Club del Sole was born in the 70s, when the only term used to define an outdoor holiday was “camping”. Today the group has several tourist villages in Italy in 7 regions, almost always a few steps from the sea, as well as in Bologna, the only urban holiday village in the portfolio. An ambitious rebranding project was announced yesterday. The values taken as a reference are freedom and sociality, love for nature, happiness, authenticity. According to what declared by the Group, the new logo has become a symbol: “the four elements of the Club del Sole experience merge into a perfect and eternal shape like the circle“, states the press release, “in which nature stands out in the center and releases the other three dimensions of an ideal holiday: the sea, the beach, the sun.”
The managing director of the group is Angelo Cartelli. In his curriculum vitae there are 20 years of experience in commercial management and marketing in the tourism field, with specific skills in the analysis of distribution channels and in-depth knowledge in the fields of communication, media relations and public relations activities. From 1997 to 2002 he was marketing director of the Mirabilandia amusement park and since 2003 he has also been marketing and commercial director of Eden Viaggi, the second largest Italian tourist group. We talked with him about Club del Sole, the sector and development prospects.
Camping Business – What is the size of Club del Sole today both in terms of facilities and turnover?
Angelo Cartelli – The Club del Sole Group today has 20 open-air tourist villages, along the shores of the seaside destinations, symbol of the Italian summer and among the most loved by the national and European public: the upper Adriatic, the Venice Riviera, the Lidi Ferraresi, Riviera Romagnola, Riviera Marchigiana, Abruzzo, Argentario, Versilia, Riviera del Garda. Our 20 villages in Italy are spread over an area of almost 1.7 million square meters and a potential for welcoming 3 million guests a year: numbers that make us the leader in outdoor beach holidays. Consolidated 2021 turnover is back in line with the growth trends prior to Covid.
Camping Business – What are the projects and initiatives for 2022?
Angelo Cartelli – First I would like to emphasize that I am proud that our company, led by CEO Francesco Giondi, has never stopped imagining, designing, planning a present and a future of development, novelty, innovation, growth. It wasn’t easy in an industry like tourism. That’s why 2022 finds us ready, as always. The first project that we want to make known to the public is the evolution of the brand that we present to the press today: the starting point for the future of Club del Sole, the culmination of a process of internal reflection, which started in May 2021, and which has involved management, collaborators but above all our most loyal customers.
It all started with a long phase of market research, conducted on a sample basis on some of our most loyal guests: why have they always chosen Club del Sole? How would they like the Club del Sole of the future to be? From their answers we started to find ourselves in the manifesto that we present today. Club del Sole is now synonymous with outdoor holidays and synonymous with lifestyle. Club del Sole is synonymous with freedom, sociability, love for nature, authenticity. Club del Sole is synonymous with life as it should always be.
Of course, we would not feel up to such a high and challenging promise if at the same time investments in the real estate sector, investments in new forms of hospitality, investments in new entertainment models, investments in technology were not being developed. In Rimini, Riccione, Punta Marina, the 3 construction sites that will revolutionize our presence at the destination and which, at the end of the works, will represent our idea of an outdoor holiday village of the future are already open. We are awaiting the delivery of our new lodges, developed and furnished exclusively for us, and we are also launching Discovery solutions, the top-of-the-range luxury caravans on the market, in 4 villages.
I would add that our animation teams will present a new welcome formula, services, and activities for the summer. A new mascot will be waiting for our younger guests, while a new Family Dog Friendly protocol will welcome our 4-legged friends. Again: our friends from Club Restauration, a company of the group that deals with everything that revolves around food & beverage, market, and beach life, are working on new restaurant formats and new menus, increasingly greedy and nutritious. Last, certainly not least, the news in the technological field: I can only anticipate that the customer journey and the customer experience of our customers will no longer be divided between offline and online. We are rethinking everything from an “on life” perspective, as modern sociology teaches us.
Camping Business – Which target is Club del Sole aimed at? Who are they and where do your customers come from?
