This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on August 26, 2024 - September 1, 2024

Club Med will be opening Club Med Borneo in Sabah, in 2025. In line with its sustainability goals, the resort will be the first in Asia-Pacific to be built according to the BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) certification.

Only 10% of the 41-acre resort will be built on, according to Club Med Singapore and Malaysia general manager Olivier Monceau. “We are in the process of construction [of Club Med Borneo] and it is going well. We plan to open in the first half of 2025. The plan is to do our sales opening and announce the opening of the resort by the fourth quarter of 2024.”

Monceau says that, since 2017, it has been mandated that all new Club Med resorts and existing ones going through major renovations must comply with BREEAM.

Club Med Borneo is situated in Kuala Penyu, roughly a 90-minute drive from Kota Kinabalu International Airport. “I am absolutely amazed by the location. It’s very much with the Club Med DNA; it is a pristine area. This is basically an unknown place, there is nothing around. There is like powder beach sand I’ve never seen before in my life, not even in the Maldives,” says Monceau.

Once completed, the resort will have 360 premium rooms and 40 luxury suites, which fit into Club Med’s exclusive collection product range. Monceau explains that 11% of Club Med’s total worldwide capacity is of this exclusive product range and Club Med Borneo will be the first in Malaysia with this range.

The main difference between the premium and exclusive ranges is that the latter not only offers all-day dining, premium beverages and world-class sports and activities, but also provides an added touch of luxury such as champagne at 6pm and high-quality gourmet food.

Club Med is known for its activities and those at Club Med Borneo will include excursions to Pulau Tiga, the location of the first Survivor reality TV show, and climbs up Mount Kinabalu.

Kota Kinabalu is accessible by international flights from around the region and internationally, from places such as the US and the UK, which augurs well for the resort.

“We want to develop the Malaysian market and accelerate our Malaysia footprint. So, we want to develop the business not only for our Malaysian customers, but we [also] want all customers to come and travel to our Malaysia resort,” Monceau says.

Meanwhile, in Peninsular Malaysia, Club Med Cherating, which opened in 1979 and was the first Club Med in Asia, is undergoing a refurbishment exercise for its 300 rooms. Its activities are also being updated and expanded.

According to Monceau, as at June, 70% of the rooms had been refurbished. They have been given a fresh coat of paint and installed with LED lights and power points with USB and Type-C ports.

Also, meeting rooms have been given a facelift to meet the needs of corporate clientele for holding their corporate meetings and gatherings.

In 2019, Club Med initiated a programme to encourage guests to participate in sustainability practices and taking care of the environment.

“We launched in 2019 our programme called Happy to Care, which is one of our four strategic pillars, enhancing this focus on the environment and to make sure that we will protect the environment from day one until today, to make sure we can have and continue to have a positive impact on the environment and the local communities. We also invite our resort guests to share this sustainability approach, from the activities we have started, so they can contribute to making a better place, a more beautiful, cleaner place,” says Monceau.

“We have this new botanical walk where guests can discover local plants. We see an increase in interest from the guests and from the kids asking ‘What is this plant? What is this flower?’, so people are really keen to know more about what is happening around them, especially in a place like Cherating.

“It brings a very positive feeling when you go trekking, when you learn something, and realise nature is fragile, and how it’s important to know about it before even considering protecting it. This awareness is key. We really want to contribute to raising awareness of why and how Mother Nature is so important.”

Moreover, the resort is also looking to reduce the use of plastic. “We are launching in Cherating the Bye Bye Plastic programme, where we will replace plastic water bottles with glass bottles, which can be reused after cleaning,” Monceau says.

To undergird all these activities and to ensure no stone is left unturned, the operations of all Club Med resorts have undergone certification by Green Globe since 2021.

“Green Globe is all about operations and management. It has 44 criteria and is an internationally recognised certification,” he says.

It is also looking to increase the use of local suppliers. “So, we are really focusing on increasing the share of local production. Not only that, we’re also partnering with another association, called Agrisud. We partner with local farmers and guide them on how to be more sustainable and produce a product we would be happy to buy. They must follow certain guidelines,” says Monceau.

Agrisud has been active for 30 years, taking action on economic, social and environmental issues to promote a more sustainable and fairer world by promoting very small family farming enterprises.

There are also plans to create natural swimming pools with natural filtration systems, which allows them to become a natural ecosystem that treats the water with plants.

Club Med is preparing its snow resorts, particularly in Japan and China, for the upcoming ski season at the end of this year and early next year. In Japan, there are four ski resorts — Kiroro Peak, Kiroro Grand, Tomamu and Sahoro — all in Hokkaido, and in China, there are the resorts in Changbaishan, Yabuli and Beidahu.

Club Med resorts that are in the pipeline include Club Med South Africa Beach & Safari resort in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal that will offer a beach and safari experience. It is scheduled to open in 2026.

A new resort is also planned for North Sulawesi. Negotiations are at an advanced stage but exact details will be released at a later date.

Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy.

P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's App Store and Android's Google Play.