Club Med Joyview
Elevating onsite experiences through connected technology
DIRECT TEAM
1 x Product Manager
1 x Design Lead (Me)
2 x Technical Consultants
2 x Developers
TASKS
Research
Client Workshop
Digital Strategy
Product Design
Prototyping
Usability Testing
Handover Documentation
DURATION
2017 - 2018
6 Months
The Background
Club Med Joyview is a newer addition to the brand, exclusively in China, created for urban travelers who seek premium escapes that feels close to nature but easy to reach. Just a few hours from major cities, Joyview makes spontaneous weekend trips possible with no flights and complicated planning.
The Challenge
As the brand expanded quickly, strong brand recognition alone was no longer enough. Guests experienced friction at key moments throughout their stay. With the growth of short-haul domestic travels, Joyview saw an opportunity to rethink the guest experience in a digital way to make each touchpoint more engaging, while preserving the sense of ease and comfort that defines a Club Med holiday.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
How might digital transformation make every Club Med Joyview stay feel effortless and unforgettable?
The Research
To better understand guest pain points and unmet needs, we ran a two-day workshop with Club Med Joyview stakeholders and hosts (G.Os). This combined frontline insights with business goals.
We focused on the two primary audience groups that make up most of their guests.
As a group, we mapped the user journey together and encouraged open discussion, allowing participants to share real experiences from the ground.
We consolidate recurring pain points and aligned on shared priorities. This allowed us to identify opportunities that were meaningful for the guests and feasible for the business. We decided to focus on 3 pain points.
PAIN POINT 1
Inefficient Check-in/out Experience
Guests → Caused frustration by unnecessary delays
Club Med Joyview → Increased manual errors and unsatisfied guests
PAIN POINT 2
Unclear Resort Offerings
Guests → Caused confusion and missed experiences
Club Med Joyview → Increased friction during peak hours and limited ability to promote under utilized activities or operational offerings
PAIN POINT 3
Poor Location Coordination
Guests → Caused wasted time and high stress levels
Club Med Joyview → Increased complaints and safety risks
Based on the three key pain points, we ran an ideation session where participants explored as many practical solutions as possible from both the guest and G.O perspectives.
The Approach
The mobile app was intentionally focused on enhancing the onsite experience, rather than duplicating features already available on Club Med's existing platforms. This kept the product lean while reducing development effort and cost.
With the development team, we mapped out the user flows to give us a clear picture of what needed to happen behind the scenes, such as migrating existing customer data, setting up a CMS (Content Management System) for easy updates and defining the necessary frontend and backend services.
While the backend tasks were handled by a separate team, ongoing collaboration helped us identify limitations early on and kept the designs practical and realistic.
Where premium escapes feel effortless.
Each guest receives an RFID wristband when they arrive. By scanning a QR code, guests are instantly connected to the rest of their travel party through the app. The wristband functions as a room key, location-sharing device and payment method.
To make discovering activities feel easy, the main feed shows daily events that are happening around the resort. This makes it easy to join activities spontaneously. For guests who prefer to plan ahead, the activity directory provides clear information and instant booking, helping guests feel in control of their time.
Upcoming bookings trigger notifications and all booking details can be viewed in one place. Guests can easily modify their bookings as needed.
In a large resort, travel groups naturally spread out. Integrated with RFID and location beacons across the resort, the wristband allows guests to see where they and their travel party members are at any time.
Whether parents are checking on their children or friends are finding one another, this provides reassurance without constant updates.
Instead of waiting in line or keeping track of cards and cash, guests can simply tap their wristband to make payments. All expenses are visible directly in the app, creating a fully cash-free experience. Guests can prepay their bills at anytime, making checkout faster and completely stress-free.
The Results
100%
Adoption rate within the first month
47%
Reduced checkout time per guest
32%
Increased activity booking
65%
Engagement in location-sharing
The mobile app and RFID experience were first launched at Club Med Joyview Beidahu. The solution was fully integrated with Club Med Joyview’s backend systems, enabling access to member profiles, bookings and real-time resort data.
Within the first month, the app achieved 100% adoption for new guests, showing strong engagement and immediate relevance to guests’ needs. Guests quickly embraced the app as part of their stay, using it to discover activities, manage bookings and navigate around the resort. As a result, operations ran more smoothly and participation across activities became more evenly distributed.
This was an important step in elevating the Club Med Joyview experience and it laid the foundation for expanding the solution to additional resort locations.