Angelo Cartelli – To all those who in 2022 feel part of a family. Anyone who loves to travel with those who they consider to be their family, for a weekend in spring or autumn, or for the whole summer. That’s why we have solutions for classic families with children, solutions for those traveling together with 4-legged friends, solutions for those traveling as a couple. We certainly love to think of our villages as locations where boys and girls can experience their dream vacation, in complete safety and in the open air.
Camping Business – The summer of 2021 was such a success for Club del Sole, that it exceeded pre-Covid levels in terms of turnover, arrivals and attendance. What do you expect for next season?
Angelo Cartelli – We expect our guests’ satisfaction index to be even higher than in 2021. This is the most important data for us. Making our guests happy, keeping promises. Then I admit that I would be telling a lie if I did not say that we expect a growing turnover and attendance.
Camping Business – How and to what extent do you think the current geopolitical crisis will impact our sector? How will Club del Sole react?
Angelo Cartelli – It is really difficult to make predictions, we are all witnessing a huge tragedy in the heart of Europe. A crisis unimaginable until a few weeks ago and which follows two years of pandemic. It really seems that someone has lost the light of reason. I limit myself, we limit ourselves, to hoping that diplomacy will soon take over the roar of the bombings and the madness of war and that a truce can be reached.
Camping Business – How important is attention to the environment and energy saving in your strategies? Can you do more? How?
Angelo Cartelli – Attention to the environment and optimization of consumption must be part of the strategies of every company, because they are issues that can no longer be ignored. We try to do our best: we are proud that our lodges are built with more than 90% of recycled or recyclable materials, we are proud to implement a careful separate waste management in the villages, we are proud to push the awareness of the guests in consumption management.
Camping Business – What is the ‘camping village’ formula? What distribution tools will you rely on?
Angelo Cartelli – The hospitality model of our villages is based on freedom, sociability, possibility. We want our guests to feel free to experience the outdoor holiday they need and have dreamed of so much. We want them to live it happily together with their loved ones, other guests, our staff, because we prefer that of us to the dimension of the I. We want them to realize that they can live every moment as they want, perhaps passing from one day to the next from a room-only formula to an all-inclusive formula; from a formula in which you can enjoy the beauty of the area to one in which to fully experience all the services of the village; from one in close contact with nature to a more social one. This is how we like to imagine life, this is how life should always be. To do this, the presence of a Catering Club within the group is absolutely essential, because in this way we are able to fully organize the hospitality experience.
Camping Business – We know that you are interested in attracting that part of the clientele historically fond of tourist villages towards the outdoor world. How do you plan to achieve this goal?
Angelo Cartelli – During the focus groups, our most loyal guests confessed to us that they choose us for our ability to welcome them with a smile; for contact with nature; for the feeling of always feeling at ease and in good hands; for the quality of services; for perceived safety. They are widespread needs. This is why I don’t think Club del Sole has the objective of taking guests away to other market categories: it is the open-air village that is the model of the village of the present and of the future, and it is our guests who deserve more and more comfort and ease, without betraying our philosophy.
Camping Business – What is the role of digital for your Group today and what will it be in the future?
Angelo Cartelli – He has always played and still plays a fundamental role. Club del Sole has been a Google case history for years and has always looked at the digital world with great interest. A new app is being developed that will eliminate the barrier between online and offline: our holidays will be lived “on life” and our guests will find all the information and services they need directly on their mobile phones. From web check-in to food delivery, from the calendar of activities to the possibility of booking services on the beach, from assistance service to information on the surroundings. We are also strengthening our digital e-money service, to permanently abandon cash in the villages. A total renewal of the digital ecosystem of the company is underway. We will launch it in autumn 2022.
Camping Business – In your experience, how have tourist habits changed following the pandemic? Do you think this is a trend that will continue even after this emergency?
Angelo Cartelli – The habits of tourists have not changed, the habits of each of us have changed. We understood how important time is, and in particular free time. We know better the value of feeling safe and feeling peaceful. We all have a greater need for contact with nature, for life in the open air, to return to social experiences, to rediscover our body and our well-being. It is the needs and desires of people that guide us: as long as we continue to work to satisfy and fulfill them, we will be sure that we are on the right side.
Josipa Bonifačić Cvelić – Campmaster