Club Med Reviews 214

Our recent trip to the Turks/Caicos Club Med property was a big disappointment. We had booked the airport transfer to the property for $75/person. However, there was no evidence of any Club Med agent at this very small airport. We wasted 75 minutes trying to find anyone who knew how to find the Club Med shuttle (and did fine a Club Med stand, but with no one there) before we finally just took a taxi to the property. Apparently, there is no transfer service and one is supposed to just take a taxi. If this information had been communicated, we wouldn't have wasted time searching for the transfer, plus we could have saved money by not booking the taxi through Club Med.

We were also astounded by the property's policy for dining. Our second night on site, we were unable to find seating for two, as he tables were all full, except for several tables that were empty and marked with 'reserved' signs. I inquired at the front desk as to how one could reserve a table and was told that one had to purchase select wines wines at the wine shop in order to secure a reserved seat. I questioned such a policy for a supposed 'all inclusive' resort, but apparently, management sticks by this policy. Hence, for the night in question, we had to eat in the reception area, as those appeared to be the only seats available. Hardly my idea of a quality dining experience.

And finally, I have to comment on the poor housekeeping. Our room was not all that clean, but I specifically objected to the smell of the toilet, which reminded me of past encounters in the NY subway system. I asked to have the room cleaned, but the toilet remained so unappealing that we chose to use the public toilets in the lobby, which although not overly clean, at least did not stink.

The concerns above were all expressed to Club Med guest agents on site, but had received no response while on site.

An upgrade that turned out a downgrade

In the end we were told we should be lucky with a downgrade from 4 bedrooms to 2 bedrooms. Read this unbelievable story on the treatment of what the Club Med agency in the Netherlands calls “Platinum” guests:

So we booked a week of Club Med Cancun with two family rooms. In this case this meant two apartments with two bedrooms. Since we are a family with two children but in this case my mother (74 years old) came along. Sometime after booking we were notified that our family rooms would be close to a building site.

Since we were very regular Club Med visitors (they call it “Platinum” membership) we were notified that a free upgrade to the “exclusive zone” would be given to us. We stayed in many Club Med’s and always in sperate rooms, also in many exclusive zones/resorts.

Once we arrived in Club Med Cancun we were given two double bedrooms instead of two times two bedrooms. This meant my mother had to sleep with my children in 1 room (since 4 people in one room is not allowed).

In the resort they saw no option in giving us an another extra room since the resort was full (which it actually was). According to the reception at Cancun a mistake was made in the Netherlands. After three nights my mother got her own room (for the additional 4 nights). In this case she got a suite since the reception felt bad for the mistake made in the Netherlands.

Now comes the unbelievable part; the feedback from the Netherlands while we had these problems was minimal and no sympathy was shown whatsoever. Once we returned to the Netherlands we were told that we still should be lucky we got the upgrade and that we were notified of this up-downgrade. Since the whole team in the Dutch office of Club Med was either long term sick or left the job there was no way to trace this. I told the office in the Netherlands I was definitely not notified that we only would get 2 bedrooms instead of 4 and that we would have never accepted this. But their response was that I should consider myself lucky that we did not have to pay for the additional room we got.

For a family that travelled to 4 different Club med’s in 2024 alone the treatment at the Dutch Club Med travel agency was unbelievable. The answer we got was simply that the boss of the agency, who did not call is ourselves, said that we should consider ourselves lucky to got an upgrade and that we did not have to pay for the additional room. There was nothing else they could do for us.

We did think the reception at Cancun did everything they could to correct the mistakes made in the Netherlands but the response from the Dutch side was unbelievable.

I think we will be looking for a different agency to book our future travels. We feel ourselves to be treated unfairly without any understanding in the Netherlands what so ever.

We really enjoyed our experience at Colombus Island Club Med in the Bahamas. The staff, location, grounds were wonderful! It is the second Club Med experience for us as we went to Turks and Caicos last year. As a senior, the only negative in both places was the lack of access for people with disabilities. Hand rails to allow safe access to the pool, ramps where stairs are located would be very helpful. In the Bahamas, the best restaurant was not accessible for anyone using a walker or wheelchair unless you used a narrow, steep ramp without railing which ran through the kitchen. People with mobility issues deserve access like everyone else!

I have checked into Peisey Vallandry and have been not been impressed by the resort. I was booked into a disabled room which I didn’t book which had no bath or proper shower. After complaining I was moved to another room which hasn’t been cleaned properly I have the last guests pubic hairs in the bath, nice.

