Club Med Yabuli (Dec-2011)

[chin]

I am now in Club Med Yabuli. We chose this place for the ski, and this is the first time I go to any Club Med.

Before the trip, I did not expected it to be any different from any resort. But it turned out it's a very interesting. In the first few days, we saw that seems quite a large number of customers are repeated visitors, especially many Singaporeans. Some staff saw us and right away guessed that we are first time visiting Club Med.

Today, after talking to the entertainment chief, I found out some interesting concepts about how they run their business.

On the advertisement, all Club Meds are all expenses included - all food, drinks, entertainment, ski lessons, etc... What I did not know about Club Med that's different from other hotel resort is that the individual property's management change by the season. For example in Yabuli, the current General Manager is an American named Ryan. Ryan has a core team of maybe 10 people who would move around different Club Med properties with him. Before coming to Yabuli, he and his team was in Maldives. The Yabuli resort is really just for skiing with the season ends in March. After March, the Ryan team may move to management another Club Med resort. When the next ski season comes, the Yabuli resort may or may not be managed by the Ryan team.

The core team would share the profit for the season from the resort they managed during that season. There are should be enough incentive for the team to create fun and memorable experiences for the guests, such that some of the guests would follow the team when they moved to manage another Club Med.

That's right, they created the system to allow or encourage customers to follow the team. In other words, the Village Chief (Club Med's label for the General Manager) and his team is a traveling party hosts.

I wonder how many customers really follow the team, but surely some do as far as we have observed.

In fact, I was told that on the Club Med web site, you can choose resort by location, activities, or the village chief!

[hangchoi]

It is interesting to know the village chief stuff.

All I know about Club Med is just the all inclusive concept.

[chin]

I am back and I will post some pictures soon.

Anyway, my Sony A900 & A550 worked fine in the outdoor in -20c (probably -30c with wind chill) but the cheaper Canon camcorder could not work.

[chin]

First two pictures of the ski slopes and a diagram showing the slopes at the Sun Mountain Yabuli. The ski lift is right outside the Club Med.

The the height of the slopes is about 600m. The most difficult is A5 which is about 45 degree most of the time. I took the A1 which is easier but for about 500m the slope was about 30 degree. I think A1 total length is more than 2km, and it took me 20 min or more to come down from A1.

[chin]

In the first picture you can see the ski lift is right outside the hotel building. The building is very big, and was built as a large result complex under another name. I think Club Med took over the hotel only two years ago, and at the time of our visit, Club Med only perhaps used 2/3 of the space available. It looks to me the project had grand planning to start, but may not have pulled it off as planned. I will show more later about the empty villas.

Any, with ski lift maybe only 100 meters away, and multiple slopes for different ski levels, it's a very good place to learn and to play.

The 2nd picture show the ski lift, and the most difficult slope next to the lift line, at about 45 degree! In the same picture on the left is a conveyor belt that they called Magic Carpet. This part is mainly for beginners, or for warming up before going up the hill.

[chin]

One of the interesting attraction right outside the ski lift is this sled pulling big dog. He's very friendly, and accompanied by another sled pulling horse. In the morning, the horse would be pulling the driver and the dog to the front of the ski lift, waiting for customers.

The driver would take tourists around for RMB100 per head. He's paid by Club Med for RMB3,000 per month, plus tips. But he has to provide the horse, dog, and the sleds. For him, this is already a very good deal, as otherwise he has to compete with other horse sled drivers in the Yabuli town.

[chin]

Near the ski lift is where the beginner's classes are held. One of the good things about going with Club Med is that ski or snowboard classes for different level are arranged and offered daily. Every night around dinner time, guests can sign up for the classes for the next day. I did not take any class and just freely ski on my own, so I don't know how good the classes are, but from the feedback of the kids, they like most of the classes.

The Club Med instructors are the ones in bright orange outfit. Besides the Club Med instructors, any one (including other tourists who come by bus just to visit the ski range) can hire private instructors in red outfit.

I found it very funny that many times instructors would pick up and carry the kids around. Maybe the kids fell and whined?!

[chin]

From my observation, many Club Med instructors are non-Chinese from France, Korea, etc... They generally lead classes of around or more than 10 students. I think there are private lessons also, but not sure...

The private instructors with red outfit are not Club Med related. There must by 50 or more. They station and get business at the ground level of the building which serve the Sun Mountain ski range, but just Club Med. Many of them not just provide ski instruction, but would provide assistance helping clients getting on/off the ski shoes, carrying the ski equipments, etc... almost like a personal escort.

[chin]

This is my 3rd morning in Yabuli, and perhaps the coldest day during my stay. I was told that the temperature was about -20c, but with the wind chill, I think it was easily feel like -30c. I decided to just take the ski lift up mountain to take some pictures.

[chin]

These pictures were taken inside the enclosed ski lift, thus the color is tainted by the glass enclosure.

About 200m from the hotel is a large number of empty villas for sale. If you are interested in buying one, you can call the numbers on the bill board. I wonder who would buy property here?! I have been to Niseko in Japan and Aspen in US where people would buy property for investment and earn rental income from renting out to skiers. But how do they get the momentum going in the first place? In place like Yabuli, who would want to be the first to buy property in the middle of no-where, hoping that in the future there would be a vibrant ski holidaying community?

Anyway, the 2nd picture show the mid-station of the ski lift. This station is probably less than 100m higher than the base station, and the first step for those skillful enough to start going up mountain. This section maybe has a grading of 20 degree, then quickly flatten to a long gentle slope back down to the base station.

The 3rd picture is taken almost at the top of the mountain, looking down. The villas and the Club Med building is barely visible.