On Location: Ski, sip, repeat — PAX unpacks all-inclusive skiing with Club Med, agents in the French Alps

“It’s like an all-inclusive in the Caribbean, but get rid of the ocean and add a mountain,” says Tyler Mattioli, Club Med’s manager of new business development for Ontario and the Maritimes.

We’re sitting with Mattioli on a sun-drenched terrace in the French Alps, the temperature hovering around eight degrees, a cinematic sweep of snow-covered summits rising behind us. Peak-ture perfect.

The setting? Club Med Peisey‑Vallandry — a cozy retreat in the heart of France’s Tarentaise Valley, where 10 Canadian travel advisors have gathered for a weeklong FAM designed to show exactly what Mattioli means.

The agents, representing a range of ski abilities and varying levels of familiarity with Club Med, are here to experience firsthand what makes the brand’s mountain vacations so distinctive: a seamless, all-inclusive ski holiday where nearly everything is taken care of.

And yes, that includes skiing, snowboarding. Even snowshoeing.

“We like the French Alps [for FAMs] because it’s where we started our ski program,” says Mattioli, a true snow enthusiast who once ran a snowboarding group when he was in university. “It’s where we have most mountain resorts and beds.”

All-inclusive, the mountain way

As leader of the week’s FAM, Mattioli is been tasked with showing agents what life at Club Med is like at 1,600 metres.

Club Med Peisey‑Vallandry, located about two-and-a-half hours from Lyon, is a 4-Trident, year-round, family-friendly “village” (Club Med’s term for property) with 430 spacious, chalet-style rooms (deluxe, superior and suite categories, with connecting options), spread across two easy-to-navigate buildings.

The sky-high hotel, where punchy fuchsia and peach furniture flirts with wood-and-stone, faux-antler-filled interiors, sits in Paradiski – a vast, 420-kilometre ski domain (one of the largest in the world) that links the snow-laden areas of Peisey-Vallandry, Les Arcs, and La Plagne (Club Med has villages in all three, enabling shared privileges).

It’s a gondola and chairlift-connected playground of world-class, uninterrupted skiing and snowboarding (and, if the mood strikes you, some serious après-ski shenanigans).

Up here, Club Med’s concept is simple: take the carefree feeling of a tropical all-inclusive (a concept the company pioneered) and bring it to the mountains.

Meals (the gourmet variety. This is France, remember), snacks and alcoholic drinks are all included.

So are lift tickets for the entire stay and daily ski or snowboard lessons (morning and afternoon), led by instructors, dressed head-to-toe in red, from ESF (École du Ski Français) — the largest and most recognizable ski school in France.

“It’s the same school that teaches the French Olympic team,” Mattioli explains. “They’re very qualified.”

For the Canadian advisors on this mountain getaway, which PAX was invited to cover exclusively from March 1-8, it’s an opportunity to experience Club Med the same way G.M.s (Gentle Member, the brand’s term for guests) do.

And agents didn’t just tour the grounds—they stepped into Club Med’s one-of-a-kind universe.

Swerving down powdery, well-groomed ski hills, where pro instructors double as mountain guides; swimming in a luxurious-heated pool that flows from indoors to out, as mountain peaks sit dramatically in the background.

Joining in on “Crazy Signs,” Club Med’s signature group dance sessions – think line dancing, but set to cooler songs like “Mr. Saxobeat” and “Titanium,” with slicker choreography – alongside outgoing G.O.s (Gentle Organizers, Club Med’s emblematic staff) and guests of all ages wearing “45” shirts, the branded merch first launched in 1995 to celebrate the company’s 45th anniversary and still popular today.

Or simply pausing to take in the beauty of the French Alps.

Here, there’s a choice: be active all day, or relax and do nothing at all. That’s the Club Med spirit.

“Yes, it’s a work trip, but we want agents to feel as much like a GM — a guest — as possible,” says Mattioli.

“A massive halo effect”

For many Canadians, Club Med is synonymous with beach escapes in the Caribbean. But a significant part of the 76-year-old brand’s DNA lies far from the ocean, high in the mountains.

With dozens of ski resorts across Europe, Asia, and North America—including Canada’s own Club Med Québec Charlevoix, which opened in 2021—Club Med has built one of the world’s most distinctive all-inclusive ski concepts.