We go to the club at least 4 times a year for over 20 years.
On the 9/1 we booked a stay with an agency,
on 11/1 prices drop by 10% or 700 eur
We had not been warned
No compensation or commercial gesture

Clubmed despises its customers, even the most loyal

Worst customer experience ever. Waiting 8 weeks for a refund between them and Qantas. They say deposited my refund 7 days ago but still nothing in my bank account. I call them to talk to an human and they say I can’t talk to their accounts dept and their location is secretive. great holiday booking turning into such a nightmare and costing me money for their errors!

I like Club Med for the most part. There is a lot to do and you never have to leave the resort, although you can. But sometimes there customer service is lacking. I booked a vacation at a high premium in December 2022 and 1 1/2 months before I was expected to travel, they dropped the price by 25%. When I called and they said, since you are inside the 60 day window, they tell you it's a 25% fee to change the reservation and they can do nothing for you. But when called one month after booking because if the price was less, they blamed it on airline fees.

Club Med has the worst customer service I have ever encountered. Last year in february we had a trip booked with Club Med to Guadeloupe. Since Guadeloupe at this point in time had restrictions for travel related to COVID-19, we had to get tested before departure. My wife tested positive, which meant that we had to cancel. Fortunately, beeing aware of the risk, I had bought a specific travel insurance, so we received most of the money back from the insurance company. However, 1247 EUR was held back since Club Med issued a voucher for future travels. After the the voucher expired I contacted the insurance company again and to get the rest. They said "sure, no problem! We just need a written confirmation from Club Med that you did not use the voucher". I have since then (5 months ago) in several emails tried to get Club Med to answer and confirm this in an email, but it seems to be impossible for them to do this! It is just a horrific way to treat customers!

Unfortunately my grandma is dying in the hospital and my mom, aunt and I are unable to take our trip planned for this Friday. They are only offering us to rebook our trip within 24 hours (cause we can think that fast at a time like this) and using only 50% of what we paid and then on top of that we will still have to pay any additional fees for the week we choose. Not to mention this already happened to us -this is a rebook from the Covid 19 pandemic and they only offered us travel credit instead of a refund and when we rebooked the price went up so they charged us a lot extra. Now even if we purchased insurance or a refundable or flexible cancelation we would only have 61 or 90 days prior days to change it. It’s unfortunate that in a circumstance like this they won’t offer a full credit or extend the mere number of hours they were giving us to rebook.

JetBlue who we purchased our flights through gave us back full travel credit. This company has shown zero compassion to our cause. We are not looking for a refund or special treatment. We just want to reschedule this trip that we have been looking forward to since before Covid during a difficult time for our family. I will never book a trip with club med again.

Stranded in france away from my kids and no response form Club med management and no ability to speak to anyone other than the reception who say it is not their responsibility and no one I can speak to. Here is a summary of events:
Due to be going home Sunday 26th March
on Saturday 25th march I enquire at reception desk about transfer - they say they can see my package includes a transfer but it is not booked. they say come back in an hour and they will book
return later and told pick up will be at 12.45 for my 6.25 fight from Lyon
on sunday I arrive for pick up a little early
no one comes at expected time
I keep asking club med reception and they say wait
when 1 hour late:
I ask to speak to manager - told there is no manager they can contact
I ask if they can call transfer company repeatedly and keep being will be a few min
when 90min late:
again keep being told there is no one I can speak to other than reception staff
I inform them it is not possible to make Lyon flight and there are no more flights from lyon so can they transfer to Geneva and book a flight from there:
told they can not do this and only the transfers team can - but I can not speak to them
told only option is going to lyon and if I miss my flight then to talk to club med desk at the airport (assured that such a desk exists - but it does not)
Pick up arrives 2 hours late:
We tell desk that cant make flight so no point going - they call transfer team and tell us no - we must leave and go to Lyon - we were essentially checked out into the snow
The pick up is parked 300m away and have to carry all luggae there:
They say they could not get car up hill in the snow, but all other cars and buses are fine going up
I can see out transport has no snow chains and it looks to me like the wrong tyres to handle snow
During the walk I fell once and one other person in same situation fell twice
Arrive at Lyon and hours too late for flight
no club med desk at Lyon
there is an independent contractor who says he was told we may be on an easy jet flight not a BA flight and realises he can not help us
the independent contractor keeps calling club med but we can not speak to anyone:
told either we find our own accommodation and make own way home or they take us back to club med and get informed from there what flights we can have - we opt for option 2 as in a foreign country with a lot of luggage
Taken to a different club med
We are on their system for a room for 1 might BUT they have no info on what has happened or any information on what will happen from here
told their responsibility if just giving us accommodation for 1 night and it is a central club med agency who will handle all else but they have no info and we can not contact them
told only option is to wait for next morning
The next morning I ask reception and again no one knows about the situation and told I just have to wait until I get an email update
I have no clean cloths
I am away from my 2 very young children and have to organise emergency child care but have no plan on when I will get back so hard to plan
I can not work and can not even give my work a plan of when I will get back as no transparency over updates

