It is quite difficult to provide an overall evaluation of our latest stay in Club Med. After a very happy summer holidays in Club Med Punta Cana, the family (2 adults and 2 children – both girls, now aged 11 and 10) decided we would, for the first time try out staying at Club Med in the winter and experiencing the ski offering, so we booked to spend the new year’s week at Club Med Serre Chevalier, in France.
The reason why it is so difficult to provide an overall grade to our experience is simple – how can we fairly measure the excellent ambiance of the Club and the kindness and presence of the GO team, against a very negative skiing experience, acknowledging that the Ski school hired to lead classes at Club Med Serre Chevalier was selected by Club Med, without penalizing the great delivery of the one thing that brings us to Club Med time and time again – the Club Med experience?
Let’s then start with the positives.
Club Med life and holiday style. As I pointed out in previous Club Med reviews in the last 3 years, we went through a phase, especially after our stay at Club Med in Cancun in 2023, where after so many years of holidaying at Club Med we thought the spirit was fading and we were unsure whether Club Med was still for us. Then in 2024 a stay at Club Med Bodrum completely rekindled our fidelity to Club Med (much thanks to Yanis Baeza, then Chef du Village in Bodrum and his team), which was reinforced by our earlier stay in 2025 at Club Med Cancun. The Club Med spirit is being revived by a new generation of leaders, which are getting the best out of the Club Med traditions whilst adapting and evolving with a new world.
So to me, the biggest positive of the whole Club Med Serre Chevalier experience was the way in which Pierre Jean Montagne, the Chef du Village, runs the place – fully energized, fully engaged, fully focused on generating an incredible experience for his GMs (guests). This then has an obvious positive effect in the way in which his team of GOs engages as well. Everyone is absolutely focused on generating the best experience possible – from the moment we arrived at the airport, to the animation team, Mini Club team, restaurant and bar teams, housekeeping, reception, etc etc. I could pinpoint many really positive moments, but to me the absolute highlight was when after a whole year of training as an aspiring DJ, my 11 year old daughter got given the opportunity to DJ, not just once, but twice to a live audience. This brought me back to the experiences we used to get through the (now discontinued) GM Shows, where the guests were invited to perform an ability of their choice, live to other guests. Huge kudos for the courage demonstrated by Pierre Jean and his head of animation Simon Martin, for making this possible for my daughter. Club Med is about unforgettable experiences, and this was truly unforgettable.
In terms of negatives, I cannot single anything out of the “Resort life” that struck us negatively. So it would be unfair to Pierre Jean and the team to be reflected negatively by anything other than a 5 star review.
But there was a significant negative, one that falls outside their remit and responsibility. The ski school selected by Club Med to engage with skiing learners in Serre Chevalier is simply, in my opinion, unfit for the job and the responsibility they are asked to embrace. At least for the time we spent at the Club. Our entire family are absolute ski beginners so we had no prior knowledge of skiing in any way. So we would expect a complete beginners skiing course to start with the absolutely basics, and to dedicate additional trainers to look after the health and safety of learners. This was far from being the case at CM Serre Chevalier, which then creates an “accident waiting to happen” constant feel to the whole experience. Unfortunately, the accident did happen to me, as I ended up fracturing my ankle on new year’s eve, as I chose to ski unsupervised in the safer grounds opposite the Club, afraid of going higher up in the mountain with the “beginners” group, which was already being pushed to do things we were not ready to do. This was after the previous day, after one such request to try to do a parallel turn (as opposed to snow plough) run downhill in a steeper incline, I had ended up getting myself in a ditch, left there for a while until my partner persuaded one of the instructors to come up and assist me getting out of the ditch…. The other thing that filled my partner and I with fright was the fact that the group of children beginners was also not being looked after properly, and amongst other things, were being asked to go on ski lifts/ramps unsupervised, only to lose their balance and fall at the exit point, inevitably leading to those coming behind then to fall on top of them. That happened to both me and my partner and it is a horrible experience – to fall on top of a very young child who’s fallen off the ski lift/ramp, knowing you are going to fall on top of them as the lift/ramp was not duly immediately stopped, creating an inevitable accident. This is extremely traumatizing for everyone involved and could be avoided by having proper supervision, especially for the children, at all points of lifts/ramps, particularly at the exits.
So, all in all, if you are a ski beginner like everyone in my family, Serre Chevalier is not the place where you will want to learn how to ski.
As for Club Med’s role in this, given that the whole experience of Club Med Serre Chevalier revolves around skiing, my request is that the Club Med sourcing/procurement/partnerships team re-evaluates its association with the local ski school, until they can be 100% satisfied that health and safety are absolutely safeguarded, especially for beginners. But that’s an issue for CM headoffice, not for Pierre Jean and his amazing team.
Overall, a good holiday, and one that will linger in our memories. At least for me it will surely in the next few months, as I recover from my injury. We will now refocus on sunnier and warmer Club Med alternatives again, and sincerely hope to cross paths with the GOs we had the pleasure to meet at Serre Chevalier.
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