces and building materials of wood and stone make you realise that you are in a special place. The ground floor is an open plan area, carefully divided by contemporary designed features to create cosy seating areas, for friends and families to socialise and quieter spaces to escape other guests.

Surrounded by south facing floor to ceiling windows with uninterrupted views of the snowy peaks, the Equinoxe bar is the beating heart of the resort and where guests gather for après ski drinks and the evening dancing and cabaret entertainment which is all included in your stay.

The third-floor south-facing buffet restaurant is spacious and as always with Club Med, a daily changing menu caters perfectly for both fussy eaters and foodies. Dishes include fresh salads, fish, and various meat dishes including pork, lamb and beef. Pizza and pasta is freshly prepared. There are traditional dishes featured too such as Tartiflette and Raclette. Oysters were on the lunchtime menu during our stay. There is an abundance of chefs all turned out in their smart uniforms freshly preparing your dishes as you need them….no stainless-steel vats of precooked food here! To walk around the restaurant is a delight, the presentation of the food is exquisite with every attention to detail overseen by the head chef of course!

Guests also have the option to dine at the al la carte sit-down restaurant where you will be served fine food from a selective menu. You may also find traditional alpine favourites such as fondue and a selection of fine wines which you can purchase for a treat or have the excellent house wine included.

The rooms are a variety of twin/double rooms, many of which can be interconnected to adjoining rooms. In addition, there are family rooms with smaller end-to-end twin rooms adjoining the adult’s room. The children can access the bathroom without entering the parents’ room. All rooms come with flat screen tv and USB charging points. The eco-friendly vibe is messaged everywhere including the bathrooms with eco-friendly shower gels and shampoos.

In a discrete part of the hotel on the top floor in ‘Le Sommet’ you will find 25 suites; this exclusive space is for guests who choose to upgrade rooms. The space offers 24-hour service, a quieter area for breakfast and its own smaller bar where champagne is also additionally provided.

The suites are 50-70 m2, each has a south-facing balcony and can sleep 2 to 4 guests and offers a small lounge area.

Sustainability is high on the list of priorities of both hoteliers and their guests, Club Med aim to be awarded a Green Globe accreditation for the everyday management of the new Club Med Tignes, which has already been awarded to 95% of their worldwide resorts. We were pleased to see that the hotel has cleverly incorporated 3,000m2 of solar panels on the side of the building to take full advantage of its southerly exposure. A digital display on the decking proudly displays the electricity production. When the sun was shining the production was very impressive and provided most of the lighting needs of the hotel.

Hundreds of trees of locally found species which include Swiss Pine, Larch and Birches have been planted around the Hotel, in time will look good in summer and winter too.

Other sensible initiatives included lowering the heating in the ski locker areas when everyone is dressed to ski, which provides a more pleasant temperature to get prepared in to set off.

It’s not all about skiing and snowboarding at Club Med Tignes

Non-skiers are well-catered for at Club Med Tignes. There are a variety of activities during the day, if skiing isn’t your thing, this includes snowshoeing into the glacier, Yoga and fitness classes throughout the day, a fully equipped gym and a first-rate spa with hammam, treatments and massages.

There’s also the large Club Med boutique to browse around with high-end designer products as well as Club Med branded items. You can also get all your basics here too!

Children’s facilities

Families are well catered for, we looked at the children’s facilities where your little ones will be looked after whilst you are skiing. Club Med Tignes welcomes children from 4 months into its childcare facilities where fully qualified staff will keep them occupied and happy all day. There are napping dormitories, fabulous changing facilities, and soft play areas to make the smallest members of your family comfortable safe and secure. You can have time out on the slopes knowing that your children are having a great time and are in very safe hands.

For older children who want to ski or snowboard the staff will welcome them after breakfast, and they will go through the rigmarole of getting them ski-ready for the slopes including getting their boots on and sun screening. The lessons start right outside the door and when the children are bought back to the hotel, they have fantastic secure play areas with lots of fun activities included in their state of the art funky clean and bright play areas.

You can choose to meet the children for lunch, or you can opt to keep them in the kids club until later in the day. The children’s clubs at Club Med are legendary and make for a very happy holiday for everyone.

Who is the target market for the New Club Med Tignes?

Families and active couples are the target market for Club Med. The all-inclusive package includes your travel, ski passes, all meals, all drinks from the bar and wine with meals. 5 full days of ski lessons, from complete beginner to off-piste skiing for experts.

Children’s lessons include supervised lunch, so parents can enjoy their holiday too. The chances are they will prefer to eat with their new friends

With each newly opened Club Med, little design tweaks raise the bar that little bit higher. We are surprised that Club Med has no imitators, simply no other hotel chain or tour operator comes close to Club Med. It’s not just value for money, the Club Med mission on happiness may sound like marketing speal, but happiness is infectious, the friendly greeting by staff is copied by guests, friends are quickly made from either the group ski classes or at the bar. We’re sure, most guests return from a Club Med holiday in a happier place than before they arrived.

Tips to make your Club Med holiday easy

After all the travelling on your arrival day, the last thing you want is any stress. If you have downloaded the Club Med app before you go it will allow you to pre-book your ski rental to be ready for your arrival, no more queueing as your ski’s boots and poles, will be waiting for you in your ski locker. If they don’t feel right, just wander around to the ski depot and they will change anything you need straight away.

The app also allows you to Pre-book your ski lessons, so again, no queuing!

If you are staying in a ski area with more than one Club Med, you can even pre-book lunch at the other Club Med, so you don’t have to return to your own hotel at lunch-time, which allows you to make the very best of your skiing.