This situation is ridiculous and to provide no transparency over what to even expect is unbelievable

ZERO STARS. WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE IF YOU WANT TO MAKE ANY CHANGES. EXTREMELY SLOW TO RESPOND AND NOT HELPFUL AT ALL. NOT HAPPY.

CLUB MED ("CM") DID NOT BOOK OUR TOUR, SO THEY INCURRED ZERO COSTS. NOT REASONABLE THAT THEY WOULD KEEP OUR MONEY (OVER AUD$800). WE SPOKE TO THE EXCURSIONS DESK AND RECEPTION SO MANY TIMES WHILST WE WERE IN BALI AND ALSO TO OUR TRAVEL AGENT IN AUSTRALIA TO FOLLOW UP IF WE COULD DEFER THE EXCURSION, GET A CREDIT OR USE IT ELSEWHERE IN THE RESORT AS WE WERE THERE UNTIL 5 JANUARY 2023 AND DESPITE ALMOST DAILY CORRESPONDENCES NO ONE POINTED OUT TERMS AND CONDITIONS UNTIL 2 WEEKS LATER WHEN WE WERE BACK HOME IN AUSTRALIA.

CM BALI REFUSED TO HANDLE ANY EXPERIENCE CHANGES AT RECEPTION CLAIMING THEY MUST BE IN AN EMAIL FROM YOUR TRAVEL AGENT. WE GOT THAT AND STILL THEY REJECTED OUR REQUEST. MONEY HUNGRY MOB. THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE AT ALL. COMPLETELY INCOMPETENT AND UNACCEPTABLE HANDLING.

We arrived at CM Bali on 31/12/22 9pm and our kids were adamant that after 2 weeks of adventuring through Vietnam they were exhausted and did not want do another day trip anywhere. We received a $300 Club Med voucher which could be used on any on-demand experiences (spa, excursions, etc) as we had prepaid before a certain date. We prebooked the West Nusa Penida excursion but found out on arrival at CM Bali that it is a full day trip on a very long and bumpy bus ride so I went to the Excursions Desk the next morning (1 January 2023) to enquire if we could defer or get a credit for our prepaid excursion (or least the $515.28 we paid). The Excursions Desk said that they didn't have any booking for us so directed us to Reception.

At Reception I explained our situation with Cacik as the excursion wasn't booked yet. Cacik advised that they can't do credits at Reception but that I could request that the excursion amount be transferred to spa credits, etc if it was emailed and communicated directly by my travel agent in Australia to CM Bali.

2 January: Renae said "I have been in contact with CM - They advised that they are unfortunately unable to transfer any funds/ credits to a new reservation without the written approval from the resort / reception directly. Is there any chance you are able to get one of the club med representatives at the resort to send me an email confirming/ declaring the funds can be transferrable to a new reservation?"

2 January: I showed Cacik Renae’s email and then called Renae in Australia from Bali so we could all work together on getting exactly what CM needed to transfer my prepaid excursion funds to a travel credit or use it elsewhere at CM Bali before we leave on 5 January 2023. Cacik put me onto Maria (Welcome and Service Supervisor) who said that she just needs to email my travel agent an email confirming that my family never took the excursion.

Email from Maria on 3 January: "Dear all, Please find attached confirmation from our excursion office, that Sutton family haven't used the excursion "West Nusa Penida".

4 January: Renae emailed: “I have been in contact with CM - I am just currently awaiting their confirmation as they mentioned they are needing to escalate this with their management. I should receive an update from them before end of day today.” I responded "Thanks. Let me know how you go or if there is anything I can do from my end. As the CM Boxing Day special finishes tomorrow and we are pretty much flying the whole day, we don't want to miss out but Hubby doesn't want to go ahead and book until we hear back re the CM Bali travel credit“.