“It's a unique product that doesn't exist anywhere else,” Mattioli says.

READ MORE: On Location: Tea & syrup parties in the forest? Summer at Club Med Charlevoix is as Canadian as it gets

Mountain properties account for about a third of Club Med’s global portfolio of more than 70 resorts, and the category is gaining traction in Canada.

That’s partly thanks to Club Med’s year-round, St. Lawrence River–facing property in Charlevoix, the only waterfront ski resort in Le Massif, about an hour from Quebec City.

Mattioli says when Canadians travelled domestically during the pandemic, they discovered Canada’s first Club Med and the country’s “only true all-inclusive.”

Since then, many have returned to Charlevoix—about 80 per cent of guests go back—but they’ve also expanded their ski horizons.

“Every year we do the ski and snowboard show in Toronto, and at first all we heard about was Charlevoix,” Mattioli says. “Now we’re seeing those same faces going to other Club Med ski properties, like Japan, where we have four resorts.”

“They started at Charlevoix a few years ago, and now they’re skiing all over the world with us. It's a massive halo effect.”

The success of Charlevoix has also helped fuel Club Med’s growth in English-speaking Canada.

Traditionally, more than 70 per cent of Club Med’s Canadian sales—across both sun and ski—come from French-speaking Quebec. But the rest of Canada is gaining momentum, with business increasing by 300 per cent last year, Mattioli says.

The surge is concentrated in Ontario, though Western and Atlantic Canada are also seeing growth.

And more Canadian travel advisors are catching on. Mattioli says 160 advisors applied for Club Med’s ski FAM this year. 

Those who were approved were split into two trips: Mattioli’s program in Peisey-Vallandry and another led by Natasha George, BDM for Ontario and Western Canada, at Club Med Serre-Chevalier, also in the French Alps, that same week. 

According to Club Med's research, about 55 per cent of Canadians skiing in the Alps choose to stay at a Club Med resort.

“That's one of the largest market shares in the travel industry for one specific genre of travel,” Mattioli says. “Canada is the second-largest market for ski at Club Med.” (France is first).

He also points to the value of an all-inclusive ski vacation in the Alps compared with Western Canada destinations like Whistler or Lake Louise.

“Sometimes it’s cheaper to fly to Europe than Vancouver,” Mattioli says. “Lift tickets in Whistler can be more than $300 a day. At Club Med, it’s included, and it’s less than $400 for the entire week. And it’s all-inclusive.”

Also, leave it to Club Med to inject a little flair and flamboyance into traditional skiing.

At Peisey‑Vallandry. every day at lunch hour, as skiers (and snowboarders) return from their morning lessons, an epic après-ski (party) is organized in the resorts’ slope-side landing area, complete with music, BBQ, snack stations, open bar and performances.

From a live DJ, drummer, and bassist playing funky Jackson 5 and Bruno Mars remixes, to go-go dancing G.O.s in shimmering white coats lined with pink and white feather boas, each day is a new extravaganza.

One sun-kissed afternoon, two G.O.s in glittering blazers made a show-stopping entrance, snowboarding down a slope, directly into the heart of the party, each wielding pink-red and purplish-blue smoke cannons like Olympic torches.

When they joined their colleagues on a riser, thick clouds of red, white, and blue smoke unfurled like a homage to France’s flag. Then, shots of chartreuse (a herbal liquor) slid through the crowd on a long ski as groovy beats pulsed through the mountain air.

“If you’re in Whistler or Louise, that’s not gonna happen,” Mattioli said.

Quintessential Club Med

As a destination for introducing travel advisors to Club Med, Peisey-Vallandry serves as the perfect classroom.

The resort embodies the qualities and experiences that are quintessentially Club Med.

To start, the brand is about location, location, location. In many destinations, Club Med is usually the first resort to establish a presence, often securing the most desirable land and views.

At Peisey-Vallandry, this means exceptional mountain access. Guests enjoy true ski-in, ski-out convenience, with the nearest lift just strides from the resort’s heated ski (locker) room.

The property is also exceptionally well suited to families seeking premium-level vacations—Club Med’s core audience for more than two decades now.

