The Queen of the Club
Nathalie De Grandmont

Brenda Kyllo

Who has never dreamed of falling in love with a member of the resort animation team during a vacation in paradise? For Brenda Kyllo, the General manager of Club Med in Canada, that story came true.

But, not only did she marry a charming animator, she also fell in love with Club Med itself…and vice versa. That love affair has been going on for 25 years now, with various rendezvous taking place in Australia, in France and in the Maldives, just to mention a few. 

You never know where that holiday will take you…

It all started with a simple six-month leave of absence from a previous job. “I wanted to spend that time at Club Med, mostly to learn how to play tennis and improve my skills in French,” she says. 

But, instead of spending time on the tennis courts, she ended up teaching a computer class instead, after which she was offered a one-year contract to start up a new computer department in… Malaysia. Needless to say, she never went back after that leave of absence. And Malaysia would only be the beginning of the journey!

Club Med Cherating Beach, Malaysia

After that, she kept on moving up within the organization, taking on new challenges such as opening a new sales office in Australia (for 3 years) then a new operations office in Singapore. In that country, she was even wearing two hats: handling the village operations and the purchasing of tourism excursions, and acting as the country director in charge of the Maldives property, which she would visit every six weeks on average. Sometimes, she explains, it was quite a challenge to do business with the local politicians, pointing out that a woman director in a Muslim country might find herself in a few awkward situations at times. 

But overall, she says, it was more the fact of being an expatriate that gave me a special status. An handicap? “Not at all,” she answers. “Because you can very well learn how to use that to your advantage. Every time I was coming in a new environment, I was always trying to listen to the local team, as much as possible.”

“I would never assume I knew everything but instead, I would take the best of their expertise and then try to combine their knowledge and energy, together with my objectives. The key is to accept that you can’t know everything, especially as an expatriate. But you have to make everyone in the team comfortable. After that, you take decisions, you accept the risks and you move on…”      

I see England, I see France…

Undoubtedly, Brenda Kyllo knows what moving and changing is all about. After Singapore, she came back to oversee the Club Med’s sales in English Canada (between 1992 and 1996).

Then, she left for France to manage the cruise department at the headquarters of Club Med, in Paris. “That time, the work itself was the biggest change of all, because I had never worked in that industry before. Think of it: a girl from Saskatchewan, ending up on a cruise ship…” she says, smiling.

“But I realized that the experience of moving from one place to the next and having to adapt to new countries and environments constantly gave me the ability to cope with change within my work as well. To adapt to new systems and colleagues.”

So, once again, Brenda Kyllo jumped on that boat also, fairly confident that she would adapt quickly. “At the time, Club Med owned two ships and we opened up new itineraries for them: in Tahiti, in the Baltic sea, around Cape Horn, and so on. Club Med decided to sell one of them but the Club Med II is still sailing and more popular than ever.”

Back to Canada

Club Med Lindeman Island, Australia

Fortunately for the Canadian travel industry, after having worked and traveled all around the world for Club Med, Brenda Kyllo finally came back to Canada, where she has been the general manager of Club Med since 2003.

“It didn’t take me long to feel comfortable here,” she explains. “The presence of the call center, the size of the team (about 50 people), plus the challenges of finding the right transportation and marketing everything in the two languages make it a very interesting and fulfilling job.” 

And, since 2003, the dynamics of the product itself have also been changing rapidly. With the arrival of the new CEO, Henri Giscard d’Estaing, Club Med has changed its strategy, choosing to go more upscale and to upgrade most of their properties.

“For a while, it was not easy,” Ms. Kyllo explains, “because the brand and the image that we were promoting were a little ahead of the product itself.”

“But now that we are in the last phase of the renovations, the image and the product are finally lining up. And we are getting very good results: one example being the Cancun village, which has been full all winter!”

A new way to Club Med: with the family

Brenda Kyllo

“Some of our previous customers wanted a little more luxury and they are now coming back. Another good news is that we are also attracting new customers – families for instance – who appreciate the quality of our family programs.”

For Brenda and her team, there is no doubt that Club Med really caters to families now. “And usually, the travel agents who have experienced our product also agree. And they know how to explain why it is worth it. The child and young adult programs – which range from very young to teenagers – allow kids to choose what they want to do. They can personalize their holidays, just like the adults.”

According to Brenda Kyllo, the amazing team of animators, the quality of the food and the overall friendly and multicultural atmosphere are some of the Club’s best assets.

With her multinational work experience and the infectious enthusiasm she shows on a daily basis, Brenda Kyllo has certainly brought that friendly atmosphere into the Canadian office.

With her successful career and her two children, she sure knows how to juggle, even though, ironically, she never learned to play tennis, after all!