Renae wrote on 11 January: “Hey Olivia! I have contacted CM and they have advised the below:
Their customer relations department advised that as per T&Cs, they would be unable to honour a credit and the amount paid for the on demand experience would be non-refundable.” I called Club Med Customer Sales on 12 January and spoke with Lauren (they don't have a Customer Relations phone number, just an email). Lauren responded on 17 Jan she had spoken with CM Head Office who repeated the above response.

We paid for our club med ski many months ago which included transport from Grenoble to alpe duez . We were told by rep that transport did not arrive so we should stsy at airport . After three hrs we managed to get a taxi to take all 7 of us .2 elderly persons and 2 adults and three young kids . It cost 260 euros . Hotel offered a voucher against another holiday for 177 euros . Don’t use this co ever because they could not care about customers only profit . We arrived at hotel just in time to go to bed . Disgraceful behaviour never again . So beware . Michael caplan

The website and booking process is absolutely terrible. Dealing with customer service for multiple changes is extremely long and tiring to fix the issues they caused. The website in general is very uninformative. For a company that bills themselves as a top tier brand, they are terrible. Buyer beware, you are going to hate the booking process enough that it will taint your vacation. I heard the same from lots of people I spoke to at the resort.

Club Med must have the most disinterested and unhelpful staff of any customer facing holiday company. Family been going to CM since 1965 and am booked to go with my mother - first trip since Covid. Booked Kamarina hotel because of her mobility issues. CM informed us hotel restaurant now closed & have to use one much further away. Been offered £110 each for the inconvience - but only as a voucher against future trip. Explained she's not going to be travelling again at the age of 85 & requested the refund off this trip. First they said ONLY my mother could have it? I look after her & won't be travelling if she's not and I'm 64! Then an email saying we could only have vouchers valid for a year. I spoke to a guy in HO who just didn't want to know. Even the way he answered the phone was dismissive. Come on Club Med - show a little compassion - what's wrong with you?! Great holidays, pity about the people who work in bookings.

We purchased package (flight and stay) to Club Med Cancun in Oct. 2021 for May 2022. Final confirmation April 2022. Arrived at airport 4 am. for 6:20 flight. Can't find Frontier Airlines ticket/baggage area. Ask and was informed Frontier no longer flies out of that airport!! As of March 2022! Club Med never informed us that we no longer have a flight to Cancun. We are now stranded at the airport on day one of our non refundable Club Med vacation. We purchase new tix, costing more than double original price. Day before we leave, we get a note slid under our door informing us that return flight has been canceled??? When I get home, I email them asking why they didn't inform us in March that flight was canceled. How were we to know? You knew our return flight was canceled, obviously, you knew our arriving flight was canceled. You purchased our tix, Frontier must have informed you they no longer flew out of that airport and all flights were canceled and you chose not to inform us. They took zero responsibility. Their actions/behavior was reprehensible!

You can add "being on hold to Club Med" to "Death and Taxes" as dead certs in life.

Interestingg they should use an American voice to inform you that "high volumes of calls are due to peolpe wanting book holidays with them", hum, more like disgruntled customers trying to get their monies returned.

Below one star in customer support or care.

Club Med don’t answer the phone are you still in business I paid for a vacation send me an invoice

Booked a ski holiday with club med to St Moritz on the 16th of January flying with BA .
We received a our travel information including e-ticket.
Then we received a mail from BA telling us the flight was cancelled but they had booked us on a later flight.
No problem but our e-tickets were no longer correct.
Tried contacting club med to get this rectified phone continuously engaged and not replying to e-mail.
Meanwhile we then find we have to cancel the holiday due to a medical issue.
Again unable to contact club med by either method.
We then get a new e-ticket but I have been trying to cancel the holiday.
We still have not received anything from club med apart from asking us to fill in a questionnaire about our holiday which we never went on.
Totally disgusted with this company.
Avoid at all cost

I just don't know how to get through to speak with someone directly. We had to cancel a previous holiday because of COVID and so now are trying to redeem our travel credit (>$20,000) but we cant reach anyone on their 1-888 number. I waited twice, longer than one hour on hold....its like they don't want anyone to book a vacation. The recording says "book through the website" but when i try, it says "speak to one of our agents". super frustrating!!