Evening entertainment welcomes all ages, with nightly shows and playful touches like candy-floss stands or chocolate fondue fountains.

The resort’s Mini Club Med (ages 4-10) and Junior Club Med (ages 11-17) also includes those morning and afternoon ski lessons. Throughout the day, it’s common to spot ESF instructors leading little skiers down the slopes – each bundled up in bright Club Med-branded bibs, swerving in a single file.

The whole village is a flurry of boots, poles, skis, snowboards, helmets, snowsuits, goggles and gloves. And with kids, teens, and adults all heading to the mountains at once, it can sound a little chaotic.

Yet what truly stands out about a Club Med ski vacation, witnessing it firsthand, is just how organized it is.

“We have it down to a science,” as Mattioli puts it. “The team does the same thing week in, week out. It's a flawless operation.”  

The only thing that isn’t included is your gear (because many guests bring their own skis, or at minimum, their own boots and helmet).

But everything can be rented on site, costing $300–$500 per week, and its high-quality equipment, made by respected brands, like Rossignol.

Sports for all

Sports and wellness are the backbone of Peisey‑Vallandry (and all Club Meds for that matter).

Whether in the mountains or near the ocean, there’s an expansive menu of included activities—many not typically found at other resort brands.

At ski properties like Peisey-Vallandry, guests can access a mountain-facing gym, join daily yoga and Pilates classes, and hike in the summer, while others, like Charlevoix, have spin studios.

In warmer destinations, Club Med may include the above, but expand further with pickleball and tennis, snorkeling and sailing, stand-up paddleboarding, archery, and in some locations, water-skiing and flying trapeze lessons.

The emphasis on movement extends to Club Med’s kids’ clubs as well, where outdoor play and active adventures replace time spent indoors playing video games.

Even the littlest travellers have somewhere to go. At Peisey-Vallandry, there’s Petit Club Med (ages two and three), while the Baby Club (four to 23 months) offers dedicated care and programming for infants and toddlers (for an additional cost).

Bon appétit

And then there’s the food.

Club Med isn’t your typical burger-pizza-and-fries all-inclusive. Those familiar staples are certainly available, but the culinary offering goes far beyond the expected.

The company’s main buffet restaurants are usually designed like open marketplaces, and feature chef-plated dishes that change daily.

At Peisey-Vallandry’s La Vanoise, where French cuisine shapes the offering, that might mean ratatouille and tartine savoyarde one evening, followed by foie gras and fresh scallops the next.

This, in addition to carving, soup and pasta stations, along with an irresistible spread of desserts—from caramel custards and chocolate mousses to puffy pastries and creamy gelato.

Meanwhile, the resort’s loft-style à la carte restaurant, La Pierra Menta, leans into local comfort food: duck burgers, pumpkin soup and chicken-and-mushroom vol-au-vent, and indulgent add-ons, like gooey fondue or slices of 30-day-aged L-bone steak.

You can work up an appetite, skiing all day in the French Alps, and Mattioli’s group of agents certainly didn’t go hungry.

But they also got a taste of what it’s like to vacation with a brand that unites the world.

While French may be the language you hear most often at Club Meds (especially in France), it’s far from the only one. Italian, German, Spanish, English, and others mingle in the air, creating a lively atmosphere, and sense of togetherness, at all times.  

And for the record, as an Anglophone, you’ll get by just fine at Club Med. The G.O.s, who come from all over the world, speak at least two languages (one of which must be English).

Something to talk about

It’s a good time to talk ski, especially as Club Med prepares to open its second Canadian village in Mont Tremblant in December 2028.

Because talking, says Mattioli, is the first step to growing ski vacation sales.

Everyday consumers, he says, tend to book ski trips directly, without a travel advisor, because they don’t know any different.

“The biggest opportunity for agents is to let your clients know that you sell ski,” he says.

It can be intimidating at first. After all, not all agents are familiar with mountains and pistes (making FAM trips all the more important!)

But those first turns eventually become a smooth ride.

“Once you understand your clients’ preferences—whether they want family-friendly, or something adult-oriented, and what kind of elevation they want—it comes naturally,” says Mattioli.

What did travel advisors have to say about their ski week at Club Med Peisey-Vallandry? Watch PAX for more!

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