Club Med has promoted Sabrina Cendral to senior vice president of marketing and sales, effective immediately. The role, which is new for the company, will have Cendral overseeing all of the company’s U.S. sales and marketing, while also driving marketing strategies for North America as a whole, including Canada and Mexico. She will also now oversee the company’s travel agent programs and relationships, as well as provide guidance to Club Med’s national sales teams.
Last week Club Med’s previous vice president of sales and the executive lead for its trade teams, Michelle Lardizabal, left the company to oversee the entire U.S. sales organization at MSC Cruises USA. Club Med said that, following Lardizabal’s departure, its executive team decided to blend the vice president of sales and vice president of marketing roles into the position now occupied by Cendral.
“As I step into this new role, I want to thank Michelle Lardizabal for her dedication in successfully solidifying the relationship between Club Med and its trusted travel advisor partners,” Cendral said. “Travel advisors are essential partners to our business, and we will continue to dedicate our time to provide them with the proper tools, trainings and resources to ensure their success.”
The new role reports directly to Carolyne Doyon, president and CEO of Club Med North America and the Caribbean, and it is also part of the company’s worldwide leadership committee. In a written statement Doyon said that the company hopes that merging its U.S. sales and marketing into a new centralized role will increase commercial impact and support its North American growth plans, which includes the opening of its first Exclusive Collection resort in North America, the Club Med Michès Playa Esmeralda in the Dominican Republic.
Cendral joined Club Med in 2008 to launch its Luxury Villas and Chalets, which are now part of its Exclusive Collection. While at the Paris headquarters, she also oversaw the customer experience design for several new resorts, including Valmorel in the French Alps and Pragelato Vialattea in Italy. In 2013, she relocated to the company’s North American headquarters as the director of brand, communications and product marketing, before being promoted to vice president to head the marketing and digital efforts for North America and the Caribbean shortly thereafter.
As the vice president of marketing, Cendral headed up the relaunch of the Club Med Cancún Yucatán in Mexico, Club Med Turkoise in Turks and Caicos, and Club Med Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic with the creation of a brand-new Zen Oasis adults-exclusive area. She also spearheaded the brand’s partnership with Cirque du Soleil, which resulted in the launch of the Club Med CREACTIVE by Cirque du Soleil interactive guest experience at Club Med Punta Cana.
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